Today's paper will focus on the need for an effort-shape movement analysis for dance therapists. In discussing such a movement analysis we assume that dance therapists have attained an adequate, well-rounded, formal dance background which includes modern, folk, improvisation, etc. We are going to focus on the dance therapist in her role as a therapist. As you know, all therapists must be aware of who they are and how they use themselves in the therapeutic process. Therapists using movement should not only know themselves intellectually, but also should know themselves in movement - how they express themselves in movement and how they communicate in movement. It would be presumptuous to consider oneself a movement or dance therapist without having subjected one's movement patterns to close scrutiny. It is not accidental that psychoanalysts are required to have a didactic analysis. And, we would like to suggest that a similar type of training be required for dance therapists - a movement analysis. This, we feel, should eventually be a prerequisite for certification. We in the field should take responsibility for deciding the necessary professional requirements for dance therapists.
Since we are assuming that all dance therapists have extensive dance training we have to deal with the effects of that training. The current methodology in most dance training consists of a teacher imparting his own style to the class. The students must either adapt their movements to that particular style or search out a new teacher. Much of today's dance training does not stress or develop the student's individual style. Each studio tends to have its own stylistic limitations. For the person who wants to perform with a particular group this is a necessary part of the training and discipline. They develop movement habits that are functional for their roles as performers. It follows that all Graham dancers move like Graham, and recognizably so. These movement-habits permit them to concentrate on the performance rather than on the style. The dancer-performer, who wishes to become a dance therapist, however, is handicapped by any superimposed style, be it of dance or psychological origin.
To understand why this is a handicap one must be clear as to the nature of the therapeutic process in dance therapy. A dance therapist uses movement to "change behavior. " Through his movements he takes the role of other, in this case, "other" being patient. As "other" he reflects, through his movements, the patient's state. This is the process that establishes rapport and offers the patient the opportunity for change through the movement interaction. The patient is involved in a process in which he sees himself simultaneously reflected and responded to. This response must remain in keeping with the patient's general feeling tone in order for him to continue the transaction.
Because of this process it is crucial that the dance therapist is free to incorporate the patient's movements. He must not only be unencumbered by any imposed movement style but he must also be fully aware of all the nuances of his own individual movement repertoire. For the patient to see the dance therapist in the role of a dancer would be to set up barriers. It is the mature dance therapist that can risk being taken for a patient.
What is a movement repertoire? We are defining it as an individual's characteristic patterns of moving. This refers to the thread of constancy in the movement which shows itself in speaking gestures, walking, sitting, and in the performance of everyday actions, etc. The dance therapist must know what these constancies and preferences are and how they are perceived by others.
Recently, there has been a renewed interest in non-verbal or movement behavior. A number of approaches are currently being used by people in various fields such as psychology, anthropology, social-psychology, who engage in movement research. We find that Laban's concept in effort-shape* provide a theory and a methodology that is most suitable for the needs of dance therapy and especially for the requirements of a movement analysis to assess and interpret individual repertoire in a systematic way.
There is a common misconception that effort-shape is a theory of dance therapy. It is not. Effort-shape is a theory consisting of principles of movement applicable to any aspect of human movement behavior. As such, it is currently being applied to psychology (diagnostics), anthropology, dance, acting, dance therapy, child development studies, physical education, etc. For each of these (disciplines, the applicability of effort-shape requires the choosing of appropriate variables which would yield the best results.
Although for the sake of clarity, we are going to refer to some individual effort-shape parameters, it must be understood that these items appear simultaneously when a person moves. Therefore, the parameters are usually considered in their combinations and patterns.
An effort-shape movement analysis can tell us the following about one's movement:
1) What parts of the body are used constantly and what parts are never used. And, in what combinations — e.g. , is the head only used with arm movements?
2) How much of the space around them does a person use. We can look at how close to the body or how far from the body his movements are. Does he ever use the space behind the body. Laban conceives of this as the person's kinesphere. We speak of it in terms of near, middle and reach space that we always carry with us.
3) Gestural-postural movement: This refers to whether a movement is isolated in one part of the body or whether the movement spreads throughout the entire body.
4) Efforts: Efforts are the discernible qualities of movement in terms of space, force and time. These range on a continuum from direct to indirect (space), strong to light (force), and quick to slow (time). A full effort would have an attitude towards space, force and time, such as "press" (slow, strong and direct).
5) Shape: This refers to how the body moves through the spatial planes of horizontal, vertical and sagittal.
All these categories are being covered in an over-simplified way and many fine distinctions are made within each of these.
