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________________ Dance Scholars Analyze Candidates' Movements in Presidential Debates The Chronicle of Higher Education October 8, 2008
John McCain lost last night’s presidential debate at Belmont University because he became “locked in his own body.” That’s the verdict of dance scholars at the University of Maryland and George Mason University, who analyzed the candidates’ movements during the debate using Laban Movement Analysis. Their take on the debate is one you probably didn’t hear from the reporters and political spin doctors commenting on the TV networks. According to the scholars, neither candidate seemed comfortable with the town-hall forum, which they liken to a “boxing ring” or “one-ring circus.” For Mr. Obama, who “lives in the university of possibilities,” the space was too confining, too constricting. As a result, he “wandered around looking slightly uncomfortable before nailing his points.” Mr. McCain, on the other hand, began well, “with his solidity and clarity present.” But as the debate wore on, he became “increasingly locked in his own body, entrenched in a small enclosed space,” his growing discomfort evident in his pacing, shifting, and side-stepping. The scholars conclude that Mr. McCain is “a man who carries his own prison with him” — someone who has not yet escaped the effects of his imprisonment decades ago. And you thought debates were decided by who made the most convincing arguments? ________________ Reading the motions of politics THE DIAMONDBACK / POLITICO 9/29/08 6:59 AM EDT
For Karen Bradley, the director of graduate studies in dance, it doesn't matter what the candidates said in Friday night's debate so much as how they said it. As a certified movement analyst, Bradley has been watching the race for the White House intently, focusing on gestures, pacing, expressions and shifts in weight, to determine whether the candidates' movements support or contradict what they are saying. Bradley has been featured in a variety of media, from Hardball with Chris Matthews to The Washington Post to a book by Malcolm Gladwell. Speeches are written by a team of experts and even motions like the hand chop or the fist pump are carefully rehearsed, she said, but body language never lies. For politicians, who are seen in a variety of contexts over time, relating to the public and communicating effectively can make the difference between victory and defeat. "We all read body language and in that sense, we're all movement analysts," Bradley said. "It's important in determining if someone is telling the truth, if we're getting accurate information, if we should seek more. It's useful daily in getting to know each other. You don't just hear the words." Bradley became a CMA in 1984 at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies and traveled the country teaching and choreographing performers before coming to the university in 1999. For dancers, actors and musicians, movement analysis is useful for developing a character in a play or relating with the audience, she said, and movement analysis is a required class for dance undergraduates here. Bradley is also the founder of a consulting firm, Move to Win, where she coaches communication in corporate and political settings. Leading up to the first debate, both Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz)., and Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.), have recently amended their styles, which could point to coaching, she said. She noted how Obama used to wander around the stage, pause and stare into the distance, often equivocating on the issues. [Watch Bradley analyze Friday's debate.] "I think for a long time, he was trying to not be the scary man, you know, the scary black man," she said. Of late, he has become more resolute, in an attempt to prove that he can take a stance, she said. McCain, on the other hand, persisted through the primaries by being the tough guy who wouldn't budge his views, she said. He would stand still, grip the podium and stare straight at the audience. When support for Obama began to increase, he adopted messages of reform and change, although there was nothing in his style up until that point suggestive that he was capable of moving in any direction, she said. "I don't see a real commitment," she said. "When he does these shifts, like moving around the stage during a speech, he looks uneasy, and I don't think that's good." In Friday night's debate, Obama continued to develop by taking strong positions while McCain shifted back to his former, dogged method, she said. At the beginning, it was a draw, as both came into the debate with their facts and statistics at the ready. McCain frequently brought his hands together in the same way, she said, as he focuses on the same points and the same message; this reflects his natural tendency toward determination, and also points to the fact that he is less mobile, due to injuries suffered in the Vietnam War. In