Physics and the Art of Dance Understanding Movement

by Laws, Kenneth; Sugano, Arleen

• ISBN13: 9780195341010
• ISBN10: 0195341015
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Physics and the Art of Dance gives all who enjoy dance - whether as dancers, students, teachers, or fans - an opportunity to understand what happens when human bodies move in the remarkable ways we call dance. How, for instance, do dancers create the illusion of defying gravity? Or ofstarting to spin when in the air with no source of force to act on their bodies? You may observe some dancers using their arms in a way that allows some to jump higher than others. What is that technique, and why does it work? In this second edition, author Ken Laws - a physicist with years of professional dance training - teams with veteran dance instructor Arleen Sugano to provide new step-by-step experiments for dancers. "What you see" sections describe the way physical principles form the framework within which somemovements exist. The complementary "What you do" sections allow dancers to experience how those physical analyses can provide them a more efficient means of learning how to carry out those movements. Throughout, the book shows how movements are first artistic expressions, and secondly movements ofthe body within the framework of easy-to-understand physical principles. Dancers and dance instructors will find in this book an efficient means of improving technical proficiency and growing professional and aesthetic development. For physics and science teachers, the book provides a new and compelling way to draw people into the world of science. And observers andfans of dance will marvel over the beautiful time-stop photography by renowned dance photographers Martha Swope and Gene Schiavone.

Author Biography

Kenneth LawsR is Professor Emeritus of Physics, Dickinson College, and author of The Physics of Dance (Schirmer, 1984), Physics, Dance, and the Pas de Deux (Schirmer, 1994), and Physics and the Art of Dance: Understanding Movement (OUP, 2002)
Arleen Sugano is Independent Dance Instructor, former instructor of Dance, New York University, University of North Texas, Joffrey Ballet School, Rod Rodgers Dance Company, and Lula Washington Dance Company, amongst many others.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Balance

Motions Without Turns

Pirouettes

Turns in the Air

The Pas de Deux

The Mechanics of Partnered Turns

The Mechanics of Lifts

The Effects of Body Size

A Step into the Future

Linear Mechanics and Newton's Laws

Rotational Mechanics

Anatomical Data for Dancers

Rotational Inertia for Some Body Configurations

Acceleration Away from Balance

Off-Balance Pirouettes

Arabesque Turn Analysis

Quantitative Analysis of the Grande Pirouette

Quantitative Analysis of the Fouette Turn

Quantitative Analysis of the Supported Fouette Turn

Lean, Don't Slip

Biomechanical Forces in a Dancer's Body

Glossary

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.