Essay Named After Ornette Coleman's In All Languages

Named after Ornette Coleman’s In All Languages, In All Languages (IAL1) is a set of movements created with the intention to be used as a starting point for performance or to be used to stimulate physical activity. It is composed of ten languages: three for solo, three for duo and three for group and the tenth being ‘The RAT Theatre Memorial Workshop’. Created in the mid-nineties by Professor Mike Pearson, John Rowley, Richard Huw Morgan and Dave Levitt, IAL is still used in the creation and devising of theatre today.
One of the functions of IAL is for it to be used as a starting point to create original devised theatre. IAL helps to stimulate activity and bring greater physicality to the devising process, therefore enabling the whole body to

“In a first phase participants become conversant with the languages, idiosyncratic approaches resembling linguistic accent.” (Pearson, 2006, p.212, in comes I) When approaching IAL ourselves we had to progress through the movements step by step before realising them in a theatrical setting. The language used in IAL is very simplistic and suggests that the words may be free to interpretation. However, Pearson (2007) stresses that each move must be completed precisely and correctly before moving onto the latter stages of IAL. For example the term push could be interpreted in many ways, and unknowing participants would not know that they would have to stroke their hands down the front of their partner’s arms before dynamically rotating and moving the hands to a ninety degree angle and then push the hands against their partners. The push movement shows that IAL needs to be practised and articulated under guidance of people who know the language to ensure that the set movements are being reproduced. However, taking this into account, once IAL has been mastered correctly it allows for interpretation and freedom of composition when creating the movement score for a devised performance. ‘Each must be achieved precisely, but only within the physical capabilities and aspirations of

In this performance the environment aids in giving meaning and context to the set movements. Viewing this helped to solidify my knowledge on how and why IAL is and can be used. It also helped me to understand that IAL could become contextualised and theatrical once it was layered with other material. In this setting you can begin to create links with the movement and the surrounding environment. The movements almost appear to mimic the natural environment, therefore suggesting that these learnt movements can contain many different meanings and allow for the audience to interpret the set moves differently in different contexts. Ritchie (2013) states that: ‘They are not abstract concepts; they relate directly to the practises employed within Brith Gof and the particular questions and processes that foreground their work.’(p. 278). Thus, it is obvious that once layered with site IAL gains meaning and works in a theatrical way, creating performative meaning.

After encountering IAL I have discovered the practicality of creating set movements to create devised performance. I have discovered and understood how devising can create a new language for theatre. Although IAL can be used as a starting point for conceiving devised work, to establish a complete performance the basic actions must be formatted in such a way that they work at different tempos and against other stimulus’ for performance such as music and