Blog post – New York Times article
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?
The work by Katja Heitmann is a collection of experienced dancers intensely studying volunteers’ mannerisms and movements. Heitmann had the dancers study the volunteers for long periods of time, focusing on the volunteers’ specific personal movements. Heitmann says that if you look closely, you can see that each person has their own movement unique to them. Trying to identify these movements is tricky; trying to memorize them in one’s own body is even harder. But trying to build the habit of another person into your own, your own body and natural motion in order to archive it- what an unbelievable challenge for an artist. Heitmann is quoted in this text saying,
“The archive is ongoing and living, which means the dancers cannot clock in and
out. “Your body needs to stay in training. If you stop, your artwork is gone,”
Heitmann said. “I don’t want machines for dancers, but we have to try to preserve as much as we can.” ”
This gives the viewer some perspective into the efforts it takes to preserve a work like this.
In a society constantly growing towards digitizing everything, a human analog of movement is a huge gift. The fact that it is intended to be passed down through generations
2. Discuss one or two examples of movements in the article – what strikes you about them?
A volunteer named Tjan noticed when watching the performance back noticed how small he makes himself. Down to tucking his thumbs, which he says the dancer executed to a T. I found this so interesting – tucking one’s thumbs in. I think many people, often specifically women, are conditioned to not take up space, to make themselves as small as possible. Then, the text goes on to say how this sparked change for him. He began to wear a bright yellow jacket so you could not miss him. He was able to reflect on himself because he was able to see it objectively and make active change in his life because of it.
3. Describe the habitual movements/unconscious gestures, tics, etc. 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?
My friend Megan is one of the most physically expressive people I know. Not because she is energetic or theatrical, but because her brain works very uniquely and without a filter. In her neurodivergent mind, she reacts without a filter, allowing her body to communicate and comfort her feelings. When she has a big overwhelm of feeling, like hearing an idea she loves, or receiving bad news, even
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.