R.A.D.S
Relationships
Action
Dynamics
Space
Features of DANCE
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There are 4 basic components of dance:
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Action – What you do
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Dynamics – How you do it
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Space – Where you do it
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Relationships – With whom
ACTION
SPACE
Jump Travel Turn
Level – high, mid,
low
Gesture
Fall
Stillness
DYNAMICS
Direction – forward,
backwards, diagonal,
sideways
Floor patterns
Time + force= dynamics
Fast
Direct
Soft
Firm
Slow
Jerky
Smooth Forceful Strong
Continuous
Sudden
Graceful
Sharp
RELATIONSHIPS
Canon
Unison
Mirroring Group work
Complimenting
Contrasting
Duet
Question and answer
Relationships
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This has several meanings, it can be:
The dancers – how many, grouping, formations.
The relationships between dancer and dancer,
dancer to the music, dancer to the prop, dancer
to the space etc
How the dancers communicate with each other
e.g. the choreographic devices such as canon,
unison, question and answer, mirroring,
complimentary, contrasting, symmetrical and
asymmetrical, following and leading, call and
response etc.
Find out the meaning of each of the above and
write a detailed description with examples.
Action
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There are 6 main actions of dance:
Jump, Turn, Travel, Stillness, Fall and
Gesture.
All other dance actions come within the
above categories e.g. spin, roll, rotate are
all turning actions.
How many action words can you think of?
Now put them under the correct heading
of: Jump, Turn, Travel, Stillness, Fall
or Gesture.
Dynamics
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HOW the dancer is moving
When we are familiar with ‘WHAT’ the dancer is doing (the
action), we must focus on HOW the body performs the
action.
Dynamics is another way of saying ‘movement quality’. It
describes the amount of energy required to perform a
movement. Time and force are combined in a variety of
ways to produce different movement qualities.
TIME + FORCE = DYNAMICS
Some qualities are easily identified and have specific names
given by the famous dancer and choreographer Rudulf
Laban:
Percussive = sudden and quick
Swing = starts and finishes with an impulse
Sustain = continuous and ongoing
Suspend = a sense of falling
Shake = short burst of energy
Collapse = giving in to gravity
Space
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This can mean the space used by the dancers for each
action.
Level – high, low and mid
Direction – forward, backward, side to side, up, down, in,
out, diagonally etc.
Air and floor patterns – circular, zig-zag, linear, diagonal,
free/random.
Dimensions – door plane = height and width, table plane =
width and depth and wheel plane = height and depth
Personal space – imagine yourself in you own bubble – as
far as you can reach high and wide is your personal space
General space al the space outside of your personal space.
Stage space described as upstage and down stage or more
specifically:
DSR, DCS, DSL, CSR, CS, CSL, USR, UCS, USL
Watch Still Life at a Penguin Café by David
Bintley - Texan Kangaroo Rat dance and or
Questions and answers section 1 in Swansong
by Christopher Bruce.
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In pairs analyse the dance in terms
of Relationships, Action, Dynamics
and Space (RADS). Use the word
cards and pro forma to help you.
Discuss ideas with another pair and
report ideas back to the whole class.
Now individually write an analysis of
the dance.