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Guidelines for the Creation of Stories in Performance
These guidelines are meant to help you create your story and devise your piece.
While reading you should always re-image these rules and principles in the
context of movement and dance in order to see how you could possibly use
them for your dance piece.
1. Three-dimensional characters:
Physiognomy
Physiognomy (a person’s physical features or expression) is the most obvious of
the human dimensions regarding characters.
Our appearance influences our attitude towards life. It determines our mental
development, has an important influence on our behaviour and gives the reason
for an exceeded self-confidence or inferiority complexes. It has an impact on
how we move and hold ourselves.
Sex:
Age:
Height and weight:
Colour of hair, eyes and skin:
Body stature:
General appearance: e.g. attractive, clean, thin or fat, decent, untidy. Head, face,
limbs.
Defects: e.g. deformities, birthmarks, diseases
Genes:
Sociology
If somebody is raised in a small flat and played in the streets his/her reactions
are completely different from a person who lived in a villa and who’s
surrounding was rather sterile.
Part of society: e.g. lower-, middle-, upper class
Profession: e.g. kind of work, working time, income, working conditions,
professional talent
Education: e.g school types, period, grades, favourite subjects, talents, weak
sides
Family: e.g. parents - work, habits, development of parents, parental
weaknesses, ignorance, indifference, orphan, marital status of the character
Religion:
Nationality:
Place within the community: e.g. clubs, sport, boss or member among friends
Political interests:
Leisure time, hobbies: e.g. kind of books, newspapers and magazines
Psychology
Psychology is the product of the other two (physiognomy and sociology). The
influences of the two other dimensions produce ambitions, frustrations,
temperament, habits and complexes… they all manifest in the way we move and
hold ourselves.
Privacy, moral values:
Personal prémisses, ambitions:
Frustrations, bigger disappointments:
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Temperament: e.g. choleric, relieved, pessimistic, optimistic
General attitude: e.g. indifferent, militant,
Complexes: e.g. weird ideas, fears, inhibitions, superstition
Extroverted, introverted
Abilities: e.g. languages, talents
Characteristics: e.g. inner balance, taste, power of judgement or imagination
IQ:
To understand the movement vocabulary of a character we have to consider the
motivation leading him towards his actions/movements.
1a. Main Character:
- is the character who has a goal and definitely needs to achieve it
- the goal has to be concrete and reachable, it does not exist beforehand
(before the film/play starts) – it evolves in the 1. act
- at the end of the performance the question “Did the character achieve
his/her goal or not?” is answered
- the way that leads towards the goal has to be realistic/possible
- the main character should just have one goal and there should just be one
main conflict (that connects the beginning with the end)
- something big/important has to be at stake (in order to achieve the goal)
- there has to be a counter force opposed to the achievement of the goal
that makes it hard to get it
- main character has to get active in order to oppose the counter force
“Someone (main character) wants (desire/wish/need) something (goal)
badly (necessity) and is having difficulties getting it.”
- the goal could as well be trying to come back to the status quo which was
disturbed in the beginning
- the main character can be an ensemble/group
- the need of a character (which is less specific than the actual goal of this
character) is an unconscious longing and the actual drive of his/her
actions; a basic complex that everyone can relate to
- complexes such as longing for love, recognition, trust, self confidence
(they are subconscious and the character is getting aware of this sort of
lack during the performance = development of the character*)
- the lack connects the character to the spectator, the spectator and
character can have these lacks in common (universal language) and the
spectator could possibly foresee the need
- a need is an emotional longing, not an intellectual desire
- therefore the goal of a figure is eventually inadequate to please the actual
need which creates the tension in the plot
- “classical solution”: main character renounces his/her goal because
he/she sees and understands (through the development* of his/her
character) her need
- GOAL= exterior plane versus NEED= interior plane
- *development of character: the exterior plane is the visible battle/way to
achieve the goal, the interior plane shows the change from not knowing
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about one’s need towards knowing about it; every inner change is a
reaction to outer changes
- the situation of the main character can be clarified with side characters
2. Conflicts:
- attack and counter attack have to increase throughout the performance
- comparison to an auction:
1. offer - 2. investment/stake of party A (=attack) - 3. higher investment
of party B (=counter attack) – 4. party A offers more – 5. party B outbids
etc.
- there has to be a challenge for the protagonist
- structure:
Main Character Counterforce/antagonist
puts obstacles in the
protagonist’s way to
Counter 1. obstacle achieve the goal.
Force 2. obstacle
3. obstacle
etc.
Goal
2a. Possible Conflicts
1. conflict with the antagonist (e.g. duet):
- the achievement of the goal is disturbed by only one person (antagonist)
- there is no space for compromises
- the goals of the protagonist and the antagonist has to oppose and exclude
each other
- the antagonist has to be as strong/or even stronger as/than the
protagonist
- protagonist and antagonist have to be dependent on each other
(dependence of opposition)
- themes are very specific, according to individual features/nature of the
two characters
2. collective conflict (e.g. group performance):
- mostly social, political issues
- the main character is opposed by more than one antagonist (group)
- themes are more general
3. conflict with the situation:
- opponent is e.g. nature, time
- circumstances disturb the achievement of the goal
- protagonist has to deal with the situation
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4. inner conflict:
- the conflict lies/happens within the character
- “shall I, shall I not?”, “can I or not?”, “what /who is the right?”
