Movement, Gesture...and Dance?

For me, Kress opened up some possibilities for the inclusion of movement within the confines (lose though they are) of Visual Rhetoric. He has pushed me to think of movement (and I extrapolate from gesture to dance...which might be a stretch) as a mode. I think that I probably saw dance functioning within multimodality...though I was seeing it more as a medium, but the body is the medium.

So Kress does look into what he calls gesture, moving image, and, even at times, movement  in several sections of the book. My first major interaction with it was positioned within his discussion of space and time in Chapter 5: "some modes, gesture or moving image for instance, combine the logics of time and of space. In gesture there is sequence in time through movement of arms and hands, of the head, of facial expression, as well as their presence against the stable spatial form (the background) of the upper part of the torso" (81). I'm wondering what would happen if we push the movement beyond gesture and include the entire body. What would be the "stable spatial form"? I think he is referring to moving images as film since he discusses the sequence of images immediately after the material I have quoted here. But it immediately called to mind an improv technique called "moving sculpture" wherein bodies must stay in contact, but use the positive and negative space differently.Think of a somewhat artistic version of playing twister.

As Kress asserts at multiple instances, frame and framing is key. So, with bodies in motion. I wonder what he would posit as the frame. I'm tempted to claim the "stage" (which may or may not include a backdrop and scenery). The stage would potentially be the stable spatial form, and the body functions within its frame.

The latter chapters also fuel my interest in movement as visual rhetoric, especially chapter 8: "I, as a make of meaning move in the world, literally, in different ways; and the world around me is in motion, in constant movement; and more often than not, I move in a world of motion" (159). For me, this calls attention to the importance of acknowledging movement in relation to visual rhetoric. He also states (I really like his topic sentences, by the way) "All communication is movement" (169). Yes!! Obviously we physically engage when speaking and when writing, but our movement (dancing or not) has a purpose and a function. Frequently, you can tell exactly what I'm thinking just by the faces I make...so much so that my sister (especially at family gatherings) has to say "MOLLY! Face." to remind me that people can see my reactions whether I voice them not.

Like Martha and Logan, I am drawn to his discussions of design as well...with a different spatial situation in mind. I am interested most by how design and arrangement function: "multimodal design refers to the use of different modes--image, writing, color, layout--to present, to realize, at times to (re)-contextualize social positions and relations as well as knowledge in specific arrangements for a specific audience" (139). Again I see this surfacing in my musing about dance and movement because design and arrangement are key to the production of choreography. Dance is multimodal design. All the modes (with the exception of "writing" as written text) have major roles in choreography design. Everything from costumes and lighting (color), backdrop and (image) plus the body (number of bodies, kinds of movements), and shapes (lay out) inform every moment of a dance.