Stephanie Triantafyllou

Essay 1
2nd Year

Dance, Movement, Architecture

Centuries before today, people had started to talk about and observe the human body.
They constantly explore it in many different ways and tried to understand its structure
and behaviour. They did so, by studying anatomy, mapping, drawing and painting.
Taking these as evidence, the body was never presented as a single figure on a blank
canvas. It always coexisted with architecture and both of them were presented as
forms of art, types of aesthetic or as reference of proportion. They inform and
complete one another. Architecture acts as context and reference for the body and
vice versa. Without either of the two, the painting would be vague and pointless, with
no sense of proportion, scale and meaning. Modern choreographers and inventors
have expressed and proved the same through dance. Through the sequential
movement of the body. They have proved that neither of the two art forms can evolve
without extracting information, concepts and ideas from each other. The one acts as
point of reference for the other. On the 20th century a few great dancers and
choreographers started to change the way dance is perceived by inventing new
techniques. Martha Graham, Cunningham and Labannotation for instance. These
dancers ambition was to explore movement and choreography beyond the boundaries
that were set up to that period of time by classical ballet. They explored the abilities
of the human body structure and the variations of its movement. They explored
emotion, feelings and pain as well as space and the possibilities of site-specific
movement and choreography. Some tried to create architecture through dancing,
when others used architecture to improve and expand the boundaries of dance and
choreography. Do dancers create the space though? Or does the space already exist
before the movement starts to exist?

Annunciation (Botticelli, Glasgow)

In 1928, an amazing dancer, choreographer and great inventor came to light. Rudolf
Laban invented the so-called Labannotation, which, in short, is the notation of
movement. Labannotation is a new coding system used to map down a very specific
choreography or dance move. It indicates the place where each body part should be in
space. This is indicated by simple directional lines in relation to the centre of gravity
of the body. Laban uses the space as a matrix or grid to indicate movement, dance and
choreography. Labannotation was the beginning of a new way of thinking about
dance and the body, which also created quite a firm bond between the notion of space
and the body movement. By drawing and mapping the movement, Laban creates new,
interesting, and fluid but systematic shapes. These derive from the body structure, the
order by which each part of the body moves, the direction it follows as well as the

sequence of the choreography. This technique he is using consists of a more precise,

memorable, technical and graphic approach to movement. He is one of the first
choreographers to suggest a relationship between the two art forms. He smartly uses
the notion of space to explore new dimensions of movement and different abilities of
the human body and how these can be presented and communicated to the reader,
observer, dancer or client. In both architecture and dance, communication is a vital
ingredient, since both cannot merely be explained by words. Dance is movement, is
seeing, is feeling, is hurting, enjoying, hearing. It is experiencing; it is rhythm,
awareness, freedom and expression. Architecture, in the same manner, cannot exist
without this definition. Meaning, that in order for it to exist, it needs to be
experienced by at least one human body. It has to be seen, felt, touched, listed to. It
has to be invaded1. There has to be action. Someone has to sleep in it, eat or dance
in it. That is why architecture does not exist without drawing or without movement
and dance cannot be presented or described without architecture. Dance without
architecture cannot be conceived and experienced by either the dancer or the audience
in the theatre. This relationship, however, between architecture and dance comes in
conflict with Rudolf Laban s belief that movement creates architecture:
architecture is created by human movements and is made up of pathways tracing
shapes in space2 It is true that movement creates new shapes but it is not a tool for
space creation. Rather, it is a tool for exploration and research of innovative ways of
choreographing and directing the body in its context. Dance can be a tool to bring
architecture a step further, broaden the design scope and break the boundaries of
linear drawing. It can be a way to step away from stereotypical plans, elevations and
sections and open the mind to other possibilities that will derive from something
organic, fluid and natural, such as the human body itself. Moreover, dance is a way to
become aware of architecture in relation to its context. Finally, it makes architecture
more daring and it challenges it to ornamentation, visual appearance and
transformation as well as the way it is experienced, felt, used or manipulated.
Through the immergence of this new system, an inseparable link between dance and
architecture is starting to become more perceptible and understandable.