- an inner conflict is mostly represented/symbolised by an outer conflict
- inner voice has to be represented/visualised by e.g. a group
(common mistakes: no development of conflicts = story remains static and has
no rising action, attacks do not increase or change quality, stake is not the
highest possible)
3. Plot Structure:
- the plot/action changes direction at a turning point, the 1 s t turning point
kicks the character out of his/her status quo and indicates the plot’s
direction
- inciting incident: What disturbs the main character’s life? Where? How?
- Inciting incident is placed at the end of the 1 s t sequence, gives transition
into the 2 n d sequence; usually an event, a decision, particular information
etc.
Exposition, 1st Act Sequence 1:
- introduction of
characters, time, site, a
Sequence 1 Sequence 2 conflict that describes
the main character,
description of the non
Inciting 1.turning disturbed state
incident point Sequence 2:
- counter force is shown
but is not yet active, the
non disturbed set up the conflict is set, closes
state, status conflict, with a turning point,
quo development goal is clear, character
of plot
cannot go back
(the exposition is complete when the goal and the counter force are named)
Confrontation, 2nd Act - obstacles have
to alter quality
(emotional
Seq.3 Seq.4 Seq.5 Seq.6 towards
desperate)
1 s t climax, emotional - main character
climax (turning point) comes closer to
his/her goal by
trying new ways
obstacle
but is forced
obstacle back by
obstacle obstacles (1 s t
2 n d climax climax: goal
obstacle (turning point) lost)
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- at the end of the 4 t h sequence the main character has almost reached
his/her goal (whilst increasing the conflict) which creates an emotional
climax (e.g. a catastrophe) and is the actual climax of the performance
- the emotional climax is a turning point where the character changes
towards an emotional down (he/she might think that the goal will never
be achieved)
- the 2 n d act contains the main tension and the conflict situation
Solution, 3rd Act - in the 7. Sequence
tension rises towards a
climax that falls for a
7. Sequence 8. Sequence little moment (1 s t
turning point) and
turning recovers in the 8.
point Sequence (2 n d turning
point) to rise towards
the final climax and
turning end of the play/film
point
4. Sequences:
Act 1: Exposition Act 2: Confrontation Act 3: Solution
Seq. 1 Seq. 2 3 4 5 6 Seq. 7 Seq. 8
-
- division into 8 sequences helps structuring the performance, name each
sequence
- every sequence has a purpose (nameable)
5. Scenes:
- a scene serves to define the characters, their history, their status, their
present state/situation, their goal, their conflict (a conflict serves to
describe a character)
- ask:
a) Who’s scene is that? Who is the main character? (the scene belongs to
that character which aims for a goal and has the bigger problem)
b) Who is the counter force/antagonist?
c) Which goals do they have in common?
1. intention: What do the character(s) intend to do?
2. motivation: Why do they want to do that?
3. situation: With which knowledge do they enter the scene? Where do they
come from, where do they go to? In which emotional state are they? What
are the circumstances?
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4. hypothesis about the partners: How do the characters think about their
partners? What do they expect from each other?
5. roles: Which roles do they have/play?
6. strategy: Is there a strategy with which the characters want to achieve
their goal before the scene starts?
7. location: locations influence actions and dialogues, they should rather be
concrete than general
8. status: characters try to achieve a constant status (a lower or a higher
one), every character prefers one status and tries to actively get there, the
scene is designed in order to (consciously or not) achieve or maintain the
character’s preferred status; high status means to act from above and a low
status means to be humble/inferior, some characters correlate in between in
order to find a balance; the status can change during the development of
the character; characters can have the same status, which increases the
potential for conflicts in a scene
(example: two main characters of same sex - one weak, one strong –
develop contrarily, they change status from e.g. person A being weak and
dominated by person B to a relation where person A’s character develops
towards a stronger status which is higher than his/her partner’s
- characters within a scene have to be dependent from each other, they
have to use their most important stake (the strongest tactic, the strongest
movement)
- in general: start a scene with the main character
- a scene is structured like an entire play containing conflicts, emotional
climaxes and turning points
- create a network of performers within the plot/story
- psychology of a scene: if the audience gets a detail they get intrigued and
want to see the whole picture
6. Time:
- the past can constantly be reflected within a scene, it can be concrete,
show details, site and time
- the present is reflected whilst the characters show their goals, their
situation, their feelings
- the future: the scene should stimulate the spectator to question the future
of the characters
“If in the first act a gun is hanging on the wall it has to be used by the
third act.” (Tschechow)
7. Indication versus Execution:
- to indicate means to almost coincidentally introduce an idea:
e.g. a character, a prop, a costume, a motive or a location that will be
used later on in greater detail
- to execute means to go back to previously established ideas
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8. Voice over:
- voice over means a voice of a non present/visible character/narrator
- a voice can give orientation in a complicated setting (e.g. when movement
cannot communicate a part of the story)
- a voice can anticipate parts of the story, summarise events or define leaps
in the time structure
- narrator: auctorial means all-knowing; the I-narrator talks in the 1 s t person,
the personal narrator talks in the 3 r d person
- the narrator can appear as a real but independent character in the
performance
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