ABSTRACT
Dancers enliven the three-dimensional sphere of space around their bodies in different ways throughout a technique class. At the advanced levels, ballet dancers often use both their arms and legs to "paint" the middle and high areas of their Kinespheres, and while the upper body does, at times, move at a low level, ballet dancers typically paint the low areas with their legs and feet. The pathways dancers "paint" in their Kinespheres are just as interesting. This chapter introduces two new Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis (L/BMA) movement concepts: Kinesphere and Traceforms. There are numerous ways to apply the concepts of Traceforms and Kinesphere to ballet technique. Sometimes it is important to be highly specific and restrictive, and other times it is more productive to create open-ended explorations that allow for multiple discoveries. Ultimately, it is important the dancers understand the decisions they make in the technique classroom and how those decisions impact their technical and artistic development.
