A movement director creates physical vocabularies through actor movement in various production settings, including theatre, television, film, opera, fashion, and animation.
Background
Movement directors work with directors, performers and other members of the creative team to develop the physical language of a production. Their work may include devising movement, researching physical behaviour, and developing exercises or training methods for performers. The movement director may create and research information about etiquette, proxemics, gestural language, social codes, a character's condition (related to medical conditions within their historical context, and factors such as inebriation, pregnancy, etc.), and personal journey (e.g., ageing). They are also responsible for specialist movement such as period dances, falling techniques, acrobatics, animal work, and chorus movements.
Although choreography may be part of a movement director's skill set, not all choreographers are movement directors. For instance, primate movement consultant Peter Elliot worked on Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, showcasing specialized movement consulting that diverges from traditional choreography. In recent years, fashion campaigns and shows have employed movement directors like Stephen Galloway and Ryan Heffington to enhance the presentation of models and clothing on runways.
History
In Britain
The title of "movement director" has existed since the early 20th century, although rarely mentioned in credits. The National Theatre created the role "Head of Movement", first held by Jane Gibson. Glynn MacDonald has long been the Master of Movement at the Shakespeare's Globe, while Struan Leslie became the Royal Shakespeare Company's head of movement in 2009.
In 2020, the Movement Directors in Contemporary Theatre: Conversations on Craft by Ayse Tashkiran was published, marking the first book dedicated to contemporary movement direction practices. In 2022, Kate Flatt published Movement Direction: Developing Physical Narrative for Performance.
Tashkiran, Ayse (2020). Movement Directors in Contemporary Theatre: Conversations on Craft. Methuen Drama. ISBN978-1350054462.
Further reading
Callery, D. (2001). Through the Body, London, Nick Hern Books.
Chambers, C. (2004). Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company, London & New York, Routledge.
Conway, M. (2008). Tea with Trish: the movement work of Trish Arnold, Parts 1 and 2, New York.
Dennis, A. (2002). The articulate body: the physical training of the actor, London: Nick Hern.
Flatt K. and Melrose, S. "Finding – and owning – a Voice: Choreographic Signature and Intellectual Property in Collaborative Practices", Dance Theatre Journal Vol. 22 – 2
Evans, M. (2009). Movement training for the modern actor London, Routledge
Ewan, V. and Green, D. (2014). Actor Movement: Expression of the Physical Being, London, Bloomsbury
Hodgson, John and Preston-Dunlop, Valerie (1990): Rudolf Laban: An Introduction to his Work and Influence, Plymouth Northcote House.
Hope-Wallace, P. (1966). The Guardian, review of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, National Theatre, 1966
Mitchell, K. (2009). The director's craft: a handbook for the theatre, London, Routledge.
National Theatre Archive
Pisk, L. (1975). The actor and his body, London: Harrap
Tashkiran, A (2016). Chapter 25 in British Movement Directors in The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq, edited by Rick Kemp and Mark Evans (Abingdon; Routledge).
Tashkiran, A. (2009). "Movement Directors: the secret weapons of theatre, Research Presentation by Ayse Tashkiran at Central School of Speech and Drama", CSSD Library.
