I appreciate the elegance of Rudolf Laban’s ideas about space, time, energy, and movement. While his theories seem abstract, they always relate to concrete bodily actions. Sometimes it requires some imagination, however, to bring Laban’s ideas down to earth and make them both lively and relevant for students.
In our forthcoming Labanize lecture-demonstration in New York City (Sunday afternoon, December 7th), Cate Deicher and I share some of the ways we have found to engage students with Laban’s theories. Collectively, the two of us have taught in 35 different Certificate Programs and worked with dance, theatre, dance therapy, art, architecture, and nursing students. Along the way we have learned a few tricks of the trade.
For example, many household items can be employed to demonstrate effort and space concepts. Some we have found useful are the following:
- Index cards and yarn
- Masking tape
- Plastic garbage bags
- Oranges, a knife, and a bamboo skewer
- A pink bathrobe
To find out more, join us for Labanize, a part of the Meaning in Motion weekend of workshops.