A bird flying over Manhattan in early June would have detected several hot spots of movement activity and collegial exchange. Sites for the Laban Institute conference ranged from Hunter College on the upper east side, to midtown near Bryant Park, to Washington Square Park in the West Village.
With as many as four sessions running concurrently and over 200 participants, it is impossible to provide an encyclopedic report on the conference as a whole. Some highlights for me were the following sessions.
* Learning about Laban Movement Analysts’ founding role in the creation of “Global Water Dances” – an international biannual event using dance as an international language to raise awareness of local water issues and the impending global water shortage.
* The panel on dance/movement therapy featuring Nancy Beardall, Katya Bloom, Jane Cathcart, and Suzi Tortora – all seasoned movement analysts and therapists. Here was one session that really captured how this field is maturing.
* The EcoPoetic site-based dance event in Washington Square Park masterfully organized by LIMS Executive and Artistic Director, Regina Miranda. Seventeen different dance performances were scattered throughout the northeast corner of the park, transforming the area into a sunlit scene in which dancers and strolling passerbys gracefully melded in the mild evening.
* Anastasi Siotas’s workshop on biotensegrity as an emerging model of anatomical structure.
* And, carrying the theme of tensegrity further, Mary Copple gave a super paper on her experiences integrating Laban-Bartenieff work in the Architecture and Design Program at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany.
More conference highlights in the next blog!