An Interview with Peggy Hackney, Dec. 23, 2015

Submitted by DNB Staff - January 22, 2017

On December 23, 2015 we were delighted to have Peggy Hackney visit us at the DNB to share her thoughts about the history and development of our Laban communities and notation systems.   The videos below document part of that discussion.

As a supplement to Peggy's comments about Shape, we thought readers would be interested in her papers "Shape: What's Shaping Up?" and "Eye-blink." 

For a facsimile of the papers, GO HERE.

(The facsimile was taken from "Symbols of our Community .....Moving Forward with Motif: Proceedings of the Inaugural Motif Symposium, August 2-4, 2002") 


Addendum Jan. 24, 2017: When we originally published this posting, the Weight Sensing indications for Videos 2 and 3 were drawn incorrectly, with the "released" signs upside down,  The symbols in the posting have been rewritten, and are now correct.

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Interview Participants:

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VIDEO 1

TOPICS: The history of Shape concepts and indications. 

• Minute 0:00 - Shape indications.
• Minute 4:30 - The difference between the "original" Shape system and Peggy's revised system.
• Minute 11:00 - The role of application and context in the development and use of indications.
• Minute 13:21 - Warren Lamb's Shape indications.

INDICATIONS DISCUSSED:

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 VIDEO 2

TOPICS: Shape, Effort, Dynamics.

• Minute 0:00 - More about Peggy's system for indicating Shape.
• Minute 2:07 - "Indirect Effort" and "Direct Effort."
• Minute 5:23 - Weight Effort variables (e.g., Passive Weight, Weight Sensing).
• Minute 8:00 - Ann Guest's concept of Dynamics.
• Minute 8:40 - The terms "Strong," "Light," "Weak," and "Heavy."
• Minute 9:24 - More about Weight Effort  (active vs. passive).
• Minute 10:24 - Weight Sensing.
• Minute 12:20 - History of the expanded view of Weight Effort (e.g., active vs. passive Weight, weight sensing, etc.)

INDICATIONS DISCUSSED:

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VIDEO 3

TOPICS: Effort, Still Forms, Shape, Yield/Push & Reach/Pull, Laban training.

• Minute 0:00 - More about the history of Weight Effort.
• Minute 4:12 - Indications for  Pin, Wall, Ball, Screw.
• Minute 5:06 - "Pathway of Shape" as a way of indicating the duration of a Shape indication.
• Minute 5:30 - The Development of the indication for Carving.
• Minute 7:11 - The need for Yield/Push & Reach/Pull indications.
• Minute 7:54 - The expertise needed for developing symbols.
• Minute 9:45 - Laban training produces "renaissance people."

INDICATIONS DISCUSSED: