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Dossantoslima dissertation-2019
1. Ritmoplastia by Cacilda Borges Barbosa: A Performing Edition
By
Leticia dos Santos Lima
A dissertation submitted to the Moores School of Music,
Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctoral of Musical Arts
in Piano Performance
Chair of Committee: Barbara Rose Lange, Ph.D.
Committee Member: Timothy Hester, M.M.
Committee Member: John Snyder, Ph.D.
Committee Member: Noe Marmolejo, M.M.
University of Houston
December 2019
4. iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My profound gratitude to my mom, Maria da Conceição, for always being there
for me. I wouldn't have gotten here if it wasn't for your love.
I would like to thank Cacilda Borges Barbosa’s family: Claudia Lopes da Silva,
César Barbosa, and Júlia Maria Barbosa, Barbosa’s niece, son, and granddaughter
respectively, for providing me open access to their collection.
I would like to thank my committee members who also served as my recital
committee in the course of this degree. To Dr. Lange, thank you for the dedication and
meticulous work. I’ve learned so much from you. To Dr. Snyder, thank you for the
support and valuable contribution to my research. To Dr. Durrani, thank you for your
presence and encouragement in my recitals and in the first stages of this study. To Mr.
Marmolejo, thank you for motivating me to work and play with truth and passion. To my
dear professor Mr. Hester, infinite thanks for your support, wisdom and inspirational
leadership that contributed immeasurably for this degree and for my musical and personal
growth.
To my dear friends who helped in so many ways for the success of this degree:
Antoinette Boecker, Alaina Diehl, Beatriz Klavin, Gisele Duque, Heritage Presbyterian
Church, Janaina Grassano, Livia Woodcock, Paula Lucas, and Yasmin Scutti.
Finally, I’d like to thank my beloved family. Victor, my dear husband and friend,
thank you for being my support in rough times and always taking care of me so that I
could conclude this study. Noah, my sweet son, thank you for inspiring me to always do
my very best.
5. v
ABSTRACT
This study presents a performing edition of the method Ritmoplastia created by the
Brazilian composer Cacilda Borges Barbosa (1914-2010). Barbosa created Ritmoplastia
as a means of recording popular and folkloric Brazilian dances. With the assistance of
choreographer Clara Semeles, Barbosa developed a style of notation that combines music
notation and plastias, symbols that represent bodily gestures. This performing edition
draws on manuscripts, typed educational booklets, and compositions by Barbosa and
others, with Ritmoplastia notation added. This study is enriched by other primary sources
such as recital programs, manuscript drafts, Ritmoplastia class plans, course syllabi, and
compositions. This study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter presents Cacilda
Borges Barbosa’s biography and describes her career as a musician, composer, and
pedagogue. The second chapter traces a history of Ritmoplastia and describes the primary
sources consulted for this dissertation, nearly all from a private collection held by the
Barbosa family. The third chapter focuses on the plastia symbol system, investigating its
origins and deciphering its meanings. The fourth chapter presents the notation format,
major sources, and editorial processes used in the production of this performing edition.
After Chapter Four follows Ritmoplastia: A Performing Edition, organized in an
introduction and four parts: Ritmoplastia within the Metric Unit and its Subdivisions,
Ritmoplastia in Rhythmic Variation, Ritmoplastia in Short Musical Examples, and
Ritmoplastia Compositions. This edition intends to contribute to the artistic enhancement
of musicians and dancers.
6. vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION .............................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................iv
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. v
LIST OF TABLES .....................................................................................................viii
LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................ix
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES............................................................................... x
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1
I. CACILDA BORGES BARBOSA: BIOGRAPHY.................................................... 5
Compositions....................................................................................................... 7
Pedagogical Works.............................................................................................. 8
II. RITMOPLASTIA: HISTORY AND SOURCES.................................................... 11
History and Reception ....................................................................................... 12
Sources.............................................................................................................. 15
Didactic Material on Ritmoplastia (DMR).............................................. 16
Academic Documents on Ritmoplastia (ADR) ....................................... 19
Ritmoplastia in the Performing Arts (RPA)............................................ 20
Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 25
III. THE PLASTIAS.................................................................................................... 26
Historical Context.............................................................................................. 27
Origins of the Plastias: The Manuscript Sketch Notebook (DMR4)................... 28
Plastias in Typed Booklet 1 (DMR2.1).............................................................. 32
7. vii
Plastias Set to Music ......................................................................................... 36
Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 38
IV. RITMOPLASTIA: A PERFORMING EDITION: CONTENT AND EDITORIAL
NOTES ........................................................................................................................ 40
Content.............................................................................................................. 43
Editorial Notes................................................................................................... 51
Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 52
RITMOPLASTIA BY CACILDA BORGES BARBOSA WITH CLARA
SEMELES .................................................................................................................. 53
Introduction....................................................................................................... 55
Part I: Ritmoplastia within the Metric Unit and Its Subdivisions ........................ 59
Part II: Ritmoplastia in Rhythmic Variation....................................................... 72
Part III: Ritmoplastia in Short Musical Examples............................................... 83
Part IV: Ritmoplastia Compositions................................................................. 113
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 139
8. viii
LIST OF TABLES
2.1 Documents on Ritmoplastia in the Barbosa Family Collection........................... 13
2.2 Repertoire of Ritmoplastia Presentation, Curitiba Music Festival....................... 24
3.1 Plastia Symbols with Contrasting Labels........................................................... 34
3.2 Variant of Plastia, DMR4 and RPA5.1.............................................................. 37
3.3 Body Position Modifiers Used in Plastia Choreographies…….………...……....38
4.1 Ritmoplastia, Lima Edition, Documentary Sources, Editorial Procedures, and
Rationale……………………..……………………………………….………….41
9. ix
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1 DMR4, Cover................................................................................................... 18
2.2 RPA1................................................................................................................. 22
2.3 RPA2................................................................................................................. 23
3.1 DMR4, p. 3........................................................................................................ 30
3.2 DMR4, p.5......................................................................................................... 31
3.3 RPA5.1, p. 1...................................................................................................... 37
10. x
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES
3.1 DMR2.1, p. 2. Exercise 2…….…………………………………………….....….34
3.2 DMR2.1, Exercise 20…………….………………………………………..……..35
4.1a DMR2.1, p. 3………………………...…………………………………….…….46
4.1b Lima Edition, Part I, Exercise No. 3…...……..…………..……………….……..46
4.2a DMR1, p. 10, Facsimile……………………...……………………………….….47
4.2b Lima Edition, Part II, Exercise No. 3…………...……………….……….……....48
4.3a DMR1, p. 14, Facsimile…………...………………………………….………….49
4.3b Lima Edition, Part III, Musical Example No. 1…….……..………….....……….50
11. 1
Introduction
The Brazilian pianist, composer, and pedagogue Cacilda Borges Barbosa (1914-
2010) contributed considerably to musical life in Brazil. She studied with central figures
of Brazilian classical music, and composed and conducted many works herself. Barbosa
preferred to be known as a composer; the Estudos Brasileiros for voice and piano (1950)
and the Estudos Brasileiros for solo piano (1965) are her most famous compositions,
along with the choral piece Procissão da Chuva (Procession of Rain, 1986).1
Barbosa
also had a major role in the country’s educational system. She was part of a key group in
Brazil that implemented Heitor Villa-Lobos’s plan for national music education. She then
developed additional theory, aesthetics, and methods around a musical education that
could be specifically Brazilian. Barbosa’s Estudos de Ritmo e Som, written in the 1980s,
is still used in Brazilian music schools. She continued to compose and produce
pedagogical material until her death at the age of ninety-six.
When Barbosa’s career began in the first half of the twentieth century, Brazil’s
Nationalist Modernism movement was stimulating artists and pedagogues to develop a
uniquely Brazilian voice in the arts and in education. Villa-Lobos was already a famous
composer when he proposed implementing musical instruction in Brazilian elementary
schools through canto orfeônico (orpheonic chant), a method stressing songs with
folkloric melodies and patriotic themes.2
Because Villa-Lobos was a self-taught
composer and did not have a formal degree or experience with schools, a team of
1
Ermelinda Paz, Pedagogia Musica Brasileira no Século XX (Brasília: MusiMed Edições
Musicais, 2013), 128.
2
David P. Appleby, Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Life (1887-1959) (London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.,
2002), 101-102; Lisa M. Peppercorn, Villa-Lobos (Brookfield, VT: Scolar Press, 1992), 6-7.
12. 2
professionals was enlisted to work on his project. In 1932, Barbosa became part of the
first group of teachers and pedagogues to work with Villa-Lobos on the project. She was
trained by the composer himself to teach in the schools and was also a member of the
editorial board that composed and adapted the songs to be taught in the schools.3
Barbosa composed additional didactic material based on popular, folkloric, and
indigenous tunes. One example is her multi-volume set of etudes, Estudos de Ritmo e
Som, based mostly on folkloric and indigenous themes. Barbosa’s Brazilian music
pedagogy influenced subsequent educators both in Rio de Janeiro and in southern Brazil.
These educators include José Eduardo Gramani, Adamo Prince, and Lucas Ciavatta,
whose works are widely published and used in Brazilian music schools and universities.4
One of Barbosa’s most original contributions to Brazilian music pedagogy is
Ritmoplastia das Dancas Brasileiras or Ritmoplastia, a method of developing skills in a
style of movement that Barbosa believed was unique to Brazil. This method was based on
Barbosa’s observation of spontaneous artistic manifestations by the Brazilian people,
both in their playing and dancing. In order to create a means of recording these artistic
expressions, Barbosa developed a method that integrated music and dance. Barbosa
invented the term Ritmoplastia to represent a method that teaches physical gesture
rhythmically. To do this, Barbosa combined rhythmic notation, other musical notation,
and symbols for gestures in a graduated level of complexity; she called the movement
symbols plastias. The plastias were developed in coordination with Clara Semeles, a
choreographer and dance professor at Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre. Ritmoplastia
3
Ivana M. Pinho Kuhn, “Music Education in Brazil in the Twentieth Century: A Historical
Analysis” (Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 2000), 76, 106.
