ABSTRACT
This chapter uses a performance-centred approach1 to look at some implications of rhythm. It draws attention to a particular mode of rhythmic perception which we shall call the ‘returnbeat’, and uses it to highlight certain shared experiences in a group. These practices are then cited as a way to discuss individual and cultural practices of ‘becoming’. It includes practical instructions for conducting a situated and embodied experiment. This exploration synthesises theory and practice and uses techniques that I have developed from my experiences as a performer, dancer and teacher, following the traditions of Rudolf Laban,2 the pioneering choreographer, practitioner and academic. In Laban’s approach, knowledge is derived from, and is understood to be located in, the dancer’s active ‘centre’ of the body. In exploring the way we share the experience of physical movement, rhythm is used as an organisational focus for what the group shares in space-time.3
