Viewpoints is a technique of

dance composition Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

that acts as a medium for thinking about and acting upon movement,

gesture A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ot ...

and creative space. Originally developed in the 1970s by master theater artist and educator

Mary Overlie Mary Overlie (January 15, 1946 – June 5, 2020) was an American choreographer, dancer, theater artist, professor, author, and the originator of the Six Viewpoints technique for theater and dance. The Six Viewpoints technique is both a philosophi ...

, the Six Viewpoints has been studied and practiced for decades in theatre and dance. Overlie's practice and theory profoundly enables access to the source of inspiration and creativity. The Six Viewpoints, if practiced in the purest form, is found to be indescribably powerful and effective in all areas of investigation of, and for making art. In the simplest form, it is a practice for improvisation. The Six Viewpoints theory was adapted by directors

Anne Bogart Anne Bogart (born September 25, 1951) is an American theatre and opera director. She is currently one of the Artistic Directors of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a professor at Columbia Univ ...

and

Tina Landau Tina Landau (born May 21, 1962) is an American playwright and theatre director. Known for her large-scale, musical, and ensemble-driven work, Landau's productions have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, most extensively at the ...

over the course of 10 years, ultimately resulting in the delineation of nine "physical" Viewpoints and 5 "vocal" ones. Bogart and Overlie were on the faculty of ETW at NYU in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during which time Bogart was influenced by Overlie's innovations. Overlie's Six Viewpoints (space, story, time, emotion, movement, and shape) are considered to be a logical way to examine, analyze and create art in a profound way while Bogart's Viewpoints are considered practical in creating staging with actors.

Overlie's Viewpoints

SSTEMS is a mnemonic device for the six elements of Overlie's viewpoints (the actual acronym is spelled SSTEMS: Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement, and Story,) and also signifies which elements Mary Overlie considered the most important. Note the change from the classical and modern periods in performance art, where story always took precedence over the other elements. Viewpoints is part of the post-modern tradition, in that there is no hierarchy in the different elements that make "theatre."

Space

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

- The physical environment, the space, and whatever belongs to it or constitutes it, including permanent and non-permanent features. *Spatial Relationship - Distance between objects on stage; one body in relation to another, to a group, or to the architecture. *Topography - The movement over landscape, floor pattern, design and colours.

Shape

Shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...

- The contour or outline of bodies in space; the shape of the body by itself, in relation to other bodies, or in relation to architecture; think of lines, curves, angles, arches all stationary or in motion. *Gesture - a) Behavioral gesture: realistic gesture belonging to the physical world as we observe it every day. b) Expressive gesture: abstract or symbolic gesture expressing an inner state or emotion; it is not intended as a public or "realistic" gesture.

Time

Tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

- How quickly or slowly something happens on stage. *

Duration Duration may refer to: * The amount of time elapsed between two events * Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music * Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...

- How long an event occurs over time; how long a person or a group maintains a particular movement, tempo, gesture, etc. before it changes. *Kinesthetic Response - A spontaneous reaction to a motion that occurs outside of oneself. An instinctive response to an external

stimulus A stimulus is something that causes a physiological response. It may refer to: *Stimulation **Stimulus (physiology), something external that influences an activity **Stimulus (psychology), a concept in behaviorism and perception *Stimulus (economi ...

. (realistic/non-realistic) *

Repetition Repetition may refer to: * Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

- a) Internal: repeating a movement done with one's own body, and b) External: repeating a movement occurring outside one's body.

Emotion

Psychological or narrative content ascribed to movement.

Movement

*Movement of your body, different ways of moving - for example, jerky versus smooth/flowing versus very slowly or fast. The movement of different parts of your body.

Story

*Perceptual ability to see and understand logic systems as an arrangement of collected information All of the different elements influence each other and work together, and can "cause" a change in a different element. For example, the shape of your body may carry a certain emotion with it as well - something in the space of your environment may make a story out of what you are doing - etc. The actors must focus first on the isolation of each separate viewpoint element on its own, before integrating and working them all together. It is often that a performer finds one of the elements comes naturally, and perhaps uses that one element they really understand to access the other elements, which they must work to become more familiar with.

Bogart's and Landau's Viewpoints

In their book, ''The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition'',

and

identify the primary Viewpoints as those relating to Time - which are Tempo, Duration, Kinesthetic Response, and Repetition - and those relating to Space - which are Shape, Gesture, Architecture, Spatial Relationship and Topography. In addition, Bogart and Landau have added the

Vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

Viewpoints which include Pitch,

Volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The de ...

, and

Timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...

. In the book, the authors outline the basics of the Viewpoints training they both espouse as well as specific methods for applying the Viewpoints to both rehearsals and production. For Bogart and Landau, the Viewpoints represent not only a physical technique but also a philosophical, spiritual, and aesthetic approach to many aspects of their work. Bogart references her work with the

SITI Siti or SITI may refer to: People * Siti (given name), a common Malay female given name * Siti Kassim (born 1961), Comorian politician * Siti Mwinyi (born 1932), Tanzanian first lady * Beáta Siti (born 1973), Hungarian handball player and coach ...

company, and Landau with the Steppenwolf Theater Company. Bogart recognizes that these are not the only Viewpoints, just the ones she finds most useful for the

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

s with whom she works.