Friday, October 14, 2016

Dancing the Bewegungschöre

I love German verbal portmanteaus.  In order to create big words for simple concepts, they just mash-up two or more words into a multi-letter string such as the noun Handschuhschneeballwerfer (a person who wears gloves to throw snowballs) or the verb Sontagspaziergangmachen (to go for a Sunday walk).  I can’t help but wonder if we had a single word for these activities, would we be more likely to grab friends or family and head for the park on a wintry Sunday afternoon for a jolly snowball fight?
   
But back to Bewegungschore.  I googled ‘dance’ and ‘mood’ and hit the jackpot by stumbling across information on Rudolf von Laban, a dancer and movement theorist who developed the concept of  Bewegungschore in the early 20th century.  That tongue-twister of a word translates as ‘movement choir’ where participants don’t sing but rather dance together as a shared experience in the joy of moving.  He elaborated his vision further with another mega-word, namely bedürfnislosigkeit meaning demandlessness as in having one’s time and energy free to indulge in ‘festive exaltation’.

Well now, what could be better really than to a bedürfnislosigkeit state on a Saturday a.m in order to participate in a laughing, lively Bewegungschöre, shaking those parts of your body with which you are in contact as you oscillate with a group of like-minded dancers?


In Denver? Looking forward to seeing you some Saturday soon as we dance in a movement choir with Lia Ridley at Dancing the Soul, 950 Jersey St, Denver, CO  80220.