In order to resolve differences between the definitions of Lamb (growing and shrinking of the kinesphere) and Kestenberg (growing and shrinking of the body shape), we elaborated Laban’s concept of “kinesphere.”
Laban defines the kinesphere as “the sphere around the body whose periphery can be reached by easily extended limbs without stepping away from that place which is the point of support.” This definition makes the kinesphere sound like pre-existing bubble of territory surrounding the body, with boundaries in far reach space.
We realized, however, that there can be no sphere of movement without bodily action. When a person is standing still, he/she only has a potential kinesphere.
The actual kinesphere, on the other hand, only becomes visible when a person begins to move. Bodily movement defines the scale and shape of this territory. In this sense, the kinesphere must be enacted to exist. It does not have a constant boundary defined by far reach space. Rather, its shape and boundaries are fluid and changeable, defined in the moment by the movement that is taking place.
This clarification allowed us to “knit” the Lamb and Kestenberg definitions into a working definition of shape flow:
Shape flow is the growing and shrinking of the actual kinesphere as manifested in growing and shrinking of the body shape.
Our next step was to test this definition by observing some movement samples, to see if several different observers could agree when shape flow was and was not occurring. Find out more in the next blog.