Everyday Movement Observation

Everyday Movement Observation
Many do not understand that everyday movement, no matter how complex, can be considered dance. A task as simple as walking or jogging around the corner can be considered dance because it requires movement. So how can any movement, or everyday observation be considered dance? If the movement or observation can be related to or has, space, time, and energy, then it can be considered dance. The two observations of everyday living that I chose to observe were a child playing on the swing and a mother cooking spaghetti. These two observations are performed by multiple people every day and they involve movement, but it still seems ambiguous to how they can use space, time, and energy.
Playing and enjoying themselves is vital in a child’s life. When a child goes to the park they usually run around the park and explore the many activities it has. This one particular child was taken to the park by his mother. Immediately when the child and his mother arrived to the park, he ran to the swing. The boy jumped on the swing and started to swing his feet in a back and forth motion. With each swing of his feet, the child was higher off of the ground than the last swing. As I watched the child he seemed to be moving in a rhythmic motion. At one point

he would swing his feet really fast and hard, which would cause him to go higher in the air, then he would swing his feet slowly, which would cause him to remain at a lower level. For this child, his adventure on the swing was not finished until he did his finale. After swinging his feet really fast and hard for a while, he reached a certain speed and height. After he reached his goal height, he jumped out of the swing and landed in the sand.
Usually when the family is hungry the mother proceeds to the kitchen and cooks. I observed a mother cooking spaghetti for her family. The mother, who was obviously very skilled in the art of either cooking, gathered all of the ingredients from the cabinet that she would need to start the meal. Before beginning to make the meal, the mother turned the stove on a certain temperature to boil the noodles as she prepared the meat to go on the stove. After seasoning the meat, the meat was placed on the stove in a separate pot than the noodles. The mother carefully stirred in the pot with the noodles to ensure the noodles would be cooked thoroughly. Next, she stirred the meat rapidly with a spoon to make sure the meat would not burn as a result of sitting in one spot. As she stirred the meat I noticed that she was moving very swiftly, as if she was in a hurry. When the meat and noodles were done, she then strained the water from the noodles and combined them with the meat. After combining the meat and the noodles, the spaghetti sauce was added. When the noodles, meat, and spaghetti sauce were in the pot, she mixed them together with a fork. When the meal was completed, the mother served the spaghetti to her family.
While the child is playing and the mother is cooking, they are both using space. A specific kind of space that the observation of the child playing exemplifies is level. When the child swings back and forth, he is transitioning from the high level to the medium level. Unlike like the child playing, the mother that is cooking spaghetti only uses one form of level, the medium level. The medium level is often used in dance, but if used to often it can make the movement or dance less interesting, which is why the utilization of various levels is recommended.
The observations of the child on a swing and a mother cooking may not seem important in relation to time, but in relation to one of the elements of time, they are important. The speed or tempo is an element of time. In the observation of the child on the swing, the boy moved his feet at various speeds which allowed for him to do certain things at a set speed. When the boy swung his feet fast, the rapid movement resulted in increased height. While the mother was in the kitchen, she had to move at a certain speed because everyone was hungry. When the mother was cooking spaghetti she seemed to move her spoon while stirring quickly, the faster she would move the spoon, the less chance the meat had of burning. Also when she stirred in the noodles she used a slow, cautious speed to prevent the breaking of the noodles. Both observations use speed in a different way, but the use of speed causes or prevents something to happen in both observations.
To complete a task a certain amount of energy is required. The element of energy that is going to be related to the observations is dynamics. The child on the swing had an excess amount of energy because as soon as he and his mom arrived at the park he ran to the swing. The child swung quickly in a back and forth motion trying to increase his height on the swing. The specific motions the child used to increase his height made the observation more exciting because not only did he swing his feet back and forth, but he used rapid motion. While the mother made dinner, although she moved at a rapid pace, she made sure that she executed every step of completing the dish correctly. Because she moved at an effective fast pace, that made her preparation of the dish more interesting to watch. Both observations used dynamics effectively which caused for more interest than if they had lacked the use of dynamics.
Pedestrian movement is movement performed in our everyday lives.

Whether we notice it or not any movement can be considered dance. Walking the dog, mowing the grass, or even brushing one’s teeth require movement. At first observation, a child swinging on a swing or a mother cooking spaghetti are not forms of dance by any chance. If the observations of a child on a swing and the observation of a mother cooking spaghetti are carefully analyzed, they will both contain space, time, and energy. If the movement has space, time or energy, then the movement can be considered dance. The movement does not have to be performed a certain way, but as long as it has those three elements, any observation can be

dance.