Decoding 4/4

The 4/4 Code Boards in Studio 1 at Chunky Move.

Ahead of the 2024 return season and international tour of 4/4, Artistic Director Antony Hamilton answers some questions about the number patterns that drive and shape this meticulous and highly technical performance.

What are the origins of the codes used in 4/4?

AH: About 15 years ago I was searching for a practical method to generate rhythmically complex choreographic sequences efficiently and quickly. The intention was to create choreographies defined by visually unpredictable dynamics, but using a system that enabled dancers to achieve extreme accuracy of timing and form. Lists of numbers provided a universal language that could be the architecture for this kind of choreographic exploration.

How are they generated?

AH: At first the numbers might appear to be quite random, but they are actually organised with many notable features. Two features in 4/4 are that there are no numbers exceeding 10, and there are a much higher volume of numbers with a value of 1 and 2 than there are of numbers with a value of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10. In fact, in one of the dancers codes, there are 76 numbers that have a value of 1 or 2, and only 54 numbers that have a value between 3 and 10.

This is because, the shorter the numbers are, the closer the intervals are, and this is critical to the choreographic work and the viewers’ perception of time: it's easier to estimate and interpret rhythm at shorter intervals. The length of one beat compared to 2 beats is easier to perceive than the length of 100 beats compared to 200 beats, so for dance, with its corporeal connection to beats, shorter intervals make sense.

In drafting the codes, I will often play them out as if tapping out a beat and then notate them as a list of numbers, so they have an element of intuitive musical feeling to them. At the same time, some of the numbers follow a logical pattern, such as a set of descending numbers alternating with a different set of descending numbers as a sequence. For example:

3, 5, 2, 4, 1, 3

Another example with a pattern logic:

5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3, 5, 2, 2, 3, 1, 1, 1.

These are descending numbers from 10, but split into groups of two numbers, where if divisible by 2, that’s the starting point, and if 5 is available, always use it unless divisible by 2. So, 5, 5, (10), 5, 4, (9) 4, 4, (8) 5, 2, (7) 3, 3, (6) 5, (5 the rule is kind of broken on 5, because, it’s a 5!), 2, 2, (4) 3, (the rule gets broken on 3, for no good reason I can come up with) 1, 1, (2) 1, (1). Lol. Ok, now try to make a dance to it nerds!!!!!!e to it nerds!!!!!! 

“In drafting the codes, I will often play them out as if tapping out a beat and then notate them as a list of numbers. So they have an element of intuitive musical feeling to them.”

How do they become choreography?

AH: Each number represents the duration of an individual movement. Each movement is then 'interrupted' by the next movement on the first beat of each number. The result is the appearance of percussive departures from one movement to the next, and a rhythmic quality that is determined by the timing intervals produced by the order of the numbers. The physical language is also informed/inspired by Popping and Electric Boogaloo. These are street dance styles still practiced by many but popularised in the 1970s and 80s. A specific movement called a dimestop is particularly informative, but we don't exactly dimestop very often, because there is rarely an actual stop between movements in my style of choreography. More often, you bounce from one movement to the next, a bit like the old 1-bit computer game PONG.

How do they limit and contain the work, how do they drive it forward?

AH: The main limiting factor is my habitual approach to keeping a regular consistent meter. My musical collaborator Alisdair Macindoe has on many occasions proposed ramping speed changes between fast and slow meters, however I find the constraint of the repeating meter an important basis for the choreographic practice. Rhythmic variation is entirely constrained by the duration of the numbers, and the relative speed of movements applied. I respect this limitation! Constraints can often lead to a rigorous process of extending the potential of a limitation, so we find many ways to push limits of creative interpretation when making choreography using this method.

Image by Jahlia Solomon