contrast, Obama tends to stretch his arms and open up, expounding on his points generously, which makes it harder for him to stick to them, she said. McCain refused to look at Obama or the audience, while Obama had no qualms with turning directly to McCain, she noted. But after the subject turned to the war in Iraq, it was downhill for McCain, Bradley said. "He had a moment of extreme discomfort, looking like he was coming off his heels almost, like his knees buckled," she said. "When Obama turned to him and said, 'You were wrong on this, you were wrong on this,' you could see McCain shrink, he looked small, old and angry. I feel that will be a resonant image." Afterward, McCain kept repeating the same points, while Obama gave a more balanced performance. "Just the fact that he did hit back a little bit, told McCain he was wrong, enumerated a number of very specific number of things he would do, people were waiting to hear that, and he did it with a lot of conviction," Bradley said. In Bradley's opinion, the most important thing to take away from the debate is how each candidate makes decisions. "In terms of the candidates, the style of leadership, especially in these difficult and challenging times, matters particularly when we're dealing with the world, with the planet - who is listening, who is willing to pay attention, who will respond with strength," she said. "These things really matter. I'm not saying to vote with one candidate or another. Do you want somebody who is reactive or responsive? Someone who is thoughtful or quick at making decisions? What matters to you as a voter? What do you want in a leader?" Allison Stice reports for the University of Maryland's The Diamondback. The Diamondback is partnering with Campus Politico for the 2008 elections. Allison Stice reports for the University of Maryland's The Diamondback. The Diamondback is partnering with Campus Politico for the 2008 elections.
________________
Al Gore sighed in 2000. George H.W. Bush looked at his wristwatch in 1992. Richard Nixon sweated in 1960. Body language contributes to the public's perception of who wins or loses presidential debates. The physical behavior of John McCain and Barack Obama during tonight's debate "has the potential to be quite significant," said Alan Schroeder, a professor at Northeastern University who has studied TV presidential debates. McCain likely has practiced keeping his temper in check and his smiles genuine, and Obama probably has modified his head tilts and body leans, said Carol Kinsey Goman, a Berkeley, Calif. executive coach and the author of a book on body language. "But it's hard to make a prediction because tonight's format will be the first time it's ever been tried," Schroeder said. What's different about this debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford is that McCain and Obama will have five minutes to engage each other after answering each question posed by moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS. "We don't have any historical guides to how candidates behave. It does mean how they treat each other becomes more important," Schroeder said. McCain, the Republican nominee from Arizona, and Obama, the Democratic nominee from Illinois, will square off beginning at 9 p.m. for 90 minutes of verbal sparring on foreign policy and national security. Each will have a maximum of two minutes to respond to Lehrer's queries. The debate will be broadcast live on most major networks. "Interactive actions could be uniquely important," said Gordon R. Mitchell, a University of Pittsburgh professor who focuses on the theory of argumentation and directs the William Pitt Debating Union. "With a five-minute free-for-all open discussion, repeated for 90 minutes, it's really going to be dramatic." A possible Obama strategy could be purposely interrupting McCain to provoke his temper, Mitchell said. McCain, on the other hand, could bait Obama into appearing elitist with Reaganesque quips that diminish Obama's oratorical flair. During a 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan won favor by shaking his head and responding, "There you go again," to a point made by Jimmy Carter about Reagan's stance on Medicare. But the ways candidates move mean much more than simply impressing the electorate during a debate, said Karen Kohn Bradley, a public-speaking coach and dance professor at the University of Maryland. She has studied politicians' body language since 2002. "Those behaviors reveal their attitudes toward making decisions, how well they work with others, if they're solitary or independent thinkers or if they consult others," Bradley said. She wonders what style each candidate will adopt during the debate. Bradley said both nominees recently have changed their physical demeanors -- which, depending on voters' preferences, could be viewed as positive or negative. McCain, for example, conveyed himself as a highly stable candidate throughout the primary season by doing things such as taking a wide, grounded