Effort-shape provides us with a consistent and objective frame-work for dealing with movement behavior. Based on this framework we can observe movement with specific parameters in mind. We no longer need to depend on poetic generalities to describe the essence of movement. What we have is a set of symbols representing the language of movement. We can write what we see and it can be understood and reproduced by others versed in the same system. In addition, effort-shape gives meaning to movement. It helps us to understand the interrelationships between the form and the quality of movements. The description of a movement repertoire using effort-shape terms serves as an interpretation. This is because movement itself is so literal. If one cannot move in the horizontal plane one is not receptive, because this is the area of space where we reach out to or close off people.
Now that we can observe and record the language of movement it is possible to have a movement analysis and to discuss the functions that this movement analysis can serve.
Laban anticipated the primary focus of the dance therapist when he talked about the actor's mastery of movement: "The artist must realize that his own movement make-up is the ground on which he has to build. The control and development of his personal movement habits will provide him with the key to the mystery of the significance of movement."
When we can begin to understand how we use the motion factors of time, space, and force in the service of our basic drives, then we have a clue to understanding how patients express themselves in their utilization of these factors.
Another important function of a movement analysis is to help the dance therapist develop the broadest possible movement repertoire. The dance therapist, as indicated previously, must be capable of instantaneously recreating the role of "other". He does not have the luxury of time to prepare and rehearse for his role as actors do. Therefore, it is crucial that he has previously experienced a multitude of movement states again and again so that when he needs them he can instantly tap them.
Now, let us outline the procedure that a movement analysis might follow. It must be understood that this analysis is done in a group. The first step is to assess the dance therapist's movement repertoire to see what his constanties and preferences are, i.e., he must know what efforts he uses and when, in which areas of space he uses them, and with which body parts. The next step is to deepen his awareness by making him become conscious of how his tendencies create consistent patterns of movement. Before any change or new movements can be integrated into his repertoire, he must know and rely on what he has so he can go beyond that.
The third step would be how to develop and build on these tendencies. This step implies the development of the secondary characteristics of a repertoire, i.e., those qualities that are rarely used. Naturally, the last step would be how to develop and integrate those qualities which do not appear in the repertoire. These changes can only be evoked by intensive and repeated bodily experiences so that the new movements become second-nature.
Because effort-shape can deal with efforts in terms of their affinities for each other and for particular areas of space and body part, it presents a logical way of getting at what is absent based on what efforts are present, e. g., it helps to know that lightness is best produced in the periphery by the upper unit in forward-side-high diagonal, and that it can be most easily supported by slowness and indirectness.
The integration of all these stages should result in the ability to use an extensive movement repertoire which would make the dance therapist emotionally literate. He would fully know the language of feeling in movement terms.
There will be concomitant learnings that accrue from this movement analysis. One of the beauties of working with Laban's theories is that it helps to distinguish the contradictions between movements and feelings. This means that if one has doubts or Is not fully committed to a type of movement quality, then a "real" effort is not produced. A "real" effort will create an impact on the environment, in this case, the patient. For example, a dance thera-pist may be using strength in order to evoke it from a patient. If ho is preoccupied or distracted, the effort in the movement will lack clarity and his attempt to evoke this quality in the patient will not be effective.
Another important thing to learn from a movement analysis would be how to work oneself out of a dysfunctional state. There will be times when we will be visibly effected by events beyond our control (personal loss, assassination). We will have to know which of our own efforts we can rely on to alter our movement state in a manner that will be functional for us as well as the patients. For example, one therapist might work himself out of depression by resorting to "quickness," someone else might counter the focus on self by becoming direct or externally focussed.
Let us summarize what should be the outcome of a movement analysis:
1) To develop clarity in movement; No contradiction between the intent and the action.
2) To develop a broad movement repertoire which would enable one to work with a wide range of patients with a wide range of behaviors.
3) To develop a deeper understanding of the significance of patients' movements.
4) To develop an intelligent basis for choosing which patients one can best work with.
5) To integrate the scientific and artistic aspects of dance therapy, i.e., the sensitivity of the artist becomes enhanced by the systematic ordering of experience. The ability to objectively see what is happening in the movement coupled with the capacity to experience it in the body should result in being better equipped to change movement behavior.
Only if we as therapists are repeatedly challenged and made vulnerable will we continue to grow in our profession. With dance therapy on its way to being an accredited field, it faces the dangers that come with academic sanction, namely over-intellectualization. We can easily become burdened by excessive courses in reading and research. But we must be concerned with valuing the movement training and the movement experiences necessary to become dance therapists. No intellectual understanding of movement can substitute for the knowledge that a dance therapist must have by learning to move through moving. An effort-shape movement analysis can provide one step in that direction.