DEL MOVEMENT SENTENCE CHOIR
DEL Movement Sentence Choir
The DEL Movement Sentence Choir combines two concepts, Laban’s famous movement choirs and the movement sentence, to create a joyful dance experience that brings together dancers of every genre, age and ability and culminates in a live-streamed performance.
The DEL Movement Sentence Choir (MSC) is inspired by the movement choirs created by Rudolf Laban in the early 1900’s, which were designed as democratic and community centered celebrations of dance. Laban’s movement choirs were architectural choreographies often performed outdoors with large numbers of participants. DEL conceived of the 21st century version of Laban’s movement choirs six years ago and has continued to develop the concept. A construct unique to DEL, the original DEL Movement Sentence Choir invites guest choreographers to bring their vision to the group process.
The movement sentence choir is based on a theme and action words. The facilitators use the theme and action words as their inspiration to develop the choir over the course of a three-hour workshop. By the end of the process, the dancers have collaborated and created a group dance that is performed for a live-streamed audience.
A Dance Experience for All
The goal of the DEL Movement Sentence Choir is to bring together a diverse group of dancers and dance educators to participate in a collaborative dance making and community building process. The MSC combines dance concepts from LMA, choreographic devices inspired by group relationship elements of Laban’s movement choirs, and creative processes of contemporary choreographers. The themes of the MSC are often linked to current and relevant social themes which are impacting the political and cultural climate in the USA today.
The DEL MSC is accessible to all dancers and can be developed with all age groups and populations of diverse learners. Dancers experience the power of group dance as a vehicle for community building and social change.
DEL Movement Sentence Choir Collaborations
DEL has created over 20+ Movement Sentence Choirs at the 92nd Street Y, Gibney Dance, Jacob’s Pillow, and universities across the nation.
We are grateful to the following artists for their collaboration in creating these performances that bring diverse groups of people together to celebrate through dance:
- Monica Bill Barnes
- Sidra Bell
- Sumi Clements
- David Dorfman
- Mike Esperanza
- FLEXN
- Gibney Dance
- Larry Keigwin
- Kendra Portier
- Dante Puleio
- Leonardo Sandoval / Music from the Sole
- Urban Bush Women
- Taryn Vander Hoop
- Nicole Wolcott
- WHYTBERG
- Yin Yue