Choreutics is in many ways a straight-forward presentation of Laban’s movement theories. However, more than any of Laban’s other books in English, Choreutics is colored by Laban’s worldview.
It is recognized now that there is no such thing as pure objectivity; every theory is colored by its proposer’s experiences and beliefs. Consequently, Laban’s worldview is not irrelevant to understanding ideas set forth in Choreutics.
In this series of blogs, I sketch aspects of Laban’s life and times and their potential influence on his theories of movement. This requires a creative reconstruction, for Laban made no effort to articulate his worldview, and the modern world in which he came of age is in many regards foreign to our post-modern world.
Laban turned 20 in 1899, as Europe teetered on the edge of a new century. This turn of the century period was pervaded by an atmosphere of optimistic rationality. The world, largely controlled by colonial European nations, was at peace. New discoveries in science sustained a conviction that human beings possess the potential to alter any conditions that might threaten civilization. Ongoing waves of industrialization increased material prosperity, while Enlightenment values and the rule by law vouchsafed greater civil rights for individuals.
Growing up in Bratislava in eastern Europe, Laban was on the edge of these changes. The multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a democracy. Industrialization came later here, and Laban was able to observe its negative impact on work life and folk traditions. Through holidays spent in the Balkans with his father, the military governor of Herzegovina, Laban was also introduced to religious traditions and rituals beyond Christianity. This exotic background seems to have sensitized Laban to tensions beneath the seeming triumphs of European culture. Perhaps this is what led him to write:
“The art, or the science, dealing with the analysis and synthesis of movement, we call ‘choreutics.’ Through its investigation and various exercises, choreutics attempts to stop the progress of disintegrating into disunity.”
What message does Laban’s “choreutics” have for us today? Discover for yourself in the forthcoming Tetra correspondence course, “Decoding Laban’s Choreutics.”