4
Paz, 207.
13. 3
was first taught in 1961 at the Instituto Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, as well as in the
Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Dance School. Ritmoplastia was also implemented in
physical education courses in the state of Paraná in the south of Brazil.5
Although several Brazilian articles and theses mention the existence of
Ritmoplastia, there are no published theses or scholarly articles on Ritmoplastia; the
present project fills this gap by addressing the history, aesthetic principles, notation, and
pedagogy of Ritmoplastia in detail.6
Many working documents and manuscripts on
Ritmoplastia, previously unknown, are held by Barbosa’s family; they shared the
documents with me for the purpose of this study. This project draws on twenty-six
different documents from the Barbosa family collection. The most important of these are
a manuscript notebook and two typed booklets; in them, Barbosa worked out much of the
Ritmoplastia system. Other documents show the development of the didactic approach in
Ritmoplastia; the Barbosa family documents also include compositions with added
Ritmoplastia notation and other documents on the teaching and performance of
Ritmoplastia.
5
Taianara Goedert, “Desdobramentos Artísticos Resultantes dos Festivais de Música de Curitiba
e Cursos Internacionais de Música do Paraná” (Master’s thesis, Universidade Federal do Paraná,
2010), 67; Deisy de Oliveira Silva et al., “As Disciplinas Rítmicas e Dançantes nos Cursos de
Licenciatura em Educação Física do Estado do Paraná,” Pensar a Prática 18, no. 3
(July/September 2015): 532.
6
Goedert mentions the presence of Ritmoplastia at the 1974 Curitiba music festival (see
“Desdobramentos Artísticos,” 67). Oliveira Silva et al. mention the use of Ritmoplastia in Paraná
State’s educational degree programs (see “As Disciplinas Rítmicas,” 532). Paz’s Pedagogia da
Música Brasileira is the only source in Portuguese that considers Barbosa’s educational work.
Paz provides a short biography, and then focuses on Barbosa’s method Estudos de Ritmo e Som.
Encyclopedias providing biographical entries on Barbosa include the International Encyclopedia
of Women Composers, The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, Latin American
Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary, 3rd
ed., and Enciclopédia da Música
Brasileira–Erudita, Folclórica e Popular, 2nd ed., “Cacilda Borges Barbosa,”
http://denisbarbosa.addr.com/cbbbio.pdf (accessed April 26, 2017), includes a list of Barbosa’s
most important achievements.
14. 4
This study is organized into four chapters followed by an edition. Chapter 1
provides biographical information and details the significance of Barbosa’s efforts in
Brazilian music pedagogy. Chapter 2 examines the history of Ritmoplastia and discusses
the contents and nature of the documents provided by Barbosa’s family. Chapter 3
focuses on the plastias, approaching the creative process that generated this original
notation and explaining how to decipher it. Chapter 4 discusses the editorial processes
used to generate a performing edition of Ritmoplastia. In addition to detailing editorial
processes, I discuss the didactic stages of the method, from basic rhythmic concepts and
body gestures to the performance of a whole piece of music. My performing edition
includes Barbosa’s own prose exposition of the goal of the method, and then orders the
Ritmoplastia scores into four graduated subcategories based on the didactic milestones
they aim to reach.
This research aims to highlight the importance of Cacilda Borges Barbosa’s work
in musical and movement education. Despite the fact that she had a professional
partnership with Villa-Lobos, developed many compositions, and produced didactic
material, her contributions are not well known either within the Brazilian academic
community or internationally. This exploration and performing edition of Barbosa’s
Ritmoplastia method will assist the development of educators, performers, and scholars
in the fields of music and dance.
15. 5
Chapter One
Cacilda Borges Barbosa: Biography
Cacilda Borges Barbosa (1914-2010) was born in in Cascadura, a suburban area
in Rio de Janeiro. She grew up in a musical environment; her parents were amateur
musicians and held many rehearsals in their house. Barbosa started playing her father’s
mandolin at the age of five. This instrument is commonly used in choro groups.7
Thus, it
can be assumed that the music performed in her household had much to do with choro, a
musical style that influenced Barbosa’s compositions years later. In 1927 Barbosa began
her studies in piano, composing, and conducting at Escola Nacional de Música, a
traditional institution that today belongs to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She
studied with leading composers on the Brazilian music scene, including her composition
teacher Francisco Braga, who composed the first Brazilian anthem. She also studied
harmony with Lorenzo Fernandez and conducting with Francisco Mignone. She
graduated in 1938 with a degree in composition and conducting.
As early as 1932, Barbosa had begun a fruitful career as a music pedagogue. This
was the year when Heitor Villa-Lobos, already an internationally acclaimed composer,
introduced the idea of implementing music in Brazil’s elementary education system
through canto orfeônico (orpheonic chant). Songs of canto orfeônico were patriotic in
character and were seen as a means of attaining a spirit of national loyalty and patriotism.
The federal government hired Villa-Lobos as the director of musical and artistic
7
Paz, Pedagogia da Música Brasileira, 128.
16. 6
education in Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil.8
Villa-Lobos was a self-taught
composer with no formal degree or expertise in working in schools. For that reason, a
team of competent professionals was also employed to work on his project. Barbosa was
part of this first team of music teachers, as well as a member of the editorial board of
musicians who composed or adapted folkloric tunes to the orpheonic chant method for
the education system.9
The work on the orpheonic chant method and the partnership with Villa-Lobos
were the beginning of many professional achievements. In 1961, Barbosa became the
first director of EPEMA, the Escola Popular de Educação Musical e Artística (Popular
School of Music and Arts Education). EPEMA later became the Instituto Villa-Lobos, a
state music school that is still active today and is important to children and college
students in Rio de Janeiro. On numerous occasions, she conducted choir concerts
gathering students from the whole state of Rio de Janeiro. These were large-scale events;
the Patriotic Week of 1971 represents an example. During that event Barbosa conducted a
choir of approximately forty thousand students in a soccer stadium. From 1967 to 1972,
she held the same leadership position Villa-Lobos had held in the 1930s, that of director
of musical and artistic education for the federal government. She retired from her school
activities in 1973 and focused instead on composing music and developing pedagogical
material.10
8
For information on Villa-Lobos as an educator, see Appleby, Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Life, 95-134
and Peppercorn, Villa-Lobos, 6-7.
9
Pinho Kuhn, “Music Education in Brazil in the Twentieth Century,” 76.
10
“Cacilda Borges Barbosa,” accessed April 26, 2017, http://denisbarbosa.addr.com/cbbbio.pdf.
17. 7
Compositions
Barbosa had her first published composition in 1928, when she was fourteen years
old. It was a waltz called Cruzada Azul that was sold to raise funds for a hospital in
Cascadura.11
Barbosa’s compositions were largely influenced by choro and also by the
Nationalist Modernist Movement. To secure a Brazilian musical identity, Barbosa
traveled to different parts of Brazil to research folkloric and indigenous music.12
Despite her vast training as a pedagogue and conductor, Barbosa always
considered herself a composer above all else. As a composer, her initial impulse was to
create technically challenging pieces, and then to compose more accessible ones, usually
at the request of teachers. For that reason, most of her compositions are named estudos
(studies) and present a pedagogical character despite their highly artistic nature. About
her output and compositional process, Barbosa declared:
[…] the most difficult pieces were composed first, and then, because the
difficulties were abundant, the students sometimes had no ability to perform them,
so, for this reason, I made other easier levels, at the request of my fellow
teachers.13
Regarding piano music, Barbosa also composed her most technically challenging
pieces first. The Estudos Brasileiros (Brazilian Studies) for solo piano, published in
1965, are six contrasting concert-études that explore the rhythmic diversity of Brazilian
popular music with emphasis on traditional styles of urban music from Rio de Janeiro,
like choro and Brazilian tango. Barbosa considered them as pieces of “transcendental
11
Ibid.
12
Claudia Lopes da Silva, interview by author, Rio de Janeiro, August 28, 2017. Lopes da Silva
is Barbosa’s niece.
13
“[…] os trabalhos mais difíceis foram feitos primeiro e, depois, como as dificuldades eram
muito grandes, os alunos às vezes não tinham condição de ralizar e, então, fui fazendo outros
níveis mais fáceis, a pedido dos colegas professors.” Paz, 95.
18. 8
execution.”14
For that reason, years later in the 1980s, Barbosa composed the Diorama, a
four-volume series of progressive pieces. Barbosa claimed that the Diorama was
developed to address the technical and artistic issues found in the Estudos Brasileiros.
Barbosa has a considerable compositional output; however, only a small portion
of her compositions have been published. Not surprisingly, Barbosa’s best-known
compositions are the ones officially published, by Ricordi São Paulo: Estudos Brasileiros
for voice and piano vol. 1 (1959) and Estudos Brasileiros for solo piano. She also
composed Estudos Brasileiros that remain unpublished; they are set for solo instruments
such as trombone and accordion. Barbosa’s remaining compositions were either self-
published or are still in manuscript form.
Barbosa composed a wide range of music. In 1955 she wrote Uirapiranga for
orchestra and ballet. It was probably around the mid 1950s, after working with dancers
and composing for them, that Barbosa started to develop Ritmoplastia. Barbosa wrote
Chibraseando (1973), for twenty percussionists, and vocal pieces such as Lamentações
Onomatopaicas (1966) for choir and Cota Zero (1969) for choir, percussion, flute,
vibraphone, and cello. She also composed sacred pieces such as Segunda Missa
Brasileira (1968) and Missa em Fugas (1971).15
Pedagogical Works
Barbosa’s main work in the field of pedagogy is the four-volume Estudos de
Ritmo e Som (Studies of Rhythm and Sound), widely used in music schools in Brazil. This
14
Cacilda Borges Barbosa, composer’s note, Diorama Vol. 2 (Rio de Janeiro: Cacilda Borges
Barbosa, 1984), 3.
