According to Rudolf Laban, human beings move not only from place to place but also from mood to mood. The visible movement of the body from place to place occurs in what Laban called the “kinesphere” – the space immediately adjacent to the body. The movement from mood to mood is more subtle and must to be inferred from how an action is done. Is it vehement or gentle, leisurely or abrupt? Does it build in intensity or gradually wane? Laban developed a system of “effort” terms to capture these various dynamic qualities and the moods they suggest.
The intention to move begins in what might be termed “psychological space.” Laban called this psychological space the “dynamosphere.” It is the “inner world in which impulses surge and seek and outlet in doing, acting, and dancing,” the domain of human effort in which the movement from mood to mood occurs.
As Laban conceived them, the dynamosphere and kinesphere are parallel movement territories. They share many characteristics. For example, Laban created three-dimensional geometrical models for both spheres. These models allow him to map both the movement from place to place and the movement from mood to mood, capturing both the physical and emotional characteristics of human actions.
In the forthcoming Octa seminar, “Discovering the Dynamosphere,” we explore the inner landscapes of movement moods, using some of the maps that Rudolf Laban provided.