Fundamentals of Rhythms

There was a frequent use of paintings and sculptures showing naked bodies as prototypes for tableaux vivants. Nakedness was usually not allowed on stage, but an exception was made in certain cities, for instance in New York, for suchlike in the tableaux vivants (McCullough 1983). There are, however, important differences between a naked body in a static pose and moving on stage. The view of a naked body in a painting, a sculpture or a tableau vivant provides information about both the surface and the threedimensional form of the body. The view of a naked body in movement, however, may reveal both the differing resistance of the body’s superficial layers to changes in posture and the existence of bones and organs deeper inside it. This is probably why a moving body in the nude appeals more strongly to the tactile sense than static nudes. The indecency of the former is much to do with the heightened liveness of a naked body when it is in movement. Examples in the contemporary press show that the short moments when a static group of figures in a tableau vivant was transformed into another tableau brought special notice (McCullough 1983). It is possibly no coincidence that the heydays of the tableaux vivants coincided with the invention of early cinematic techniques: behind both is the same urge for liveness.

Motionless postures, in themselves as well as in photographs, may show a readiness or a disposition towards moving. Such an omnipresence of impulses to move has been noticed and discussed by some leading stage artists of the 20th century. Rudolf Laban indicates that even when brought to complete immobility, a person still feels the flow and the qualities of the movement just performed. As a prolongation of this feeling, it is natural to let it continue in a new movement (Laban xxxx). This idea gives the clue to quite another view of the immobile body. It is true that in one sense it is characterized by an absence of movement, but in another sense, it is a