1
2

Architecture and Disjunction, Bernard Tschumi, The MIT Press, 1996

The influences of Rudolf Laban, Foster, John, 1977, Page 65

On the other hand, Merce Cunningham rising around 1944 explored the relationship
of space and movement in a different way. He invented a new technique, a new way
of manipulating movement. Getting inspiration from nature, Cunningham s dancing
consisted of movement, rather than steps. However, the body is not acting as a whole.
Rather, each body part is independent and special. The body is segmented and each
part has its own meaning. The main parts are the legs, which are essential and
contribute to the grounding and structure of the body and they are means of
movement, whereas the hands are introducing complexity and aesthetics. So here we
meet the long discussed and argued issue of form versus function. It seems that Merce
combines the two notions in his dancing. Taking observations from nature, sketching
birds and plants and getting inspired by its shapes and peculiar movements (3animal
and bird movement is so beautiful to watch), he introduced the hands as something
beautiful to look at. Like a non-functional design, a prop of a building or a column
that offers no support. But the legs as an inseparable part of movement, like the
foundations of a building. Dancing is movement in time and space; its possibilities
are bound only by our imagination and our legs.4 Moreover, he strongly believes that
by dancing, one realises their identity, who they are as individuals. His biggest
interest and attention though, was drawn to the position of the body in space. Its
orientation and the angles of the various body parts in relation to the context. Since
his work has a very visual effect of pretending to imitate nature5 as he says, the
positioning of the body in relation to the eyes of the audience had to be very specific
in order to achieve the desired effect of aesthetic. So the distribution of all the
elements of the performance in space, including the theatre itself, is very important.
Both architecture and dance have to coexist and function simultaneously. What is
more, Merce s ability to jump really high as a dancer influenced the result of his
choreographic work, in my opinion. His choreography deals with a lot of dynamics in
movement and it spreads on many different height and width levels. Furthermore,
there is a lot of shifting in space as well as very clear and quick change of direction.
All of these characteristics imply that architecture and the idea of space are closely
interacting with the dancers. If the dancers are not fully aware of the space they
cannot perform choreography and they cannot interact with the rest of the dancers
safely. Not to mention that the dancers during a Cunningham piece are portraying
observers of the space. Their facial expressions and their eyes are so convincing and
captivating that encourage the audience to observe the surrounding space themselves
and be curious. The experience in a performance as such is dual. Firstly, the dancers
are aware of the shapes they create in accordance to the eye level of the audience or
the camera if producing a movie and of the space around the other dancers. Secondly,
the experience of the audience is different but it is affected by the level of awareness
of the dancers and the quality of their execution on stage. All in all, Cunninghams
work focuses on the awareness of space, its experience as a dancer and as audience
and on the aesthetics and visual effects. Architecture, in my opinion, is or should be
alike Merce Cunningham s choreography. It should be coherent like a movement
sequence and it should be composed out of small pieces put together in a harmonious
manner, like the structure of the human body. Also, architecture has to tell a story to
its invader and it has to relate - either visually or conceptually - to its context and
environment. Take for example Bernard Tschumi s project of The Acropolis
3

Merce Cunningham, A Lifetime of Dance, DVD, American Masters Production

Merce Cunningham, A Lifetime of Dance, DVD, American Masters Production
5
Merce Cunningham, A Lifetime of Dance, DVD, American Masters Production
4

Museum. Its position and orientation is carefully selected in relation with the
Parthenon, creating in this way a successful dialog between the two. Just like the
dialog between the dancers on stage and the audience opposite them. Moreover, the
museum is designed so that the visitor will have to follow a specific route, a path.
This path through the museum tells a chronological story of the Greek history, while
showing the exhibits. It is, in other words, a choreographed space, like a performance
on the theatre. This proves that the art forms of architecture and of dance can
exchange ideas and use one another in order to evolve and broaden their boundaries.

