Gestures

Libertad Esmeralda Iocco

Gestures in motion

Gesture has to do with the body and what it conveys. In Spanish we sometimes refer to
sometimes say that a person “had a good gesture” because his or her actions and attitudes build a broad profile, a generous action, because he or she is considerate of other people.
generous action, because he is a person who is considerate of others. At
In relation to this type of “gesture” a posture is generated, sometimes physical as well (we could say) in front of life.

We could classify bodily gestures according to context and significance. Social gestures (a hug,
nodding the head, thumbs up, etc.), ritual gestures (framed in different religions, they have a specific purpose, such as the
religions, they have a specific purpose, e.g. praying), emotional gestures (it is more personal and depends on cultural, psychological, psychological and
depends on cultural, psychological, hereditary factors. Examples are: fear, anger, love, hope.
hope. Artists develop them more deeply) functional, conceptual or aesthetic gestures: created with an artistic purpose. These gestures can be taken from everyday activities to give them other meanings.
The message conveyed in our conception of Gestures is not literal, since from contemporary art we suggest to the viewer the
contemporary art, we suggest a message to the spectator, we give him the key to open a door, but we do not give the complete
complete material, neither finished nor digested. That is to say that behind the door multiple interpretations can emerge. The public is active, and must “participate” in the construction of the meaning of the work and in the
the construction of the meaning of the work and the message. In this sense, we artists think that without the public the work would completely
the work would completely exist. It would lack a real closure, it would not be resolved or concluded. This is how in each show, the artistic piece changes because the environment and the audience are different. The work comes to life every time it is shown and there is an active receiver who completes it.

Gestures in dance: these are small moments in the dance piece that are reminiscent of what is proper to human beings: human communication with a pre-verbal sense.
The gesture is composed of: The hands, the face, the look, the attitude, the intention of the action.
Could you imagine how we would communicate if we did not have a phono-auditive system? Of course we would.
Language is there before we utter words and learn to imitate and repeat sound messages. Gestures are composed of everything prior to verbal expression.

Intention for action: can you read people’s intentions before they speak to you?
How does a person approach you, when he asks you for something, or when he wants to warn you?
When he asks you to dance a tango? There are many ways to communicate with gestures, and we can read between the lines of these messages.
We can begin to expand the visual record of how we communicate with each other through gestures.
through gestures.

In dance we speak of stage presence to mark the attitude or intention of the dancer. We are
We are guided by ideas, emotions, concepts, stories that make us move and dance.
In pantomime we use the gestures of emotions and ideas in an exaggerated way. We say that these gestures are grotesque, because they must literally show the gesture so that it is understood that it is that specific emotion or idea and not another, because it must follow a specific story or narrative line, there is no open message. However, there are as many degrees, shades and phases of sadness as of joy or any emotion or idea or concept that we can create. In dance we have those shades of gray, which open paths to subjective interpretations and create diverse and original worlds.

Everything we do has a context, a time, a space that frames and gives identity to what we want to show.
we want to show. That is to say that the gesture does not exist alone. A gesture is part of the “grammar” of the language of dance.
language of dance. A gesture is like “a word” within a story. So then, a choreography with gestures
a choreography will be created with combined gestures and movements that will give it form, a music will be determined, it will
music will be determined, it will be developed in a room/space, etc.

How does a gesture speak? It evokes physical sensations, shows situations, suggests a physical and/or emotional state, generates ideas, tells stories that we who observe it will unravel.