Laban and Work Movement

The ground-breaking efficiency studies done by Rudolf Laban and F.C. Lawrence in British industry are well-known. The critical role these observations of work movement played in the development of Laban’s effort theory is far less understood.  But a careful reading of Mastery of Movement, Laban’s most complete explication of effort, reveals this to be the case.

Railway workers repairing rail

 

In 1947, Effort, jointly written by Laban and Lawrence, chronicled their discoveries studying work movement.   Effort deals exclusively with the Action Drive – combinations of the motion factors of Weight, Time, and Space.  These combined factors yield “Eight Basic Actions” – Floating, Punching, Gliding, Slashing, Dabbing, Wringing, Flicking, and Pressing.  Laban introduces the fourth motion factor, Flow, in his discussions of work actions and psychological dimensions of effort.  But these discussions are suggestive at best.

 

Now in its 4th edition, Mastery of Movement was first published in 1950 under the title, The Mastery of Movement on the Stage. Laban takes effort theory beyond the workplace in this book.  Nevertheless, the effort components of Weight, Time, and Space provide a foundation for his discussion of the stage as “the mirror of man’s physical, mental, and spiritual existence.”  Laban begins his explication of effort with the Eight Basic Actions, but develops this into a full theorizing of “incomplete efforts” (a.k.a. effort states or combinations of only two motion factors) and the “transformation drives” (the Vision, Passion, and Spell Drives, in which Flow replaces one of the other motion factors).

 

For Laban, Flow seems to transform functional actions into various expressive moods that carry the mover up the Hierarchy of Needs – from tangible aims that sustain individual existence towards intangible values that transcend mere survival.

 

How does Laban apply these ideas for the stage performer?  Find out in “Mastering Laban’s Mastery of Movement– starting in early March.