The Viewpoints is a technique of improvisation that grew out of the postmodern dance world. It was first articulated by choreographer Mary Overlie, who broke down the two dominant issues performers deal with--space and time--into six categories. Since that time, directors Anne Bogart and Tina Landau have expanded her notions and adapted them for actors to function together spontaneously and intuitively and to generate bold, theatrical work. The Viewpoints are a set of names given to certain principles of movement through time and space--they constitute a language for talking about what happens on stage. Coupling this with Composition, which is the practice of selecting and arranging the separate components of theatrical language into a cohesive work of art, provides theatre artists with an important new tool for creating and understanding their art form.
The Viewpoints Book
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Anne Bogart: Viewpoints
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Terpening-Romeo's Polyvagal Method for actors is based on the work of neurobiologisy Steven Porges and trauma clinician Deb Dana, who use Polyvagal Theory as a framework for understanding the intricacies of the nervous system. A variety of work by and about Porges and Dana is accessible through the Libraries: