Viewpoints, briefly explained
What are the 'Viewpoints'?
Viewpoints/Composition (after Bogart/Landau) is one of the most effective physical improv/creation methods for postmodern stage work. For performers and directors alike, as well as for professionals from other stage related art fields. The technique provides a clear language, toolset and pathway to postdramatic approaches. It is ensemble-based, and reveals a group’s relation towards a chosen working material or theme whilst using non-psychological means.
Long Version:
Basis and Origins of Viewpoints Training
Viewpoints* is a physical non-psychological improvisation method which has its origins in North American dance theater. It’s a practical toolset for postmodern approaches in the arts.
The method provides a vocabulary to easily and clearly communicate within complex stage creation settings.
By using descriptive “outer” parameters in time (i.e. tempo, duration, repetition) and space (i.e. architecture, shape) ensemble-based stage work can be created.
Focusing on these descriptive non-psychological stage elements the performer is freed from the pressure of a psycho-logical framework and logic which often is applied in more conventional, as well as psychological stage creation settings.
Viewpoints is also a performer/director/ensemble training which we practise regularly. We see it more as an open process than a rigid technique.
Originally the Viewpoints were developed by Mary Overlie. At the end of the 1980s, Anne Bogart and Tina Landau further developed the method and divided the viewpoints into 4 temporal and 5 spatial ones.
These 9 viewpoints form the basis for our regular training. We use them as a working language with which we describe to each other precisely and non-psychologically what is happening on stage.
Since the Viewpoints methods have been created and further developed, many people have applied them in different ways and contexts. We’ve learned the method during our theater studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg from Jay Scheib, a student of Anne Bogart. Anne Bogart also visited our rehearsals at the Mozarteum.
Our approach emphasizes on bringing the realness and immediacy of performance theatre and circus on stage - through the body.
The working languages in our open sessions and workshops is German/English, depending on the groups needs.
*We often use the term Viewpoints as a synonym for both, Viewpoints (as an actor/performer training) and Composition (as a method for directors/outside eyes).
Perceive precisely and act with presence
The 9 viewpoints on the scene are important points of attention that sharpen our perception of each other and our respective actions.
The viewpoints method is a wonderful way to train actors as well as performers of all disciplines on an ongoing basis. It can also be used to build and bring together stage ensembles of all kinds. Performers are soon able to invent movements for the stage, react strongly and spontaneously to each other and repeat sequences precisely.
The 9 viewpoints at a glance
- VIEWPOINTS IN TIME:
TEMPO
Tempo describes how fast or slow a certain movement or movement sequence is performed.
DURATION
Duration describes how long or short a movement lasts. Duration can also be used to describe an entire sequence of movements by an individual or a group action.
REPITITION
Repetition describes how often an inner or outer movement is repeated. In the Viewpoints canon, inner repetitions are those that one and the same person performs several times in succession: e.g. when a performer points a thumb up 99 times. An external repetition is characterized by a person repeating something on stage that another person has just done or did some time ago.
KINESTHETIC RESPONSE
A kinaesthetic response is the spontaneous physical reaction to an external movement. Example: one person jumps into the air and another falls to the ground in response. It can be immediate or delayed. Kinesthetic response defines in what exact moment a movement happens.
- VIEWPOINTS IN SPACE:
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIP
Spatial relationship describes the distance between objects or people on stage and how they relate to each other. The focus here is on different constellations of people and power relationships: e.g. how an individual person positions themselves in relation to the rest of the group or how different parts of the group relate to each other in space.
SHAPE
Shape describes the external form of a body in space, the silhouette. If the body were visible as a silhouette, what would we see as an outline? Shapes can be stationary,or they can be moved through space. Shape can be constructed of one performer/object or of several persons/objects.
ARCHITECTURE
Architecture describes everything that surrounds the bodies in the defined space: Floors, walls, light and shadow, materialities and objects. The focus here is on how bodies relate to architecture and interact with it.
TOPOGRAPHY
Topography describes the path of the body through the space: the focus here is on the pattern that is created on the floor/in the 3D-space through movement. The visual image: if you had red paint on your body, what pattern would you leave on the floor/in the space?
GESTURE
Gesture describes the movement of a specific body part or the entire body. Each gesture has a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. Gesture is the one viewpoint which can be classified in time and space.
Why we train Viewpoints together
Regular training helps us to 'get out of our heads' on stage. It leads us to a finer self-awareness and at the same time trains our attention for the group and what surrounds us.
We only work with what is present in the moment and try to react from instant to instant. This allows us to practise perceiving/observing, accepting and responding.
We value the 9 Viewpoints as an alternative to conventional approaches in the fields of acting/performing, staging or analysis.
Viewpoints is non-hierarchical and always practically oriented. An ensemble-based approach, Viewpoints invites us to work and develop in a truly collaborative way.