Sometimes dance is reflected in architecture through a building. In order for architects

to develop a new concept in a project, such as a dance studio, for instance, they
extract information from the event it is going to host. From dance in this case. This
came to my attention when I visited the Laban Centre for Contemporary Dance in
Creekside, London. The architects have made an effort to tell a story of a dancers
life. As we know a dancer starts off by learning the technique through ballet and
his/her inseparable friend is the ballet bar. When walking around Laban Centre, one
will notice that the spaces are empty. Free of any kind of furniture or obstacle. The
idea to keep the spaces empty came from the fact that there always needs to be free
space for dancing. Also this freedom of space gives the opportunity to students to
explore site-specific choreography, which was one of R. Laban s explorations. It is
also noticeable that all the walls of all public spaces are attached to a continuous wavy
bar. The bar is there to explain where a dancer sets off from and it is wavy to imitate
the flowy movement in Laban s choreography. Secondly, we know that dancers are
always exposed. Their emotions, feelings, body, behaviours, reactions, pain. This is a
very hard situation or reality to deal with. The architects, having this reality in mind,
used mostly glass to enclose most of the spaces in the building. All of the dance
studios as well as the extra spaces for rehearsals have glass walls or are completely
open and consequently are totally exposed to the inside and the outside. Even the
offices and the library are exposed. In this way the dancers will get used to being
watched at all times. The theatre is situated in the centre of the building since it is
where all the focus and attention concentrates and where everything is revealed. So,
the architecture not only acts a storyteller but also as an experience and as a space that
the dancers can use in order to develop their technique, movement and stage presence
and therefore become a mature dancer.

Moreover, dancers have interpreted architecture through their movement and

performance. As part of the London Festival of Architecture 2008, there were five
site-specific pieces performed by Green Bean Dance company. Each dancer
performed a choreography that involved their bodies, two triangular folding surfaces
and the interaction with the other dancers and the site. As the dancers moved through
the specific area in London, the change in the shapes of their body caused the surfaces
to shift, move and transform in relation to the position of the body. If the dancers
came close to each other, the surfaces connected and formed a different structure.
Depending on the site that was used, the choreography had a different effect and the
structure an altered meaning. Through this choreography, the dancers explored the
idea of transformation and adaptability to the context. They also highlighted hoe
important it is for architecture to be multi-purpose and versatile and what impact this
versatility can have upon the life of the surrounding area. They showed that buildings
should no longer be considered rigid, single-purpose and decorative structures. As Sir
Grimshaw said We were trying to get away from the static idea of buildings 6. And
this is exactly what company attempted to communicate by exposing their bodies and
movement to the public.
To sum up, it is very captivating, the fact that from quite an early stage, two
phenomenally different and monumentally diverse fields share a common value and
passionately support each other in their development and articulation. Not only early
painters made that clear but also contemporary choreographers took the opportunity to
use architecture in order to build on innovative movement techniques and inspire,
through that, many individuals. Rudolf Laban and Merce Cunningham are two of the
main figures in the dance industry, who have left their mark, their signature through
what they have created. Both of them created movements and concepts that without
architecture and the notion of space and experience could not be described or
understood. The one used drawing as a way of expression and as a way to be
remembered. The latter, got inspired by nature and his own body and created
something extraordinary, away from the usual everyday performance. By
acknowledging the audience and by being aware of the space in the theatre, he
achieved to create a performance that had never been seen, felt or heard before. Both
Laban and Cunningham have founded companies, which continue to develop these
concepts and introduce them to the rest of the world, using the stage as the mediator.
The combination of the two forms of art contributed to the emergence of a new
experience of architectural design and a creative change in the perception of dance
theatre, stage presence and entertainment.

http://www.greenbeandance.co.uk/architecture.htm, Press, The Independent

Bibliography:
1. Body, Space, Expression: the development of Rudolf Laban' s movement
and dance concepts, Vera Maletic, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1987
2. Mastering movement : the life and work of Rudolf Laban, John Hodgson,
Methuen & Co, 2001
3. The influences of Rudolf Laban, Foster, John, 1977
4. Architecture, Actor and Audience, Iain Mackintosh, Routledge, 1993
5. Anatomy and metaphor : the relevance of skin in contemporary
performance, architecture and design, Elisabetta Maria D'Aloia, London:
Laban, 2003
6. Architecture and Disjunction, Bernard Tschumi, The MIT Press, 1996
Internet:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

http://www.greenbeandance.co.uk/architecture.htm
http://www.merce.org/
http://www.laban.org/
http://marthagraham.org/center/
http://marthagraham.org/resources/about_martha_graham.php
http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/49/75

DVDs:
1. Merce Cunningham, A Lifetime of Dance, American Masters Production
2. Martha Graham In Performance, Kultur
3. Martha Graham, Dance on Film, The Criterion Collection