Humphrey / Weidman Technique

Early Weidman

DNB -- New Dance (1935) by Humphrey and Weidman

Summary of Humphrey's and Weidman's Ideas

Develop a form of dance indigenous of America

Develop a form of dance different from ballet

Develop dances that resemble the world around them 

Develop dances that do not defy gravity

Concepts

The Humphrey/Weidman Technique is build around the body's response to gravity

To maintain balance one must resist gravity

To give into gravity is to fall

As one falls and recovers, movement shapes change

The speed of the fall and the slowness of the recovery produce rhythmic constrast

In resisting the fall there is suspension

And in springing back from the fall, there is rebound

By varying the directions of the fall, the rise and the suspension, the degree of yielding and the dynamics of the recovery, endless choreographic possibilities emerge

The body moves in three plains: floor, norm or air

Vocabulary

Fall

recovery

Shapes

Rhythmic contact

Suspension