stance and gripping the sides of the podium. "Now, he's gotten into swaying in the wind a little bit and looking around, which makes him look more equivocal," she said. "I don't know if this is making his supporters nervous or not. Voters drawn to him for his solidness might be concerned." Until recently, Obama "wandered" while on a dais and "stared off into distances" while other people spoke. "Some people interpreted that as attuning and listening to those around him," Bradley said. "Others saw it as he doesn't have a position. Well, we've seen that change. Now, he takes a stand. That could make his supporters very nervous. Now that they know where he stands and they may not agree with him." The most crucial strategy is to radiate confidence, calm and strength, said David Lanoue, an expert on presidential debates who chairs the political science department at the University of Alabama. "Do the things your mother always told you to do," Lanoue said. "Be as natural as possible. Stand up straight. Look at the people you're talking to -- in this case, the American people." http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_590226.html
________________ Analyzing the President's final State of the Union address. The way he moves WASHINGTON-- During his final State of the Union address President George W. Bush's body language added memorable moments to the speech. Karen Kohn Bradley, University of Maryland associate professor of dance, analyzed every furrowed brow, every smirk, every wink to decipher exactly what the president may have been conveying to audiences, without saying it. A certified movement therapist, Bradley picks apart and interprets movement patterns. In addition to dissecting President Bush's moves from the podium, she has also kept a close eye on Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney along with Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Huckabee, she said, is the most solid performer, based on his consistent show of connecting what comes out of his mouth to his body language. But, she admitted, he has the most experience, based on his work from the pulpit. Some of President Bush's regular patterns Bradley has observed over the years include: winking, swaying from one leg to the other and smirking. "Winking is a way he connects with someone. He sort of says, 'I'm with you' or 'you're with me. You get to hang with me.' He doesn't do it to everybody," she said. The president also takes on different personas during his talks, including one that Bradley appropriately calls "the cowboy." "This cowboy thing, we haven't seen it in a few years," she said. "He didn't have the belief behind him that he could pull that off. But, he's back to it. The last time we really saw so much of that was when he was saying, 'We're gonna go after 'em' in 2003." Some of the president's best moves during his final State of the Union address, Bradley said, came during his call for comprehensive immigration reform and the need for peace in the middle east. "That is the most integrated thing we've seen out of this man in years," she said with eyes glued to the television screen. "That moment! That one-- he meant! [He had] postural support, his gestures matched the postures, his head was part of it, the voice was part of it." Tension swept over the president's body, Bradley said, when it came to the Iraq war. "It's really kind of creepy what he does when he starts talking about Iraq," she said. "He does a little eyebrow thing, then a little mouth gesture. It's almost as if he's stifling a laugh. It's very strange, and it's been going on for years." Her assessment? "I think he cannot hide the fact that he really doesn't believe what he's saying when he starts talking about Iraq." © Medill Reports, Northwestern University. A Washington publication of the Medill School. http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=76195 ________________
By Jeremy Hsu, Staff Writer U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves to the audience after his speech at the victory column in Berlin Thursday, July 24, 2008. Credit: AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer Barack Obama spoke in front of 200,000 Germans in Berlin on Thursday at the start of a European tour, while John McCain talked to small business leaders at a fourth-generation German restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. But regardless of the audience, people undoubtedly paid as much attention to the nonverbal performance as they did to what each presidential candidate said. Body movement analysts say that McCain represents stability in how he stands firmly and holds onto the sides of a podium. By contrast, Obama has a forward-looking gaze and strolls about in a relaxed fashion during public appearances. Yet both men share an introspective quality that could make them strong leaders, each in his way. "They represent very different ways of relating," said Karen Bradley, a professor at the University of Maryland