Case A — Keep an apex in the music without demanding a longer flight

Situation and physical decision. A maker has a four-second motif: rise and return during its first second, wait during its second, extend sideways during its third and return during its fourth. The intended effect is a brief visible summit at 0.5 seconds followed by a longer low interval. The initial idea assigns the entire first second to a dancer’s airborne center of mass. Its idealization neglects air resistance and uses equal takeoff and landing COM heights.

For flight duration T, v_y = gT/2 and the rise is h = gT²/8. At T = 1 s, these are 4.9 m/s and 1.225 m. The supplied capability basis for this fictional brief permits only the already familiar 0.2-second flight variant, not one second. Its idealized rise is 0.049 m. The timing change therefore increases the modeled height twenty-fivefold; slowing the music does not merely slow the same jump. Neither number is a training prescription.

Compare three candidates:

The selected variant is a changed choreography, not proof that supported hand motion is physically equivalent to an airborne body. If the brief requires actual flight, this selection is unavailable; return to timing, means or the brief.

Selected phrase. Use a comfortable supported position with no partner contact and no required weight transfer. For the score, let H be an individually chosen familiar hand-height change and W a familiar sideways reach. Coordinates are relative to the hand’s low home position, not prescribed anatomical dimensions. The other hand remains at home.

Join each moving interval with a smooth start and finish; for a drawing or animation, q(u) = 3u² − 2u³, 0 ≤ u ≤ 1, specifies the interpolation between its two endpoints. It is a controlled trajectory with zero endpoint speed, not a ballistic path. The hold is an intentional interruption between the vertical and horizontal gestures. At four seconds the phrase is ready to recur. Repeat the motif with the left hand and the opposite sideways direction to obtain an eight-second phrase A.

Now make phrase B by changing the vertical path into a diagonal: during each rise travel from (0,0) to (W/2,H), then return along that diagonal. Retain every duration, the summit at 0.5 s of each motif and the later horizontal out-and-back. B develops spatial reach without requiring a higher summit or faster sequence. Reject an alternative that moves the summit to one second: it removes the brief’s midpoint arrival.

Composition and continuation. The selected twenty-four-second score is A, then B, then A with half the hand-path dimensions. The last eight seconds retain timing while contracting visible scale. Each four-second motif ends at home with zero prescribed hand velocity, so the next hand can begin without an unspecified reset. The last return at 24 s is the ending; do not add an unscored retreat. The viewer sits in front with both hands visible. The form establishes a vertical gesture, opens it diagonally and recalls it at reduced scale. Those are chosen compositional relations; whether viewers find the effect compelling remains a receiving-use question.

Specific practice need. Suppose a later realization can produce the rise and the horizontal reach separately but rushes the 1–2 s hold. RHY.12 can keep one complete four-second motif, including that hold and the following reach, while making its durations recoverable through a timed demonstration. HCD.9 supplies feedback on the premature reach and a retry; additional strength work does not answer that timing error. If the hand contour instead causes unwanted whole-body bracing, SOM.2–.4 supplies a small perceptible contrast and reintegration under a qualified teacher, while the chosen support stays unchanged. Keep the needed support in the final arrangement. A correct animation settles the score’s times and joins, not the performer’s ability.