Lately I have been grappling with a girdle – not the underwear kind, the Choreutic kind. I’ve been trying to create suggestions for how to embody each of the four Girdles that Laban identified.
These spatial sequences are peripheral six-rings that surround a diagonally tilted axis. The Girdles themselves are tilted circles, part of which lies in front of the mover, and part of which lies behind the mover.
I’m quite fond of two of the Girdles that fall in front of the body and rise behind it. I follow the path of one every morning when I put on my bathrobe, and I use it when putting on a coat as well. The path of the Girdle allows me to put one arm in a sleeve and then the other arm in a sleeve while sweeping the garment around the body in a flowing curve.
But there are two more Girdles… these rise in front of the body and fall behind it. These present a real challenge for embodiment. I have some suggestions – but I will welcome what my correspondents discover while playing with these forms.
You can grapple with a Girdle – find out more in the forthcoming Movement Harmony Project: Part 1.