Grace K

1. Describe the work discussed in the article and the unique challenges – as well as the unique gifts- that come with attempting to archive personal movements?

2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?

3. Describe the habitual movements/unconscious gestures of 3 people you know well. How do individual body parts move, and how does the whole body interact? What about facial expressions and the emotional valence of the movement? How does body type inform the movement? What do these examples of small movements mean and imply?

Katja Heitmann’s project “Motus Mori” (“movement that is dying out”) features ten dancers performing the gestures/movements of hundreds of people in public installations. The unique movements are captured by dancers shadowing the bodily autonomy of volunteers who visit the studio for an hour. Interviews are private and do not guarantee the inclusion of one’s movements within the project. Since the work is analog and ephemeral, the dancer’s muscle memory is essential for retaining it. If something goes wrong with a dancer, it can halt the project’s progress before another dancer can be trained to take over. Relying on dancers to remember hundreds of movements can lead to some movements being forgotten or misinterpreted. It may also make volunteers insecure about how they present themselves when viewing a performance of their movement; however, as the article points out, volunteers often learn about themselves through the installations and regard them as a positive experience. Furthermore, the article notes that Heitmann receives an influx of interview requests from people in hospital or hospice settings, exemplifying the meaning the project can offer to people dealing with loss.

The idea that personal movements can unconsciously influence a dancer’s bodily autonomy, such as when Berkhout woke up in Dora’s movement, in a fetal position with hands clasped between the knees, alarms me. It seems inevitable that overlap will occur between a dancer’s authentic movements and their muscle memory after performing for an extended period, but keeping that boundary in place seems complicated, especially if you are unaware of external movements seeping through. It seems easy to lose yourself in the project when you are one of the only people executing it. A movement which impacted me differently, however, was Tjan’s movement of hiding his thumbs in his palms. He mentioned that he hadn’t realized his intent or reasoning in the moment, but that, through the interview process, he realized he arranges his body so it takes up less space. I had not realized how much of our movements arise from underlying emotions or feelings, and how I was holding myself in similar positions.

I recently moved my room into the basement of my house and differentiated between my family’s footsteps to know who is walking above me, down to the specific dog. I hadn’t thought about the nuances of walking and how it reveals a person’s personal traits. For example, my mother’s pace is fast, and her steps are loud. When performing tasks, she does things quickly and effectively. Moreover, I recently noticed how my sister fidgets with her fingers as I do. It seems to occur in new places or, more generally, in public spaces, as an anxious tic. Her facial expression and composure always match her movements, suggesting nervousness or worry. An unconscious gesture I have become aware of in myself is that I’m extremely expressive with my face and hands. It is something other people have told me before I realized the extent to which I do it, but after thinking about it, I realized it stems from a deep insecurity about my appearance. My voice and body start moving as fast as possible to draw attention away from me, which makes me look weird or jumpy. The body seems to exude the emotions that encompass the mind, reflecting internal feelings or displaying one’s personality through its navigation of life.