Ch.2 Movement and the Body Part 1 (P.18 - 49)

• P.18 The flow of movement is strongly influenced by the order in which the parts of the body are set in motion. We can distinguish an unhampered or "free flow" and a hampered (妨礙) or "bound flow". Movements originating in the trunk, the centre of the body, and then flowing gradually out towards the extremities of the arms and legs are in general more freely flowing than those in which the centre of the body remains motionless when the limbs begin to move.
• The control of the flow of movement is therefore intimately connected with the control of the movements of the parts of the body. Body movements can be roughly divided into steps, gestures of arms and hands, and facial expressions.
• P.19 Each phase of movement, every small transference of weight, every single gesture of any part of the body reveals some feature of our inner life. Each movement originates from an inner excitement of the nerves, caused either by an immediate sense impression, or by a complicated chain of formerly experienced sense impressions stored in the memory. This excitement results in the voluntary or involuntary inner effort or impulse to move.
• p.20 It is a mechanical fact that the weight of the body, or any of its parts, can be lifted and carried into a certain direction of space, and that this process takes a certain amount of time, depending on the ratio of speed.
• ['motion factors': Weight, Space and Time] This freedom of choice is not always consciously or voluntarily exercised; it is often applied automatically without any contribution of conscious willing. But we can observe consciously the function of choosing movements appropriate to situation; that means that we can become conscious of our choice, and can investigate why we so choose.
• P.20-21 In order to discern (領悟) the mechanics of motion within living movement in which purposeful control of the physical happening is at work, it is useful to give a name to the inner function originating such movement. The word used here for this purpose is effort. {Effort is the origin and inner aspect of human movement}
• P.21 Effort is visible in the action movement of a worker, or a dancer, and it is audible in song or speech...The fact that effort and its various shadings can not only be seen and heard, but also imagined, is of great importance for their representation, both visible and audible, by the actor-dancer. He derives a certain inspiration from descriptions of movements that awaken his imagination.

Analysis of simple bodily actions

P.23 It is possible to determine and to describe any bodily action by answering four questions.

1. Which part of the body moves?
2. In which direction or directions of space is the movement exerted?
3. At what speed does the movement progress?
4. What degree of muscular energy is spent on the movement?