While Laban was certainly concerned with how the different movement elements of body, space, effort, and shape cohere in meaningful human actions, he was also interested in exploring disharmony. To widen his understanding of harmonic and disharmonic movement patterns, Laban reportedly visited a lunatic asylum in Paris in 1902, basing a later personal solo, “Marotte,” on his observations.
Notions of disharmony also served as Laban developed a repertoire for his chamber dance groups. One type of dance was called a “grotesque.” These works aimed for a comic effect or to make a social comment, and could be solos, duets, or even larger group pieces.
The grotesque has a long history in visual art and literature. Laban’s adoption of grotesque for dance undoubtedly drew on elements of harmony by transgressing them!
In the upcoming MoveScape Center workshop, Cate Deicher and I will repeat Laban’s explorations of disharmony as an additional source for movement invention. Discover new approaches to movement creation – register now for Movement Harmony ALIVE.