who has served as a media consultant for outlets such as MSNBC's "Hardball" and The Washington Post. Bradley and similar body movement experts often study dance, acting or physical therapy, but a system called Laban Movement Analysis can also explain what many American voters register only subconsciously when watching presidential candidates talk and move. "It's a tool for looking at human movement," said Karen Studd, a professor at George Mason University in Washington, D.C. and media consultant alongside Bradley. Breaking down the field Bradley and Studd can analyze a person’s movements by going down a list of categories that include body, effort, space and shape, or they can start with the overall impression that anyone might have of a candidate. "My approach has been to get an overall take rather than look in that [systematic] way," Studd told LiveScience. “I look through my own eyes and use [Laban] language and tools to clarify what I’m seeing.” One example comes from how Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama take different approaches to gesturing. McCain uses directional gestures that suggest bridging a gap, while Obama’s shaping gestures that suggest accommodation, the analysts say. McCain also sometimes adopts a right-left style of walking where he shifts his weight — not unlike a cowboy swagger if taken to extremes, Studd noted. That contrasts with Obama’s more centered movement where he swings the opposite arm with the opposite leg. Obama's free flow approach may have its advantages, especially when it comes to public appearances where the candidates face hard questions. "John McCain is ill at ease a lot, and Obama is rarely ill at ease although he's put on the spot," Bradley said. "John McCain sometimes looks like he's looking for the door, so he needs to work on that." Candidates and first ladies Still, Bradley and Studd picked out McCain early as a "strong candidate" after The Washington Post asked them to analyze a Republican candidates' debate at the end of last year. They also noted the warm charisma of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who surprised many political analysts by challenging McCain for the Republican nomination up until March. Another Republican contender who fared less well in the eyes of Bradley and Studd was Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is reportedly a possible vice presidential running mate for McCain. More recent attention has focused on the relationship between the candidates and their wives. John and Cindy McCain often appear separately, or else Cindy tends to stand in the background. "John McCain is a solitary guy," Bradley pointed out. "Cindy's making her own appearances, so we don’t get to see what their marriage is like." That differs from Barack and Michelle Obama, who have often shared the stage together and demonstrated a team mentality. "You'll see Michelle flow into the foreground at times," Studd said. She and Bradley agreed that "you get the sense of how a couple works together" in the Obamas. New leadership style Differences aside, both candidates share a surprising similarity that sets them apart from previous presidents. "Both are very private, which is interesting because people wouldn't think that of them," Bradley observed. "There's a lot going on inside that we don't quite see." That stands in contrast to President George W. Bush or President Clinton, whose outgoing ways mean that much of their thinking appears on their faces. A private decision-making process bodes well for both McCain and Obama as leaders, Bradley and Studd agreed. Make up your own mind Come November, the body movement analysts do not want to tell voters who to support — that's what issues and personal preferences are for. "We're not talking about the issues, because people can make up their own mind about issues," Bradley said. Voters may still rely heavily on those nonverbal impressions of candidates, given their relative lack of knowledge about each candidate's stand on issues. No less than half of Americans said that they know "just some" or "very little" about the policy positions of McCain and Obama in a July poll conducted by the Pew Research Center. People with opposing partisan views could even interpret the same body language differently. "Someone who wants a candidate who is going to be tenacious and stay the course, they're going to read the stability in [McCain's] movement signature as a positive thing," Studd said. "Someone who wants change is going to see that as immovable." The experts may do enough by simply telling voters what they can already sense but cannot put into words, because that creates a fuller picture of both candidates. "We're all trained observers, because that's how we interact with the world before we developed language," Studd said. http://www.livescience.com/history/080725-candidate-body-language.html ________________
Analyzing the Dance of the GOP Debaters By Amy Argetsinger
