Movement & Gestures

Drama helps you to Learn.

- Parasuram Ramamoorthi

Watch a 12 month old baby’s movement and signs. When he is hungry he moves towards the kitchen and points at the Pressure cooker or his Pediasure bottle. When he is bored with his toy he throws it. And laughs. He needs a new toy or game. We move first and then gestures follow. The baby starts making sounds and then words follow.

Kinesiology is the science dealing with the interrelationship between the physiological processes and anatomy of the human body with respect to movement. I became aware of this science through my colleagues from Chico State University of California at Chico, Prof. Rebecca Lytle and Dr. Josie Blagrave. They visited India three times during our art for autism festivals and introduced me to Kinesiology and Body Movement. I have been using Movement as an actor and learnt the relationship between the Body and Movement.

This short note intends to tell Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists that Art involves Movement. When you sing you automatically move your body. Watch any concert, how the singer and audience move their bodies. Good example is Michael Jackson. So is the case with painting and sketching. A painter might be doing a stroke or draw a line. Then his fingers move across the canvas.

Drama/theatre is all about movement, moving on the stage, from left to right, or jumping about on stage. The actor points to another actor and says: come here or go away. He extends his arms and welcomes another actor. There is Body movement: kinesthetics on stage.

A circus clown entertains us by his movements. We need to study how people move their body parts to understand the importance of Body-Movement.