15
“Cacilda Campos Borges Barbosa,” International Encyclopedia of Women Composers, 51.
19. 9
method addresses important aspects of music education, particularly rhythm and sound
with emphasis on Brazilian music. In the preface to these volumes, Barbosa declared:
The embodiment of rhythmic and melodic “Brazilianess” in musical education
was always important to me. The solfèje student should taste the exercises in the
same way one savors the fruits [coisas da terra] of one’s homeland with national
taste. Above all, we look to avoid the conservatory style, insipid, sterile and strict,
that we all had to suffer in school. If one can whistle the exercises at the end of
classes, then we will have achieved our intent.16
Each volume of the Estudos de Ritmo e Som starts with rhythmic exercises to be
performed with both hands, followed by melodic exercises for sight singing. At the end
of each volume there are several songs composed by Barbosa. These songs progress from
one- to four-voice pieces of highly artistic character. Procissão da Chuva is part of the
fourth volume of the Estudos de Ritmo e Som.
Barbosa’s last pedagogical work was a contribution with piano teacher Maria de
Lourdes Junqueira Gonçalves in the method Educação Musical através do Teclado
(Musical Education through the Keyboard). This method was created by Gonçalves in
the 1980s and aimed to provide the piano student with a comprehensive musical
education in theory, improvisation, and transposition. In 2002 and 2004 Barbosa wrote
musical examples for two additional volumes (both self published).17
It is remarkable that until the end of her life, Barbosa remained faithful to her
trajectory as a composer and musical pedagogue, always exalting Brazilian music. All her
16
“A incorporação da ‘brasilidade’ rítmica e melódica na Educação Musical sempre nos pareceu
importante. O aluno de solfejo deve degustar os exercícios da mesma forma que saboreia coisas
da terra com gosto de nacional. Mais do que tudo, procuramos evitar o ‘estilo conservatório’,
insosso, estéril e grave, que tivemos todos que sofrer quando nos bancos escolares. Se der para
assobiar, no fim das aulas, teremos alcançado o nosso intento.” Barbosa, composer’s note,
Estudos de Ritmo e Som 1o
Ano, 7th ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Cacilda Borges Barbosa, 2001).
17
Paz, 397.
20. 10
pedagogical work had an intense artistic quality, just as many of her compositions had a
pedagogical character. In her long and productive career, Barbosa contributed immensely
to Brazilian music, especially to Brazilian musical pedagogy.
21. 11
Chapter Two
Ritmoplastia: History and Sources
The term Ritmoplastia is a neologism created by Barbosa in which she applied a
new meaning to the suffix -plastia. For her, plastias were dance notation signs that
promoted physical integration with rhythm. The term plastia comes from the Greek
plastós, meaning formed or molded. In Brazil’s dance field, it is common to mention the
term plasticidade (plasticity) as the ability of the body to be transformed by movement.18
In Portuguese, the term plastia is most commonly used in the medical field as a suffix for
surgical interventions.19
There are no records about how Barbosa came up with the idea
of naming her dance notation plastia, but since she was married to Dr. Hydson Mario
Barbosa, a physician, medical language could have been common in their household.20
Thus, for Barbosa, the term plastia may have connoted the close relationship of music
and dance as well as a means of connecting physical movement and rhythm.
A characteristic feature of Barbosa’s written statements about Ritmoplastia is her
use of words in new contexts. Barbosa is one of the few Portuguese-language authors to
use ritmologia, a term often used in cardiology, to mean the study of rhythm in music.
Barbosa also invented words such as plastiologia to designate the study of the plastias
and símbolos plastiológicos (“plastiologic” symbols) to refer to Ritmoplastia’s particular
18
Marcia Almeida, “Arte Coreográfica: Plasticidade Corporal e Conhecimento Sensível,” in
A Cena em Foco: Artes Coreográficas em Tempos Líquidos, ed. Marcia Almeida (Brasilia:
Editora IFB, 2015), 93.
19
Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, s.v. “plastia,” accessed April 2, 2017,
http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/plastia
20
“Cacilda Borges Barbosa,” accessed April 26, 2017, http://denisbarbosa.addr.com/cbbbio.pdf
22. 12
dance notation. In the Manuscript Notebook now in the Barbosa family collection
(DMR1), Barbosa wrote an introductory note that exemplified her use of the words
ritmologia and símbolos plastiológicos to define rhythmic aspects and the use of plastias
in Ritmoplastia:
The rhythmology applied to Ritmoplastia focuses on rhythms found in Brazilian
dances. The movements of Ritmoplastia are indicated by symbols. To give a
methodological sense to teaching Ritmoplastia, plastiologic symbols were created,
and we called them Plastia.21
Although Barbosa claims to have created Ritmoplastia to address Brazilian
dances, DMR1-10—the manuscript and typescript sketches and notebooks on
Ritmoplastia—do not contain any indications of which specific dances she intended to
portray. Despite this, Barbosa developed the Ritmoplastia method in a clear and
organized way, and its notation can be applied to varied styles of music.
History and Reception
The Barbosa family collection provides an important set of documents with
historical information about Ritmoplastia; these documents are listed in Table 2.1. In this
collection a course syllabus by the teacher Maria Ivanira Telles (ADR2) summarizes the
method’s history. Telles writes that Ritmoplastia was created as a means of recording
spontaneous artistic manifestations of the Brazilian people in the field of dance. She
mentions the institutions in which Barbosa taught Ritmoplastia, and highlights the good
reception of Ritmoplastia; users included teachers of students with auditory impairment
21
“A Ritmologia aplicada à Ritmoplastia focaliza os ritmos encontrados nas danças brasileiras.
Os movimentos da Ritmoplastia são indicados por símbolos. A fim de que fosse dado um
sentido metodológico ao ensino da Ritmoplastia, criou-se uma grafia de símbolos
plastiológicos que denominaremos de Plastia” (DMR1, 2).
23. 13
Table 2.1: Documents on Ritmoplastia in the Barbosa family collection, Rio de Janeiro.
Attributed to Cacilda Borges Barbosa, except where noted.
Didactic
Material on
Ritmoplastia
(DMR)
DMR1: Manuscript Notebook (41 pp.)
DMR2.1: Typed Booklet 1 (19 pp.)
DMR2.2: Typed Booklet 2 (24 pp.)
DMR3: Typed Booklet 1 with physical education teachers course cover
(20 pp.)
DMR4: Manuscript Sketch Notebook (27 pp.)
DMR5: Manuscript sketches including statement of Ritmoplastia’s origins
and goals (4 pp. February 4, 1965)
DMR6: Manuscript draft of Ritmoplastia methodology (6 pp., 1969)
DMR7: Typed list of six goals of Ritmoplastia
DMR8: Manuscript Ritmoplastia exercises no. 17 and 18 (1 p.)
DMR9: Manuscript draft for Ritmoplastia demonstration, Military Club,
Rio de Janeiro (1 p., December 17, 1966)
DMR10: Manuscript draft for Ritmoplastia class, Rio de Janeiro
Municipal Theatre Dance School (1 p., March 20, 1967)
Academic
Documents
on
Ritmoplastia
(ADR)
ADR1: Ritmoplastia syllabus for undergraduate course (6 pp.)
ADR2: Syllabus for Ritmoplastia degree plan (author, Maria Ivanira
Telles; 6 pp., 1973)
ADR3: Manuscript sketch for Ritmoplastia curriculum (cover only, 1960)
ADR4: Two Ritmoplastia tests for Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre
Dance School (4 pp.) Not in use.
Ritmoplastia in
the
Performing
Arts (RPA)
RPA1: Recital program, Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Dance School
(3 pp.)
RPA2: Recital program, Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Dance School,
(2 pp. 1965)
RPA3: Manuscript, Estudo No
1 Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras
(orchestra, voice, and handclaps; two movements. 30 pp., 1965)
RPA4.1: Advertisement, Diário do Paraná, January 1, 1974, for VII
Festival de Música de Curitiba/ VII Curso Internacional de Música do
Paraná; with list of Ritmoplastia presentations and workshops (1 p.).
RPA4.2: Program form for Ritmoplastia student and solo concert, Curitiba
Music Festival, January 20, 1974. List of compositions and major
personnel (soloists and choreographer).
RPA4.3: Manuscript draft for presentation of Ritmoplastia, Teatro Guaira
(1 p., January 26, 1974)
RPA5.1: Manuscript, Diorama no
18 (3 pp., 1971)
RPA5.2: Manuscript, Diorama Brasileiro no
6 (3 pp.)
RPA5.3: Manuscript, O Canto do Amor (5 pp. Music complete; plastias
incomplete)
RPA5.4: Manuscript, Ensaio (César Borges Barbosa, 8 pp.)
RPA5.5: Manuscript, Iemanjá (3 pp., plastias incomplete)
24. 14
and undergraduate music students. Telles also developed a syllabus for a two-year
undergraduate course in Ritmoplastia.
The Barbosa family collection includes many other documents with historical
information about Ritmoplastia. The method was first taught in 1961 in the Instituto
Villa-Lobos, the only government school offering musical education in Rio de Janeiro.22
By that time, Barbosa was the director of the institute. Elsewhere she wrote, “countless
students were awakened to their artistic calling through Ritmoplastia.”23
Barbosa also
offered Ritmoplastia courses for music and physical education teachers. The Barbosa
family collection includes syllabi for such courses (see ADR1 and ADR2), but these
syllabi are undated.
After she taught Ritmoplastia to music and physical education teachers during the
early 1960s, Barbosa was invited to use the method to teach students from the Rio de
Janeiro Municipal Theatre Dance School. The positive outcome of using Ritmoplastia
with dance students led to its inclusion for many years in the official curriculum of the
Dance School. There are records of Ritmoplastia presentations at important festivities
during the 1965 school year. For example, Francisco Mignone’s composition Valsinha
was adapted to Ritmoplastia and is listed on a recital program (RPA2). It is unknown
when Ritmoplastia stopped being taught at the Dance School.