What accounts for the astonishing Mike Huckabee surge of recent weeks? "He listens," says Karen Studd. "He's willing to hear other perspectives." "It's about innovative ideas," says Karen Bradley. Not that these women -- two university professors watching Sunday's GOP debate in a chic Georgetown rowhouse -- necessarily support the ideas of the conservative former Arkansas governor. They've barely been listening to them, in fact. But as professors of dance, they've got their own theory about Huckabee's ascent in the polls: It's something in the way he moves. A man of confident gestures and lively demeanor, Huckabee just might be this cycle's Great Communicator in the quadrennial contest that Bradley claims always comes down to the candidate with the greatest "shaping" ability -- the subtle body language that conveys warmth, strength, energy, whatever it is that makes people think they like and trust you. Does this stuff really matter? We'll just note that Bradley, who directs graduate studies in dance at the University of Maryland, was talking publicly about the incredible physical charisma of then-unknown Howard Dean back in 2002, way before his campaign took off. (And later fizzled, but that's another body-language story.) And she was publicly touting Huckabee as the smoothest-moving Republican over the summer, when he was still polling in single digits. Bradley and Studd, a professor at George Mason University, are both practitioners of Laban Movement Analysis, a technique for describing body movements and hypothesizing about the signals they send. They and Jan Whitener -- a Laban student who has partnered with Bradley in a new consulting firm, Move to Win -- agreed to watch Sunday's debate on Univision with us. Since it was translated immediately into Spanish, they found themselves relying almost completely on the candidates' physicality. Mike Huckabee: It's not any one trick or gimmick; he's simply the most "integrative" guy in the race, the professors say. Talking about the need for preventive health care, he moves his hand forward and brings his body's full weight along, his eyebrows lifting in perfect synchronicity. The message? "That all of him is invested," says Studd. Not always: When quizzed about the problem of anti-Hispanic sentiment among some Americans, Huckabee seems ill at ease, his hands moving back and forth in opposition to the little side-to-side shift he's doing. "Grasping for straws," says Studd. But he warms to the topic of schools, talking about educating both the left and right sides of the brain (hands and body moving left and right), about how kids drop out because they're bored, and he reaches out to the audience in a gesture that says Let me hold your baby or Let me hand you the answer, and then brings his hands together in a point. "That was beautiful," sighs Bradley. "He's capturing the complexity," says Studd. And no one knows how to put on a listening face like Huckabee. Eyes wide open, brows at attention, very I'm taking it all in. John McCain: The man doesn't move a whole heck of a lot -- understandable, given the injuries he suffered as a POW in Vietnam. Except for the occasional chopping hand gesture, he's got both arms on the podium, bracing. Does that make him boring? Undynamic? Hardly, Studd says. "He's a pyramid -- the most stable shape in nature." The topic is Iraq, and McCain keeps his head down, his neck tense. His upper arms and shoulders are drawn in; Bradley calls that a "control" thing. "He's definitely appealing to the military community," she adds. But then, as he holds forth on border security and the "heart-wrenching" quandary for U.S. children with undocumented parents, his torso spreads and sinks -- a kind of full-body sigh, like "he's frustrated that this hasn't been solved already," says Whitener. McCain has a "bound flow," she says, as opposed to Huckabee's free-flow body language, and it evokes the time he spent confined in small places as a POW. "There's a sense of a line that can't be crossed with him." Mitt Romney: Well, he's certainly sending some interesting signals. He's praising the work ethic of immigrants, especially those who seek legal status through proper channels, but he's doing this with his chin coyly tucked, a smile dancing on his lips, his eyes twinkling up from under his brow. "He's doing courtship things," says Bradley. "It's almost like he's going to wink at you." "He's cute," says Whitener. "He's so focused on you, he's not seeing anyone else in the room and -- well, you'd just want to go out with him!" "Clinton had a lot of that," Bradley scoffs. Romney talks about families separated by the border, but when he gestures, it's mostly with his wrist, not his full arm. "It's detached, it's peripheral, it's not touching the core," says Studd. But when he brags about his record of insuring Massachusetts's uninsured, he's suddenly engaged -- pelvis back, forearm forward, like "he's about to pounce," says Bradley. Rudy Giuliani: Where Huckabee is expansive and McCain establishes a solid