The Six Viewpoints Theory & Practice

With further investigation of composition and group dynamic, The Six Viewpoint Theory and Practice came up. I've begun teaching the practice in the Laboratory, introducing each of the six viewpoints. This post is a basic introduction to the originator, Mary Overlie, and the theory and practice. One of the many beautiful qualities of this work is it's highly complex yet stupendous simplicity. It takes a significant amount of time to understand all aspects of the work Overlie has articulated. After studying the practice for years, writing a dissertation, teaching the practice repeatedly, and studying with Overlie herself, I am still constantly discovering new pathways and arriving at an place for infinite discovery in the unknown.

A B O U T M A R Y O V E R L I E
Born in Bozeman, Montana. Hopped a train to San Francisco. Followed Grand Union, Yvonne Rainer to New York City. Helped to found: NYU Tisch Experimental Theatre Wing, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, and Movement Research in NYC. Also- the Pro Series Program in Vienna.
An intensely intelligent woman. A theorist. A pioneer for postmodern thought.



T H E T H E O R Y (I E S) - this is what we have gone over so very briefly thus far -

M I N I M A L I S M . a process of reduction . eliminating or minimizing . "found" movement .

"1) The artifice of performance has been reevaluated in that action, or what one does, is more interesting and important that the exhibition of character and attitude, and that action can best be focused on through the submerging of the personality; so ideally one is not even oneself, one is a neutral 'doer.' 2) The display of techincal virtuosity and the display of the dancer's specialized body no longer make any sense." Yvonne Rainer, A Quasi Survey Of Some 'Minimalist' Tendencies

D E C O N S T R U C T I O N . taking apart . disassemble . to see the parts . inventing the wheel backwards .


T H E C U P S. drawing here...soon...
of: hierarchy>deconstruction>individuality>SSTEMS



T H E H O R I Z O N T A L . seeing the individuals as having equal and unique worth . honoring each viewpoint as having their own vocabulary and language . spending a significant amount of time with each viewpoint in isolation .

looking at the metaphor for this phenomenon... seeing the potential for a horizontal structure within the government, politics, academia, social services, domestic life, family relationships . posing the possibility that if we took apart the hierarchy within these scenarios and began to individuals for their unique talents and differentiation strengths and weaknesses, that we could then choose different individuals to lead or advice projects/programs/pieces based a flexible structure where the "people at the top" were always changing. It is even more beautiful than leveling the playing field. It's allowing the playing field to having rolling hills, a natural landscape, unpredictable but supportive, flexible, and wonderfully dynamic. So then...

T E M P O R A R Y C R E A T I V E S T R U C T U R E S . allowing one of the viewpoints to rise while the other fall accordingly . Looks like an undulating sea . The shifting awareness can happen in any duration . in half a blink . a lifetime . a cross from stage left to right . a moment between i love yous.


O B S E R V E R / P A R T I C I P A N T . further understanding of this concept is aided by a knowledge about postmodernism . the artist shifts from creator/originator to observer/participant. cutting through the ego of making work. learning to see what already exists and learning how to participate with it. requires discipline, focus, meditation, and humility.

T H E S I X V I E W P O I N T S

S P A C E . the perceptual ability to see and feel physical relationship .


S H A P E . the perceptual ability to see and feel physical form .


T I M E . the perceptual ability to experience duration and systems created to regulate duration .


E M O T I O N . the perceptual ability to experience a sens of being .


M O V E M E N T . the perceptual ability to experience kinesthetic sensation .


S T O R Y . the perceptual ability to understand logic systems as an arrangement of collected information .

an entry on my own process... I am sustainably humbled by the practice and greatly respect the theory . Mary is an incredibly important mentor to me and feel blessed to have met her . I feel I am at my best when I am able to teach this practice and talk about the theory . It is something that has always been there, and that everyone lives with . The development of the awareness that the Six Viewpoints supports is rooted in the witness . My own journey of seeing, feeling and experiencing has continued to shift, evolve, grow, open, and venture . More recent discoveries, when things are more slow and more honest, have been about the internal place within me . It used to be much more about connecting with the external environment . landscape . I believe that Anna Halprin and my cousin, Chris, were and are teachers for me, that allow me to see how these viewpoints and there qualities exist more privately. intimately . internally . Thank you .