There is evidence of further Ritmoplastia activity during the 1970s. Ritmoplastia
compositions by Barbosa include Diorama no
18, dated March 19, 1971 (RPA5.1). Maria
Ivanira Telles created her undergraduate syllabus in 1973 (ADR2). This syllabus
22
“História,” Escola de Música Villa-Lobos, accessed September 10, 2018,
http://www.villalobos.rj.gov.br/historia/
23
ADR4, 2.
25. 15
indicates that in 1972 there had been a Ritmoplastia workshop for physical education
teachers in Rio de Janeiro’s School of Physical Education of the Army (Escola de
Educação Física do Exército).24
A 1974 newspaper advertisement announces
Ritmoplastia workshops and presentations for the Curitiba Music Festival in the Brazilian
State of Paraná (RPA4.1).
Ritmoplastia and physical education came together because dance was part of the
physical education course curriculum in Brazilian institutions for many years (dance
subsequently became an independent undergraduate course of study). Barbosa is
responsible for educating at least a generation of students at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal
Theatre. Ritmoplastia appears to continue in Paraná State, where it is currently taught as
part of the physical education curriculum.25
Sources
The sources in the Barbosa family collection are diverse. Here they are divided
into three categories: Didactic Material on Ritmoplastia (DMR1-10), Academic
Documents on Ritmoplastia (ADR1-4), and Ritmoplastia in the Performing Arts (RPA1-
5.5). DMR comprises material developing and elaborating the movements and notation of
Ritmoplastia. ADR comprises syllabi and other formal curricular materials. RPA
comprises material from and for the concert performance of Ritmoplastia. The DMR
collection includes ten Ritmoplastia scores—Ritmoplastia symbols laid out in a format
using some elements of rhythmic notation—in various stages of development and
24
ADR2, 2.
25
Regina Tonini, interview by author, telephone, June 11, 2018.
26. 16
completion. The main DMR documents are one Manuscript Notebook (DMR1), whose
content Barbosa organized into two Typed Booklets (DMR2.1-2.2). RPA includes three
musical compositions with complete Ritmoplastia notation (RPA5.1, 5.2, 5.4). These
sources, along with smaller ones in the Barbosa family collection, are of great value for
an overall understanding of Ritmoplastia.
Didactic Material on Ritmoplastia (DMR). The principal source for the current
study is DMR1. It is a forty-one page, undated notebook. The first page is titled “First
Class for Teachers”; it contains three guidelines in prose. These guidelines address
practical issues such as enrollment, appropriate dance clothes, and goals of the
Ritmoplastia course. The next pages then discuss Ritmoplastia, explaining its origins, its
objectives, and its methods. Next, there are twenty exercises, in which several plastia
symbols (plastias) are introduced along with rhythmic notation. Finally, there are ten
excerpts in which the plastias are set to music.
The contents of the Manuscript Notebook also appear in Typed Booklets DMR2.1
and DMR2.2. The texts of the Typed Booklets are typescript; the music and dance
notations are in manuscript. Typed Booklet 1 (DMR2.1) contains the twenty introductory
exercises of the Manuscript Notebook (DMR1). Typed Booklet 2 (DMR2.2) presents ten
musical excerpts choreographed with plastias. DMR2.1 and DMR2.2 are undated, but
well organized and straightforward, without erasures. The Barbosa family collection
includes an additional copy of Typed Booklet 1 with a typescript cover (DMR3);
although undated, the typed cover identifies the booklet as a course for physical
education teachers. The cover of DMR3 explains the concept of Ritmoplastia and lists
27. 17
five goals of the method. The tidiness of DMR1, DMR2.1, and DMR2.2 leads me to
conclude that they were also organized to be didactic material.
Even though DMR1, DMR2.1, and DMR2.2 are undated, other sources provide
clues for tracing the composer’s development of Ritmoplastia. The oldest dated source in
the Barbosa family collection is the Manuscript Sketch Notebook (DMR4), a notebook
with the handwritten title “Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras” on the cover (see Figure
2.1). The cover is dated January 1, 1956; however, the notebook’s first actual annotation
is dated May 8, 1966. The Ritmoplastia content of DMR4 can be divided into three parts.
Barbosa in fact titles the first part Io
Ciclo (First Cycle); it includes introductory exercises
with just a few variations of plastias. A five-page list of plastias follows, presenting
almost 100 plastias and their labels. A third section presents two sets of exercises: a first
group of ten exercises is for handclaps and lower-body movement, with increasing levels
of difficulty. It is followed by a second group of eight exercises, some of which include
arm movements. DMR4 appears to have been written earlier than DMR1 and DMR2 due
to its sketch-like character; there are erasures in the plastia list, and the second series of
exercises is incomplete.
Two dated manuscripts—DMR5 and DMR6—show Barbosa drafting and
revising definitions, and expanding on her motivation for creating Ritmoplastia. DMR5 is
dated February 4, 1965. In this text, Barbosa describes her motivation for creating
Ritmoplastia as part of a broader project of promoting Brazilian popular culture. She
states that this project was launched in the 1950s with her Estudos Brasileiros series.
DMR6 (1969) is a six-page, handwritten introduction to Ritmoplastia. The first page of
DMR6 includes a brief definition of Ritmoplastia and an explanation of how to approach
28. 18
the method. DMR6 is valuable for its introductory explanation, which is more detailed
then that given in DMR1.
Figure 2.1: DMR4, cover.
Additional separate sheets—DMR7, DMR8, DMR9, and DMR10—contain
material about Ritmoplastia. DMR7 is a typescript statement listing six goals of
Ritmoplastia. This sheet is undated and presents content similar to DMR3’s statement
(although DMR3 lists only five goals). DMR8 is a one-page manuscript consisting of two
Ritmoplastia exercises numbered 17 and 18. These exercises are probably part of a larger
document that has been lost. DMR9, containing three exercises, is dated December 17,
1966. A note indicates that the exercises were meant for a Ritmoplastia demonstration for
29. 19
the Military Club of Rio de Janeiro. Even though this document is incomplete, its
presence indicates that Ritmoplastia was being actively taught in 1966. The fourth
separate page, DMR10, is a plan for an initial lesson in Ritmoplastia. It is dated March
20, 1967 and labeled Escola de Dança. It is also incomplete, but it may show the first
exercises that Barbosa worked on with the Municipal Theatre Dance School students.
Academic Documents on Ritmoplastia (ADR). Some of the documents in the
Barbosa family collection were specifically developed for classroom use or to establish
Ritmoplastia as an official course at the undergraduate level, and have several different
authors. Here, I classify them as “Academic Documents on Ritmoplastia” (ADR). These
documents provide valuable information regarding the skills required of the Ritmoplastia
student and teacher. They offer an organized approach to the method and thus
complement the content of the DMR sources.
These documents include two syllabi for different Ritmoplastia courses (ADR1,
ADR2). ADR1 is an undated, six-page document created for a Ritmoplastia course. Its
cover is a duplication of DMR7, and like it, states the six goals of Ritmoplastia. The
remainder of ADR1 consists of a five-page form filled out by Barbosa. This form appears
to be a course application but the institution is unknown. The form presents Ritmoplastia
as a professional skill, and it sets the course requirements and workload to achieve
proficiency in the method. The second document, ADR2, is a six-page, typescript
syllabus for the 1973 school year for an undergraduate course. ADR2 is signed by Maria
Ivanira Telles, and it presents a two-year Ritmoplastia course divided into units, sub-
units, activities, and classes for each unit. It also contains a one-page, typed statement
30. 20
describing the history of Ritmoplastia from its origins to 1973. There is no information in
ADR2 as to which institution was to use the syllabus. As noted previously, this document
is especially valuable due to the history of Ritmoplastia provided by Telles; that history is
not found in any other source.
In addition to the previously mentioned syllabi, the Barbosa family collection
includes a manuscript cover for a Ritmoplastia course at EPEMA (1960). ADR3 is a
separate page; consequently, it is uncertain whether the cover belongs to ADR1 or to an
unknown lost document. Its importance lies in the fact that it is dated 1960; it shows the
earliest evidence for Ritmoplastia’s application in an academic setting.
The Barbosa family collection also includes a set of two Ritmoplastia tests
(ADR4) written for the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Dance School. The tests are
undated and evaluate two different levels of ability. The first test is meant for beginners.
The second test, spanning three pages, is more complex, asking students to set plastias to
Barbosa’s composition Estudos Brasileiros No
3.
Ritmoplastia in the Performing Arts (RPA). Although Barbosa created
Ritmoplastia initially with didactic purposes, it also became a performing art, and was
used for public performances in many important venues and concert halls. The Barbosa
family collection includes a number of documents concerning formal performance, here
numbered RPA. This category includes concert programs listing Ritmoplastia
performances as well as a newspaper advertisement listing Ritmoplastia workshops and
presentation days. RPA also includes compositions written with Ritmoplastia notation, as
well as an unpublished orchestral piece without Ritmoplastia notation, but with the
31. 21
revealing title Estudo No
1: Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras.
Two recital programs in the Barbosa family collection (RPA1 and RPA2) show
Ritmoplastia being used in the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Dance School. RPA1,
which is undated, lists a presentation of Ritmoplastia set to Mignone’s composition
Valsinha. RPA2 is from the end-of-year festival at the same Dance School. It is dated
December 16, 1965, and Ritmoplastia is presented in a two-movement untitled piece
conducted by Barbosa (see Figures 2.2 and 2.3). This piece may have been Estudo No
1,
since that work has two movements and is also dated 1965.
