Grace has been characterized as the art of moving well through life. In her ruminations on grace, dance critic Sarah Kaufmann, notes that “the graceful person is an image of our ideal selves, the embodiment of the dream we have of existing easily in the world.”
As her discussion proceeds, her observations begin to link with Laban’s characterization of virtuosity as effort economy. According to Kaufmann, graceful actions “offer an image of that desirable state of affairs: effortless mastery. Mastery of the situation and of our own bodies, behavior, and emotions.”
Kaufmann adds, “For me, the most graceful athletes evoke a means of escape… We watch them for their inexpressible beauty, and the hope they’ll soar and take us with them.”