As one of 12 Laban Movement Analysts who participated in a 2014 research project comparing our observations with those of 12 experts in the French system of Functional Analysis of the Dancing Body (AFCMD), I was keen to hear the preliminary results of the study.
The presentation of the project by co-researchers Nicole Harbonnier-Topin, Genevieve Dussault, and Catherine Ferri at the Montreal conference in early June did not disappoint. Here is a brief report on their findings.
The study focused on making explicit the “tacit knowledge” employed by expert movement analysts. To clarify not only what experts see, but also how they accomplish skilled movement observation, Harbonnier-Topin utilized a structured, phenomenological interview technique while asking each analyst to respond to the same videotaped dance sequence.
Eight interviews from each analyst group were chosen and transcribed. Then these transcriptions were coded as to the various observation processes each interviewee employed, such as describing, identifying, prioritizing, inferring, evaluating, constructing meaning, etc. Some interesting differences in choice and frequency of process use emerged between the two groups of analysts.
A secondary aspect of the research addressed convergence and divergence between the analytic systems themselves. Based upon emerging data, the areas of flow, weight, and relationship of space emerged as areas needing additional research.
The Montreal seminar provided an opportunity for additional data collection, as participating analysts were asked to run movement workshops focused on these aspects. Learn more in the next blog.