Other sources of Ritmoplastia as a performing art (RPA4.1-4.3, RPA5.1-5.5)
relate to the Curitiba Music Festival of 1974. This festival was the most famous musical
event in Brazil for many years. RPA4.1 is a newspaper advertisement dated January 1,
1974. It presents the whole festival schedule, and lists four Ritmoplastia presentations.
RPA4.2 is a program form filled out by Barbosa.26
This program form, dated January 20,
1974, includes information such as performance date, time, soloists, and pieces to be
performed at one of the festival presentations. One of the soloists mentioned on this form
is Regina Tonini, who is still living. Her recollections provide a valuable adjunct to the
written material about Ritmoplastia.27
The concert program lists three pieces by Barbosa
and one each by Benedetto Marcello, Benjamin Britten, and Barbosa’s son, Cesar Borges
Barbosa (see Table 2.2).
26
César Borges Barbosa, interview by author, telephone, September 30, 2018.
27
Regina Tonini, interview by author, telephone, June 11, 2018.
34. 24
Table 2.2: Repertoire of Ritmoplastia presentation, Curitiba Music Festival, January 20,
1974.
Composer Title
Cacilda B. Barbosa Diorama – 4 Estudos
Benedetto Marcello Adagio
César B. Barbosa Ensaio
Cacilda B. Barbosa Iemanjá
Benjamin Britten Niobe
Cacilda B. Barbosa Desafio
Manuscripts of some of the pieces performed at the Curitiba Music Festival are in
the Barbosa family collection. They are stapled in a bundle of five pieces (RPA5.1-
RPA5.5). The first piece is Diorama no
18 (RPA5.1), dated 1971. It has the signatures of
both Barbosa and Clara Semeles, who added plastias to Barbosa’s music. The second
piece is Diorama Brasileiro no
6 (RPA5.2). It is also complete, and has signatures by
Barbosa and Semeles. The third piece is O Canto do Amor (RPA5.3), a composition by
Barbosa with lyrics by Alvaro Furtado de Mendonça and plastias by Semeles. Although
this piece is clear with no erasures, the musical score appears to be incomplete, and just a
short sequence of plastias appears. The fourth piece is Ensaio (RPA5.4). Composed by
Barbosa’s son César Borges Barbosa, it is complete. The fifth piece, Iemanjá (RPA5.5),
by Cacilda Borges Barbosa, is incomplete here; however, it was performed at the Curitiba
Music Festival. All of the material from the Curitiba Music Festival has important
historical value because it documents Ritmoplastia as an art as well as a teaching tool.
35. 25
Conclusion
The examination of Ritmoplastia sources makes it possible to trace the
development of Ritmoplastia. Although many of the documents in the Barbosa family
collection are undated, I believe that the documents of my central focus, DMR4, DMR1,
DMR 2.1, and DMR 2.2, came first. Barbosa likely wrote the Manuscript Sketch
Notebook (DMR4) first, and it likely then became the Manuscript Notebook (DMR1) and
the two Typed Booklets (DMR2.1 and DMR2.2). Academic documents on Ritmoplastia
offer information on how to approach and teach the method, especially the two syllabi
ADR1 and ADR2. The documents on Ritmoplastia in the performing arts show
Ritmoplastia as artistic expression, presenting compositions and recital programs.
36. 26
Chapter Three
The Plastias
The most prominent and innovative feature of Ritmoplastia is its dance notation,
which consists of plastias. The plastias are symbols created by Barbosa that represent
individual body gestures and are placed below each musical note or rhythmic indicator.
DMR1, DMR2.1, DMR2.2, DMR4, RPA5.1, and RPA5.2 show the development of these
symbols. The symbols are initially shown in the Manuscript Sketch Notebook (DMR4;
see Table 2.1). The term plastia, however, is introduced only in the Manuscript Notebook
(DMR1), where Barbosa mentions that she created symbols called plastias to indicate the
body movements in Ritmoplastia.28
In DMR1 the name of Clara Semeles is also
mentioned. The partnership with Semeles reflects a tendency in Barbosa’s creative
process; she worked with musicians, poets and pedagogues throughout her career.29
This chapter discusses the plastias as individual gestures and their subsequent
setting to music in the Ritmoplastia method and compositions. I discuss two contrasting
dance notation systems developed during the first half of the twentieth century in order to
understand what might have influenced Barbosa’s creation of plastias. Next, I examine
the plastias as they appear in the manuscript and typescript sketches and notebooks on
Ritmoplastia. I discuss the origins of the plastias as shown in DMR4. I study how they
28
“A fim de que se fosse dado um sentido metodológico ao ensino da Ritmoplastia criou-se uma
grafia de símbolos plastiológicos que denominaremos plastias.” DMR1, 2.
29
César Borges Barbosa, interview by author, telephone, September 30, 2018.
37. 27
were initially organized and labeled, as shown in DMR2.1, and I discuss their setting to
music, as shown in DMR2.2, RPA5.1, RPA5.2, and RPA5.4.
Historical Context
Apart from the manuscript and typescript sketches and notebooks on
Ritmoplastia examined here, no other source or literature on dance is found in the
Barbosa family collection. For this reason, it is unknown how Barbosa came up with the
idea of Ritmoplastia, especially regarding the design and concept of the plastias. Ann
Hutchison Guest remarks that “[…] no system of [dance] notation emerges full blown out
of a vacuum”; the present study presumes that that Barbosa may have been influenced by
dance notation systems in use in the mid-twentieth century in Brazil.30
In her discussion
of the dance notation systems used in Brazil, Ana Ligia Trindade states that the systems
are those developed in Europe; she does not mention any dance notation system created
in Brazil.31
Regarding prominent dance notation systems developed in the first half of the
twentieth century in Europe, Labanotation—the notation system developed by Rudolf
Laban—and the notation system developed by Benesh are the best known in Brazil.
Trindade illustrates the difference between these two systems of notation as she reports a
brief experiment she held during a workshop for dancers in 2011 in the city of Porto
Alegre. In this workshop, she presented complete written choreographies in the Laban
and Benesh systems. While observing Benesh's notation, the dancers identified bodies in
30
Ann Hutchinson Guest, Dance Notation: The Process of Recording Movement on Paper (New
York: Dance Horizons, 1984), 68.
31
Ana Ligia Trindade, Grafias de Gesto: Representação Gráfica do Movimento (Porto Alegre:
Gonçalves Larcen Editor, 2014), 90.
38. 28
dance movement, although they were unable to translate exactly the entire choreography.
In the observation of Labanotation, the dancers described charts with abstract graphs
without any identification with dance or body movement. The perception of the dancers
was that Labanotation resembled a contemporary work of art.32
When comparing Benesh notation and Labanotation, it is possible to state that
Benesh's notation is the one that most relates to Ritmoplastia. Just as plastias in
Ritmoplastia are pictorial representations of individual gestures, Benesh notation
represents graphically the body of the dancer inside a five-line staff. In this staff, line 5 to
line 1 represent the head, shoulders, waist, knees and feet respectively. Benesh also
includes bar lines to represent the passing of time. Due to this resemblance to music
notation, it is possible to synchronize Benesh notation with musical scores; this shows an
important parallel with Ritmoplastia. Although there are similarities between Benesh
notation and Ritmoplastia, there is no documented evidence of a direct influence between
them.
Origins of the Plastias: The Manuscript Sketch Notebook (DMR4)
Among the manuscript and typescript sketches and notebooks on Ritmoplastia,
the Manuscript Sketch Notebook (DMR4) is an important source to understand the
origins of the plastias. Among the various sketches and drafts presented in DMR4, the
most prominent is a five-page list entitled Nomenclatura (Nomenclature). This list
comprises approximately 100 symbols, each with a descriptive label. Due to the fact that,
in DMR4, Barbosa uses the word nomenclatura and not plastia, I assume that she created
32
Trindade, 94.
39. 29
this notebook at a very early stage, and that the other sources examined in this study were
generated after DMR4. Although Barbosa did not use the term plastia in DMR4, I will
refer to the symbols in DMR4 as plastias.
The first pages of DMR4 show a mix of drafts of musical notation and unlabeled
plastias that are difficult to decipher. DMR4 p. 3 shows what may be Barbosa’s first
attempt to label and organize the plastias (see Figure 3.1). On this page Barbosa numbers
plastias 1-8 and provides labels for these plastias. Plastias 4-8 are labeled respectively as
primeira posição (first position), segunda posição (second position), terceira posição
(third position), primeira paralela (first parallel), and segunda paralela (second parallel),
similarly to the positions commonly used in classical ballet. A note at the top of the page
states, “the required position will be placed to the left of the symbol.”33
That instruction
is not clearly explained and does not appear anywhere else in the manuscript or typescript
sketches and notebooks on Ritmoplastia.
DMR4 p. 3 includes a section captioned Direções (Directions) next to a set of
numbered plastias. That section shows thirteen labeled plastias. The labels clearly
describe the required gestures, some of which should be performed towards different
directions. They include passo à frente (step to the front), passo ao lado (step to the side),
and passo p. traz (step to the back). Many plastias shown on this page can be observed in
the other manuscript and typescript and notebooks.
After this first attempt to organize and label plastias, DMR4 then contains the
Nomenclatura section with its five-page list of plastias (see Figure 3.2). This list begins
with the plastias divided into two categories: Posições (Positions) and Direções
33
“Serão colocadas à esquerda do símbolo a posição desejada.” DMR4, 3.
40. 30
Figure 3.1: DMR4, p. 3 (1956?). First draft of movement signs, with labels.
(Directions). In the Posições, Barbosa crossed out both the plastia and label for pés
juntos (feet together), although this plastia occurs frequently in all notebooks. In the
Direções category, the plastias are the same as the ones found in all the notebooks.
The Posições category shows some ambiguities, and includes features that were
later discontinued. Some of these discontinued plastias represented foot positions similar
to the ones commonly used in classical ballet; by p. 14 and 15 of DMR4, Barbosa writes
that the exercises should be performed “with feet in parallel positions.” The instruction to
keep feet in parallel position probably applies to the remaining sketches and notebooks.
