OSKAR SCHLEMMER'S DANCE NOTATION (PERFORMANCE ART)

DANCE  NOTATION: graphic representation of the dancers’ paths

"He used a dance notation system that he developed himself, graphically describing the linear paths of motion and forward movement on the platform. Furthermore, verbal study and explanation of the source and purpose of a movement was considered by Schlemmer as a way of perfecting the conception and the meaning of it."

https://www.artforum.com/print/197707/oskar-schlemmer-s-performance-art-35972

“Each puppet has a focal point in movement, a centre of gravity and when this centre is moved, the limbs follow without any additional handling. The limbs are pendula, echoing automatically the movement of the centre. Every time the centre of gravity is guided in a straight line, the limbs describe curves that complement and extend the basically simple movement.”

Obviously, each of these puppets is well thought through. They make a whole lot of logical sense, there seems to be a flow and some scientific truth about them, it seems as if they are some sort of robotic machine. I really like how even though the types of movement they create seem very limited and robotic, the continuous repetition of these movements make it very satisfying to watch. I really would like to incorporate these qualities to my work.
I really admire how modernist Oscar Schlemer’s work is, I really like how simplistic everything appears - the use of primitive types of illustration and geometry makes the work appear neat.

The dances draw on simple gestures—walking, sitting, jumping—the dancers are to be perceived as figures symbolizing the potential of new technology while remaining primarily an exploration of the human element.

It came from the brilliant mind of Oskar Schlemmer, a painter, sculptor, dancer, and designer, amongst many other things. Obsessed with the idea of freeing art from its restrictions, he used choreographed geography to push the boundaries of the way we use our body.

In a way, without knowing it I feel like Oscar Schlemmer was already “programming.” He does this so through his dance notations, he pretty wrote a set of codes for the dancers to follow sets of specific commands, such as walking, sitting, jumping. He also defined some set of spatial boundaries for the dancers to follow. All of these made the performances he put out to be a lot more out of the ordinary and less traditional. It gave an obscure but rather fresh approach to dance performance.In my opinion, he created a new type of visual complexities.

With my sculptures, I will also be giving the motors sets of codes (through a program called Arduino) -speed of the rotation, when to pause, stop and continue, when to change direction. With these sets of commands I will be choreographing a performance sequence for my kinetic sculptures. The script of code will pretty be a homage to Schlemmer’s Dance Notation.

Sources:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/watch-dance-meet-geometry-in-this-1920s-german-ballethttps://www.artforum.com/print/197707/oskar-schlemmer-s-performance-art-35972https://www.moma.org/s/ge/collection_ge/artist/artist_id-5219_role-1_sov_page-18.html