Richard Haisma, an instructor in the Dance Program at the University of Rochester, will present his interactive dance show, Why Do Humans Like to Move So Much?, at 8:30 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 12, in Spurrier Hall on the University's River Campus.
Using Laban Movement Analysis, the most comprehensive system and language for observing, describing, and notating all forms of movement in athletics, therapy, or dance, Haisma creates a framework for movement with the biology of the human body as the landscape.
As a certified Laban movement analyst, Haisma presents the question: why do we move in so many different ways? Three billion years of life on this planet are a legacy inside all of us; the amoeba, shark, frog, and chimp have all contributed to our present forms of movement. This hour-long, interactive, lecture-demonstration uses music, poetry, and song to challenge the reigning paradigm of passive spectatorism, engaging the audience in the kinetic epic of the three-billion-year-old dance within.
For the finale the audience learns a short musical phrase and dances up the whole evolution.
This program is free and open to the public, and is part of the Dance Program's Performing Artists Series.