41. 31
Figure 3.2: DMR4, p. 5 (1956?). First page of plastia list.
DMR4 includes some ambiguous and imprecise terms and labels. The plastia
labeled flexão inteira (complete flexion) appears on page 5 but does not appear in any
other manuscript or typescript source. Thus it is difficult to decipher in which context it
should be used. Barbosa drafts two plastias with unclear labels: perna flexionada (dir.) e
perna dobrada (esq.)(flexed leg [right] and bent leg [left]) and perna flexionada (esq.) e
perna dobrada (dir.)(flexed leg [left] and bent leg [right]). These plastias are problematic
due to the unclear distinction Barbosa made between the apparently synonymous terms
flexionada (flexed) and dobrada (bent).
In the remaining four pages of this early list, Barbosa drafted many plastias and
categorized them by the body parts pernas (legs), braços (arms), tronco (trunk), ombros
42. 32
(shoulders), and cabeça (head), as well as the other categories saltos (hops), palmas
(handclaps), and passos (movements).34
Some of these plastias were reorganized and
relabeled in DMR2.1, but others do not appear anywhere else. A few unlabeled plastias
found in DMR2.2, RPA5.1, RPA5.2 and RPA5.4 can be found only on the DMR4 list.
Despite its sketch-like character, DMR4 is of great importance due to its
comprehensive plastia list and also due to the fact that it contains information regarding
the origins of Ritmoplastia that are not clearly shown in other documents. The drafts
showing ballet positions are important. It is uncertain whether Barbosa had any training
in dance, but these indicators of ballet positions show that Barbosa had at least a basic
knowledge of ballet and that she tried to incorporate this knowledge, albeit
unsuccessfully, into the first stages of Ritmoplastia. DMR4 is the only source where
Barbosa clearly states that the Ritmoplastia exercises should be performed with the feet
in parallel positions. That provides an important starting point for the understanding and
performance of Ritmoplastia, especially as shown in DMR2.1 and DMR2.2, and in the
important compositions RPA5.1, RPA5.2, and RPA5.4.
Plastias in Typed Booklet 1 (DMR2.1)
The plastias are best developed and organized in Typed Booklet 1 (DMR2.1). In
DMR2.1, through twenty exercises, the plastias are gradually introduced along with
rhythmic notation. Next to each exercise, Barbosa includes a column headed signos
(signs); it shows the new plastia signs in each exercise along with their descriptive labels
(see Example 3.1). In each of the twenty exercises, Barbosa introduces new plastias and
34
In Portuguese, the word passo can also denote characteristic dance gestures.
43. 33
mixes them with plastias introduced in previous exercises, thus increasing the difficulty
level of each exercise and enabling memorization of the previously introduced plastias.
To label the plastias, Barbosa uses common terms in Portuguese and instructions that are
easy for non-dancers to follow. Here, for English translation of the plastia labels, I follow
the simple and straightforward style of Barbosa’s wording, with some reference to
lexicons of modern dance and ballet.35
Although the plastias are organized to the clearest degree in DMR2.1, in this
study those plastias are also compared to the plastias designated in DMR1 and DMR4. A
comparison of these manuscript notebooks to DMR2.1 shows cases where the same
plastia sign receives a different descriptive label. In general, the plastias are more clearly
labeled in DMR2.1; however, in DMR2.1 two plastias are described as flexão (flexion)
and tensão (tension). In DMR4 those same plastias are labeled pernas flexionadas (flexed
legs) and pernas estendidas (straightened legs; see Table 3.1).
In the exercises of DMR2.1 as well as in the other Ritmoplastia scores, it is
important to highlight that Barbosa provides separate plastias for lower body, arm, and
head gestures. Exercise No. 1 introduces the plastia for handclaps, an arm gesture;
Exercises 2-16 exclusively introduce plastias for lower body gestures. Remaining
plastias for arm gestures are introduced in Exercise No. 17; in Exercise No. 20 Barbosa
includes plastias for head gestures. Cases where the movement demands gestures with
lower body, arms, and head simultaneously are indicated by three different vertically
stacked plastias, with the plastia for lower body on top, arm plastia in the middle, and
35
See Paul Love, Modern Dance Terminology (Princeton: Dance Horizons, 1997); Rhonda
Ryman’s Classical Ballet Terms: Cechetti (Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Press/es, 1998);
Ryman, Dictionary of Classical Ballet Terminology (London: Royal Academy of Dance, 1997).
44. 34
Example 3.1: DMR2.1, p. 2. Exercise 2.
Table 3.1: Plastia symbols with contrasting labels.
Plastia Description (Portuguese,
DMR2.1)
Description (Portuguese,
DMR4)
flexão (flexion) pernas flexionadas (flexed
legs)
tensão (tension) pernas estendidas
(straighted legs)
head plastia on the bottom (see Example 3.2). This order is the opposite from the one
used in Benesh notation. This aspect of prioritizing steps and lower body gestures
45. 35
highlights the didactic character of Ritmoplastia, as opposed to Benesh notation, which
was meant for professional dancers.
Example 3.2: DMR2.1, Exercise 20. Stacked plastia symbols, denoting simultaneous
lower body, arm, and head gesture. (M.2, symbol combination circled by Lima.)
The importance of DMR2.1 lies in the fact that it provides a glossary of the
plastias. This glossary provides an important starting point since in more advanced
exercises and compositions such as DMR2.2, RPA5.1, RPA5.2, and RPA5.4, the plastias
are shown without labels. The lists of symbols and labels that Barbosa worked out in
early notebooks and typed documents such as DMR2.1 assist in the deciphering of
unlabeled plastias, and may aid in the creation of future Ritmoplastia scores.
46. 36
Plastias Set to Music
Some manuscripts, sketches, and segments of typed notebooks on Ritmoplastia in
the Barbosa family collection set the plastias to musical excerpts and compositions. Here
I discuss the plastias set to music. Some musical excerpts and accompanying plastias
appear in Typed Booklet 2 (DMR2.2). As noted previously, this booklet is the
continuation of DMR2.1; DMR2.2 transcribes the second half of the Manuscript
Notebook (DMR1). Plastias are also set to the compositions Diorama no
18 (RPA5.1),
Diorama Brasileiro no
6 (RPA5.2), both by Cacilda Borges Barbosa, and to Ensaio
(RPA5.4), by her son Cesar Borges Barbosa.
In DMR2.2 and in the compositions, the heading of each musical excerpt or
composition includes a standard attribution; the music is attributed to the composer as
noted above, while the Plastia is attributed to Clara Semeles (see Figure 3.3). The
capitalized term Plastia appears to refer to the fact that a plastia sequence is designed or
composed for a particular musical excerpt or composition. Both Cacilda Borges
Barbosa’s and Semeles’ signatures also appear at the end of all their excerpts and
compositions.
The name of Clara Semeles does not appear in the earliest documents DMR4 and
DMR2.1; this supports the idea that Barbosa created the design and nomenclature of
plastias herself. Barbosa established a partnership with Clara Semeles, as indicated by the
author lines to musical compositions. Semeles used some plastias that were not labeled in
DMR2.1. These plastias were either taken from the DMR4 list, or are variants of the
plastias labeled in DMR2.1. For example, DMR4 includes a plastia for ombros elevados
(raised shoulders) that clearly indicates that both shoulders should be raised. In RPA5.1,
47. 37
Figure 3.3: RPA5.1, p. 1. Diorama no
18 title page, with date attribution, indicating Clara
Semeles as Plastia choreographer and Cacilda Borges Barbosa as composer.
there is a variation of this plastia without a label, apparently indicating that only one of
the shoulders should be raised (see Table 3.2).
Table 3.2: Variant of plastia, DMR4 and RPA5.1.
Plastia
(DMR4)
Label
(DMR4)
Plastia variant
(RPA5.1, no label)
ombros elevados
(raised shoulders)
48. 38
Semeles also added modifiers of body position. Most of the time the gestures in
Ritmoplastia are to be performed towards the front; however, some of Semeles’ modifiers
indicate that a gesture or the angle of the body should be towards the diagonal or towards
the back. Semeles places a dash or letter initial to the first plastia to be modified (see
Table 3.3). These modifiers are seen in many of the musical excerpts in DMR2.2, as well
as in RPA5.1 and RPA5.4. Repeated instances of the letters [C] and [F] are seen before
plastia symbols. Although Semeles did not state the exact meaning of these letters, it can
be inferred that these letters are abbreviations for costas (back) and frente (front).
Table 3.3: Body position modifiers used in plastia choreographies by Clara Semeles.
Body Position Modifier Proposed interpretation Location in Barbosa
family document
collection
Left diagonal DMR2.2 (nos. 3, 4, 6, 9,
10), RPA5.1
Right diagonal DMR2.2 (nos. 3, 4, 6, 9,
10), RPA5.1, RPA5.4
C Costas (back) RPA5.1, RPA5.4
F Frente (front) DMR2.2 (nos. 3, 4, 6, 9,
10), RPA5.1, RPA5.4
Conclusion
The plastias represent an original form of gestural notation. Barbosa appears to
have created plastias with some exposure to the dance notation prevalent in Brazil at the
49. 39
time, but she then developed her own set of symbols and movement terminology.
Barbosa also counted on Clara Semeles to adjust these plastias to musical excerpts and
compositions. Much about the plastias can be understood and elucidated by consulting
the manuscript and typescript notebooks and sketches on Ritmoplastia found in the
Barbosa family collection. Exactly how the plastias were performed during the time
Barbosa and Semeles taught Ritmoplastia in the 1960s and 1970s is unknown. Written
sources show Barbosa and Semeles working out and then expanding this notation,
building on Barbosa’s goal that Ritmoplastia would record the spontaneous dances of the
Brazilian people.
