Since MoveScape Center started running correspondence courses, it has been my pleasure to interact in virtual space with movement analysts on five continents. The LIMS Conference in New York made it possible to meet and learn more about the work of several of my correspondents, and to make new friends as well.
I was able to participate in the workshop of Lorella Rapisarda (Italy), whom I met through her participation in the “Decoding Choreutics” course. Lorella’s elegant conference workshop explored “The Missing Pull;” or, more accurately, what to do when one cannot fall automatically into the next thing, but must cope with a static situation. Lorella showed us how to find mobility in still shapes through Body, Effort, Space, and Shape.
I also enjoyed learning more about the work of Flavia De Valle (Brazil), who recently did the “Mastering Mastery of Movement” course. Her talk and video demonstrated how she has integrated Laban/Bartenieff work into creating a performance piece with dancers and actors at her university.
The panel, “Four about Four: A Module Education Matrix” allowed me to learn more about the scholarly interests of Darcey Callison (Canada), who also did the “Mastery of Movement” course in 2017.
Finally, a new international acquaintance is Stefi Schmid (Germany). I managed to sneak into her workshop on Jenny Gertz. Gertz was a master student of Laban’s in the 1920’s who pioneered dance work with children. Little remains of Gertz’s work but some beautiful photos. Schmid has been able to reconstruct Gertz’s pedagogical approach through research in the Leipzig Dance Archive. We were able to experience this concretely during the workshop – a wonderful chance to recapture some of the truly remarkable work done by Laban’s students during the Weimar Period and to see how a new generation is bringing this work forward.