perimeter, Giuliani keeps his frame narrow and controlled. His gestures are often at odds -- hands spread wide while his head moves forward -- and with pinched expressions and a habit of pointing, he has a tendency to look "schoolmarmish," says Studd. He telegraphs his discomfort over a question about border security, Bradley says, by flinging a dismissive hand to the side and licking his lips. The fidgetiness could work, though, say the profs. "He's bound and quick, with a controlled shudder -- it's a gearing up, a preparation, like he's ready to attack," says Studd. Fred Thompson: He's the actor, but his face -- forever fixed in an expression of concern -- isn't nearly as malleable as Huckabee's. His head droops, his hands don't move. "Whatever he's talking about here, he's not selling it," says Bradley. "He doesn't even seem interested in selling it." On the question of when to leave Iraq, he makes a pushing gesture that seems to the profs as if he's pushing the problem away from himself. What happened? "He's got broad shoulders and he's tall, and I think that bought him a lot of status, but it just doesn't read so well when it's you by yourself," says Studd. "You put him in a scene with someone else, and it plays to his advantage, but at a podium, there's nothing." Duncan Hunter: Swagger is a good thing, right? Not when you're swaggering with a backward lean, like Hunter, who has a way of gesturing off to the side. "It's disdainful," Bradley says. "You get the sense he doesn't listen." Hunter looks exasperated when asked about anti-Hispanic sentiment. He's talking about all the support he gets from Hispanics in his district, but he grabs his head with his right hand, "like 'there's no answer I can give that's going to sound good to you,' " Studd says. And then he jabs his thumb toward the space behind him onstage. "Oh my gosh, you do not usually see that!" gasps Bradley. "It's past, it's negativity, it's 'Send 'em back.' " Ron Paul: He's the only candidate who, when he gestures, keeps his fingers loose and wide apart. "There's more thinking than sensing," says Studd. His eyes are alert, but his face barely moves. "He's self-involved," says Bradley. "The focus is inside his own head." As he rages against the flight of jobs overseas, Paul finds his groove. His head lifts, his torso follows, in a rare display of authority and power. For the most part, "he comes across as likable but not authoritative," says Studd. Bradley shrugs. "That may be why people like him." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/10/AR2007121002015.html ________________
Excerpt from Malcolm Gladwell’s article, “What the Dog Saw: Cesar Millan and the movements of mastery.”
Cesar is fluid. "He's beautifully organized intra-physically," Karen Bradley, who heads the graduate dance program at the University of Maryland, said when she first saw tapes of Cesar in action. "That lower-unit organization—I wonder whether he was a soccer player." Movement experts like Bradley use something called Laban Movement Analysis to make sense of movement, describing, for instance, how people shift their weight, or how fluid and symmetrical they are when they move, or what kind of "effort" it involves. Is it direct or indirect—that is, what kind of attention does the movement convey? Is it quick or slow? Is it strong or light—that is, what is its intention? Is it bound or free—that is, how much precision is involved? If you want to emphasize a point, you might bring your hand down across your body in a single, smooth motion. But how you make that motion greatly affects how your point will be interpreted by your audience. Ideally, your hand would come down in an explosive, bound movement—that is, with accelerating force, ending abruptly and precisely—and your head and shoulders would descend simultaneously, so posture and gesture would be in harmony. Suppose, though, that your head and shoulders moved upward as your hand came down, or your hand came down in a free, implosive manner—that is, with a kind of a vague, decelerating force. Now your movement suggests that you are making a point on which we all agree, which is the opposite of your intention. Combinations of posture and gesture are called phrasing, and the great communicators are those who match their phrasing with their communicative intentions—who understand, for instance, that emphasis requires them to be bound and explosive. To Bradley, Cesar had beautiful phrasing. Read more: http://gladwell.com/2006/2006_05_22_a_dog.html ________________
Ignore What They Say, Watch What They Do
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/11/04/AR2006110401298_pf.html ________________
________________
Body language can translate into tale that's not intendedRafael Palmeiro has joined many other public figures who have used gestures that come back to haunt them.
"He literally deflates," Bradley says. "It's almost like the air goes out of him." ________________
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