50. 40
Chapter Four
Ritmoplastia: A Performing Edition
Content and Editorial Notes
This chapter describes the content of this edition and the editorial processes used
to generate a performing edition of Ritmoplastia. This edition reconciles eleven sources
from the Barbosa family collection: DMR1, DMR2.1, DMR2.2, DMR4, DMR5, DMR6,
DMR7, ADR1, RPA5.1, RPA5.2, and RPA5.4 (see Table 2.1), with reference to two
additional sources from that collection (ADR2 and ADR4). Other sources from the
Barbosa family collection present important historical information such as dates and
locations where Ritmoplastia activities took place, but they do not provide instructions
regarding the performance of Ritmoplastia.36
Six of the thirteen sources discussed here
are Ritmoplastia scores in whole or in part: DMR1, DMR2.1, DMR2.2, RPA5.1, RPA5.2,
and RPA5.4; the remaining sources (DMR4, DMR5, DMR6, DMR7, ADR1, ADR2, and
ADR4) transmit pedagogical goals, aesthetics, performance instructions, and other
information worked out by Barbosa and her close collaborators. Since DMR2.1 and
DMR2.2 are a transcription of DMR1, these sources were compared and material from
RPA5.1, RPA5.2, and RPA5.4 was added. A performing edition comprising an
introduction and four parts was created after examination of the thirteen sources (see
Table 4.1).
36
DMR8, DMR9, DMR10, ADR3, RPA1, RPA2, RPA3, RPA4.1, RPA4.2, and RPA4.3 do not
include instructions on the performance of Ritmoplastia.
53. 43
The purpose of this edition is to clarify and to present the Ritmoplastia method in
four different stages, each at an increasing level of difficulty and complexity. The edition
begins with Barbosa’s original prose introductions. Sources reconciled for the
Introduction include DMR1, DMR5, DMR7, and ADR1. Part I, entitled “Ritmoplastia
within the Metric Unit and Its Subdivisions,” comprises ten exercises. The sources
reconciled for Part I include DMR1, DMR2.1, and DMR6. Part II is entitled
“Ritmoplastia in Rhythmic Variation”; it also comprises ten exercises. It compiles DMR1
and DMR2.1. Part III, “Ritmoplastia in Short Musical Examples,” includes material from
DMR1 and DMR2.2, and consists of musical examples in which plastias are set to music.
Part IV, “Ritmoplastia Compositions,” presents Ritmoplastia in its most complex form.
This section contains two intricate musical examples from DMR1; two compositions by
Barbosa with Ritmoplastia notation (RPA5.1 and RPA5.2); and a composition with
notation by Barbosa’s son César Borges Barbosa, also with plastias (RPA5.4).
Content
The Introduction and the four parts of this edition reconcile a variety of sources.
To notate Ritmoplastia, Barbosa modified Western art music notation as well as adding
plastia symbols. Here, each part of this edition will be discussed, including information
regarding specific Ritmoplastia notations. As noted previously, some of Barbosa’s early
written statements refer to her method as Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras; this
edition uses the later term Ritmoplastia.37
37
Barbosa uses the title Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras in DMR1, DMR4, DMR5, DMR6,
and RPA3.
54. 44
After the Introduction, in which Barbosa identifies the richness of Brazilian
culture as the source of her inspiration for Ritmoplastia, Part I of this edition begins with
Barbosa’s instructions, found in DMR6, on how to initially study the method. These
instructions refer to the basics of Ritmoplastia, and they introduce exercises. The
exercises introduce a fundamental metric unit and two subdivisions (represented
respectively by notation of quarter-note, eighth-note, and sixteenth-note rhythms).
Exercise No. 1 introduces the quarter-note pulse. DMR6 shows the plastia for palmas
(handclaps) under quarter-note pulses; the palmas should remain in this basic pulse as
plastias for other body movements are added. Barbosa does explain that as the method
progresses, new gestures would be added to the metric unit and its subdivisions. DMR6 is
an incomplete draft, and only these initial instructions are clear; other information
conveyed in DMR6 is incomplete.
Barbosa’s notation of Ritmoplastia shows the method’s applied function, and in
early exercises where movement and rhythm are primary, the notation does not follow the
format of separate systems as seen in Western art music (although, as a composer,
Barbosa was completely conversant in Western art music notation). While the plastia
movement notations underlie notations of subdivided rhythm, readers of the notation are
left to infer whether palmas should be done throughout, whether the palmas are more
rhythmically dense or complex than straight quarter notes, where a rhythmic subdivision
repeats, and when to proceed to the next movement pattern. Since Part I comprises
introductory material, it can be inferred that people would move as a corps.
In Part I of the edition, rather than indicating a verbatim repeat, as in standard
musical notation, a repeat sign indicates that the rhythmic subdivision repeats while the
55. 45
movement changes. For example, in Exercise No. 3 there are two rows of plastias to be
performed within the eighth note subdivision. In the first row, the plastias represent the
gestures of stepping forward and backward with the right foot and then stepping forward
and backward with the left foot. The second row approaches the gestures of stepping to
the right with the right foot and stepping to the left with the left foot. With the sixteenth
notes, these previously encountered plastias should be performed at double the previous
pace. For that reason, the repeat sign is included at the end of the eighth-note line so that
both rows of plastias may be attempted before moving forward to the plastias
corresponding with the sixteenth notes (see Exx. 4.1a and 4.1b). Part I of this edition
introduces simple plastias and basic notions of rhythm. Since the plastias introduced in
Part I appear in later sources by Barbosa without captions, it can be concluded that
understanding Part I is essential to a full comprehension of the next stages of
Ritmoplastia.
The exercises of Part II introduce new elements of Ritmoplastia notation and
require a more advanced knowledge of music. Each exercise in Part II presents a different
rhythmic series, using the metric unit and its subdivisions as introduced in Part I. Part II
includes three different sets of plastias for each rhythmic sequence. This enables the
student to learn many possible gestures and to become familiarized with a large number
of plastias. As described with respect to the ADR4 exam documents, Barbosa herself
required students to create their own sequences of gestures using plastias. This indicates
that creativity and a profound knowledge of the plastias were important features when
approaching Ritmoplastia. Every exercise in Part II includes a musical excerpt. These
56. 46
Example 4.1a: DMR2.1, p. 3
Example 4.1b: Lima edition, Part I, Exercise No. 3, repeat sign in eighth-note line.
œ œ œ
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y y y y
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y y y y
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5
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. œ
y
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œ
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y y y y
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œ œ œ œ
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5
j
j
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y y y y
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œ
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‰
j
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‰ j
y
y
j
y ‰
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y y y y
y y
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y y y y y
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y y y y
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&
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42
4
2
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2
4
2
j
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‰
54
j
y
‰
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&
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58
œ ‰
j
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58
y ‰ j
y
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y ‰
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y y y y
y y
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&
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62
œ ‰ j
œ
.œ œ j
œ ‰
62
y ‰ j
y
œ œ œ œ
.œ œ .œ œ
y y y y
œ œ œ œ œ
.œ œ .œ œ
y y y y y
œ œ
œ œ
y y
œ ≈ œ
œ œ
≈ œ œ
J
œ
‰
y ≈ y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
≈ œ œ
J
œ
‰
y y y y y y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ ≈
œ
œ œ
≈
œ œ
J
œ ‰
y ≈ y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
≈
œ œ
J
œ ‰
y y y y y y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ œ# œn œ œ
œ
≈ œ
œ œ
≈ œ œ
J
œ
‰
y ≈ y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ ≈ œ
œ œ
≈ œ œ
J
œ
‰
y ≈ y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
≈ œ œ
J
œ
‰
y y y y y y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ ≈
œ
œ œ
≈
œ œ
J
œ ‰
y ≈ y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ ≈
œ
œ œ
≈
œ œ
J
œ ‰
y ≈ y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
≈
œ œ
J
œ ‰
y y y y y y y y
≈ y y
j
y ‰
œn œ œ œ# œn œ œ
e e
e e
Plastias
e
e
e
esquerdo
left
palmas
handclaps
passo à frente
step forward
passo à frente com pé esquerdo
step forward with left foot
passo para direita
step to the right
passo para esquerda
step to the left
passo para trás (direita)
step to back (right)
passo para trás (esquerda)
step to back (left)
pés juntos
feet together
57. 47
excerpts were taken from DMR1 and are mostly in two voices; their rhythms match the
movement rhythms of each exercise. This edition adds these excerpts (see Exx. 4.2a and
4.2b). Barbosa likely used these melodic passages as accompaniment while teaching the
exercises, and thus they could continue to be useful for students or teachers who are
learning Ritmoplastia.
In Part III, the musical examples are in two voices exclusively, as shown in
DMR2.2. In DMR1 there are also two three-voiced examples; those are included in Part
IV of this edition. Barbosa’s motivation for not including more three-voice musical
examples in DMR2.2 can be inferred by examination of the syllabus for a Ritmoplastia
degree by Maria Ivanira Telles (ADR2). In that syllabus, one- and two-voice exercises
are for the degree’s first year, and three- and four-voice exercises are for the second year.
Telles’s syllabus likely reflected Barbosa’s teaching practice.
Example 4.2a: DMR1, p. 10, facsimile, musical excerpt in margin (marked).
59. 49
commentaries is that Barbosa often refers to music in the treble clef and bass clef as
group A and group B, and labels the musical lines and the corresponding plastia lines
respectively (see Examples 4.3a and 4.3b). In DMR2.2 the labels A and B are not shown.
This edition does not include the commentaries, since they do not aid in the performance
of Ritmoplastia; however, the labels A and B are kept for teaching and performance.
Example 4.3a: DMR1, p. 14, facsimile, showing labels for treble, bass, and two
corresponding plastia lines (marked).
60. 50
Example 4.3b: Lima Edition, Part III, Musical Example No. 1
As noted previously, Part III of this edition shows the contributions of Clara
Semeles. A few plastias in Part III include plastia labels taken from DMR4. Nonetheless,
the vast majority of the plastias used by Semeles in this part had already been introduced
by Barbosa, suggesting that one should be familiar with basic Ritmoplastia (as introduced
in Parts I and II of this edition).
