Newswise — The President Obama who delivered the State of the Union Address was one not seen for a while, say movement experts Professor Karen Bradley of the University of Maryland and Professor Karen Studd of George Mason University.
The experts describe him as a teacher instructing a class, and then morphing into the guise of a principal forbidding students to engage in shenanigans.
Based on his physical movement and non-verbal communication, “He was back in the swing,” Bradley and Studd add. “Whereas in Obama’s other recent appearances we’ve seen tenacity and constraint, during the State of the Union Address we saw resilience and strength. Where recently we’ve seen grimaces, during this address he smiled, openly and directly, at those who oppose him. He was upbeat, impactive, at times gravely serious and at other times lightly potent.” See their complete analysis below.
Karen Bradley, Associate Professor of Dance, is the Director of Graduate Studies in Dance at the University of Maryland and the Director of Research for the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York.
Karen Studd, Associate Professor of Dance at George Mason University, is Director of the Modular Training Program in Laban Movement Studies. Both are Certified Movement Analysts
They have been featured on HARDBALL, in the Washington Post, on NPR, and in the New Yorker magazine, among other media.
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Coming Out Swinging, a Purposeful ObamaBy Karen Bradley and Karen Studd
From the first camera shot of President Obama’s entrance into the chamber, he was back in the swing. Head up and slightly back, a wide grin on his face, and with squared shoulders, he entered the aisle and owned it.
Focusing on this person, shifting to make eye contact with the next while still connected to another across the space, Obama made his way along the narrowing channel, selecting who was held close in, who received a whisper in the ear, who needed to be reached. As he took the stage, he also took his time, surveying the entire hall, and smiling at everyone in it. This was going to be his court.
Whereas in Obama’s other recent appearances we’ve seen tenacity and constraint, during the State of the Union Address we saw resilience and strength. Where recently we’ve seen grimaces, during this address he smiled, openly and directly, at those who oppose him. He was upbeat, impactive, at times gravely serious and at other times lightly potent.
Obama began the speech as a teacher, laying out the facts, reasoning with the students, walking through the issues. He explained, with spreading and enclosing gestures, the actions that need to be taken: cleaning up, coming together, a little more of this, less of that. As the lesson unfolded, he reminded anyone who had forgotten just where the country began nine years ago, and what had not worked along the way, with finger raised, but not pointed. Pointing was unnecessary; his gaze and wide smile were clearly directed. He also gave homework.
But then the teacher made way for the principal. Rising up and standing his ground, President Obama reviewed the rules. No longer finessing his points, he drove them home. He appeared to get a little taller, a little wider. And the finger, previously held up, definitely wagged. The confident leader made it very very clear: the shenanigans will end. “I don’t quit,” he said. We believed him.
As he neared the end, his far off gaze, not seen recently, reappeared. He indulged in the view, and then, waving, swung away, with only the hint of a grimace, to let everyone know he meant what he said.
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