Part IV of this edition offers complete Ritmoplastia compositions. Clara Semeles
set plastias for them. These compositions are more challenging than the music presented
in Part III of this edition; they have more voices and are longer. The complexity of the
music in Part IV demonstrates the artistic potential of Ritmoplastia. Apart from the two-
voice compositions Diorama no
18 (RPA5.1) and Diorama Brasileiro no
6 (RPA5.2), Part
IV presents three three-voice musical examples: Ensaio (RPA5.4) and “Ritmoplastia in
Three Voices” No. 1 and No. 2. These pieces are the only examples of Ritmoplastia in
&
?
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42
4
2
4
2
4
2
‰ œ œ œ
J
œ œ
‰ y y y
j
y y
1
œ
œ œ œ
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œ
y y y y
y y y
œ
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œ œ
y y y y
y y y
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y y y y
y y y
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Œ
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U
Œ
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&
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2
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4
2
4
2
6
‰.
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6
‰.
y y y
2
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j
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˙
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&
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j
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3
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42
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1
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&
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42
6
‰.
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6
‰.
y y y
2
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œ ‰
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y y y y
j
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y y y y y
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&
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3
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A
B
A
B
&
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42
4
2
42
4
2
‰ œ œ œ
J
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‰ y y y
j
y y
1
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42
4
2
4
2
6
‰.
œ œ œ
6
‰.
y y y
2
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œ ‰
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y y y y
j
y ‰
y y y y y
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&
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ã
11
j
œ
‰
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‰
3
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y y y y
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j
y
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œ
œ
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œ
y y
y y y y
61. 51
three voices found in the Barbosa family collection. “Ritmoplastia in Three Voices No.
1” is homophonic, but each line has a different set of plastias. In “Ritmoplastia in Three
Voices No. 2,” each voice presents a different rhythm, and there are three different sets of
plastias. Some of the plastias in Diorama Brasileiro no
6 (RPA5.2) could be deciphered
only through consultation of DMR4, and so make their first appearance in Part IV, rather
than having been introduced in Parts I or II of the present edition.
Editorial Notes
This edition’s Introduction begins with Barbosa’s personal statements about
Ritmoplastia from DMR5 (p. 2), DMR1 (p. 2), DMR7, and ADR1 (p. 2-3) respectively.
The instructions at the beginning of DMR1 do not appear DMR2.1 and DMR2.2 (the
typed version of DMR1), possibly because Barbosa used DMR2.1 and DMR2.2 as
handouts in her own Ritmoplastia courses and therefore would have given the
instructions orally. Next, this edition includes a statement of six goals of Ritmoplastia as
shown in DMR7; to these are added two additional goals of Ritmoplastia found in ADR1
(pp. 2-3). This edition’s Introduction conveys Barbosa’s own statements on Ritmoplastia
from the general to the specific.
For this edition, repeat signs in special usage were added to Exercises Nos. 3-10
of Part I. In these exercises, more than one line of plastias—showing systematic
movement variation—can underlie one row of rhythmic notation.
In Part II of this edition, Exercises 1-10 correspond to Exercises Nos. 11-20 of
DMR1 and DMR2.1. Two major discrepancies were found when reconciling DMR1 and
DMR2.1. First, Exercises Nos. 11–14, as found in DMR2.1, do not conclude with a
62. 52
double bar line. This element is clearly noted in the manuscript, DMR1; double bar lines
were added to this edition. Second, the margins of Exercises 11-20 of DMR1 show a
special feature: a melodic excerpt, unique to each exercise. These melodic excerpts were
added to this edition.
Part III reconciles a discrepancy between DMR1 and DMR2.2. The music to
Examples Nos. 1–8 is exactly the same in both sources, but the musical sequences for
Nos. 9 and 10 are completely different; in DMR1, the music for Examples No. 9 and 10
is in three voices, while DMR2.2’s music for these examples is in two voices. Part III of
this edition use the two-voice musical versions of Exercises Nos. 9 and 10 (that is, the
DMR2.2 version).
Part IV includes the three-voice Musical Examples No. 9 and 10 from DMR1. In
this edition they are retitled “Ritmoplastia in Three Voices” No. 1 and No. 2.
Conclusion
Although Barbosa’s initial intention for Ritmoplastia was to create a means of
recording Brazilian dances through original notation, she did not specify any Brazilian
dance style in the notebooks and compositions on Ritmoplastia found in the Barbosa
family collection. The reason that Barbosa did not specify any Brazilian dance style can
be attributed to the fact that, throughout the process of creating Ritmoplastia, Barbosa
and Semeles started to apply the method to a variety of musical styles, not only Brazilian
dances. Barbosa’s Ritmoplastia compositions, as with all of her musical output, were
intrinsically influenced by Brazilian music; however, Ritmoplastia had the capacity to
adapt to a variety of musical styles.
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Parts I and II of this edition modify Western music notation with a system created
by Barbosa. Users should treat rhythmic notation and plastias as a single line and then
proceed line by line. Exercises 2-10 indicate handclaps on the top line only; they should
continue throughout. Exercises 3-10 show repeat signs. They indicate that the rhythmic
notation and handclaps remain the same while the foot plastias change. Part II does not
include a handclap line; users should proceed from one line to the next. Part III and Part
IV use standard musical notation. These examples are polyphonic and polygestural.
—Leticia dos Santos Lima
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Introduction
[DMR5, 2] Inspired by the precious rhythmic resources of our land and the
spontaneous movements found within the dances of our people, I am compelled to offer
those who engage in dance basic elements for the conscious manifestation of our
emotions in their most authentic expressions. In order to preserve the fertile richness of
the artistic expressions of our people, I began my Estudos Brasileiros, which translate our
characteristic rhythm and melody with a combination of purity and vigor. Undoubtedly
from this intention arose the Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras. The Ritmoplastia das
Danças Brasileiras is, in short, the study and the methodization [metodização] of the
movements found within the dances of our people. [DMR1, 2] Ritmoplastia is a method
that aims to codify the rhythm and the form of our dances. Ritmoplastia is based on the
spontaneous dances of our people and, as such, is based on natural movements. The
elements that compose Ritmoplastia are: Rhythm (Rhythmology) and Plastia
(Plastiology). The Rhythmology applied to Ritmoplastia focuses on the rhythms found in
Brazilian dances. The Ritmoplastia movements are indicated by symbols. In order to give
a methodological meaning to the teaching of Ritmoplastia, I created plastic symbols
called Plastias. Plastias are written below the rhythmic figure. [DMR1, 3] The teaching
of the Rhythmology begins with the metric unit and its subdivisions, preferably with
handclap exercises for greater physical integration with the rhythm.
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[DMR5,2] Inspirados no precioso manancial rítmico desta nossa terra e nos
movimentos espontâneos nas danças das nossas gentes, sentimo-nos estimulados em
oferecer àqueles que se dedicam à dança elementos básicos para a manifestação
consciente das nossas emoções nas suas mais autênticas expressões. A fim de preservar a
riqueza fertilíssima das manifestações do nosso povo, iniciamos nossos Estudos
Brasileiros, que traduzem a nossa rítmica e a nossa melódica mesclada de pureza e vigor.
Daí surgia sem dúvida a Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras, mais um trabalho colhido
naquela fonte. A Ritmoplastia das Danças Brasileiras é em síntese o estudo e a
metodização dos movimentos nas danças do nosso povo. [DMR1,2] Ritmoplastia é o
método que tem por fim fixar dentro de normas específicas o ritmo e a forma de nossas
danças. A Ritmoplastia está fundamentada nas danças espontâneas do nosso povo e como
tal baseia-se em movimentos naturais. Os elementos de que se compõe a Ritmoplastia
são: Ritmo (Ritmologia) e Plastia (Plastiologia). A Ritmologia aplicada à Ritmoplastia
focalisa os ritmos encontrados nas danças brasileiras. Os movimentos da Ritmoplastia são
indicados por símbolos. A fim de que fosse dado um sentido metodológico ao ensino da
Ritmoplastia, criou-se uma grafia de símbolos plastiológicos que denominaremos de
Plastia. As plastias são escritas abaixo de cada figura rítmica. [DMR1,3] O ensino da
ritmologia é iniciado pela unidade de tempo e suas subdivisões, de preferência com
exercicios de palmas (plastia), para maior integração física ao ritmo.
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[DMR7] Objectives of Ritmoplastia
1- Study and solidify the movements of dance through a notation specially elaborated
with signs, along with those that already exist to represent rhythm;
2- Appropriately prepare the student through Rhythmology and Plastiology;
3- Methodize [metodizar] the teaching of rhythm in the service of dance;
4- Provide the necessary technical elements for the interpretation of the dance notation;
5- Create the habit of simultaneous vertical and horizontal reading in order to give a
global meaning in the realization of a dance;
6- Join the interests of the study of music and dance;
7- [ADR1, 2] Experience progressively challenging rhythms in order to develop
rhythmic perception and reading;
8- [ADR1, 3] Analyze the musical passage, experiencing it through movement.
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[DMR7] Objetivos da Ritmoplastia
1- Estudar e fixar os movimentos da dança, através de uma escrita especialmente
elaborada em signos, a par dos já existentes para representar o ritmo;
2- Preparar convenientemente o aluno através da Ritmologia e Plastiologia;
3- Metodizar o ensino do ritmo em função da dança;
4- Fornecer os elementos técnicos necessários para uma análise do texto destinado à
dança;
5- Criar o hábito da leitura vertical e horizontal concomitantemente, a fim de dar um
sentido global na realização de uma dança;
6- Conjugar os interesses do estudo da música e da dança;
7- [ADR1, 2] Vivenciar os ritmos básicos, e o posterior enriquecimento dos mesmos,
com o objetivo de desenvolver a percepção e a leitura rítmica;
8- [ADR1, 3] Analisar, vivenciando através de movimentos o trecho musical.
