Postmodern life during a pandemic is complex. Yet, even by the middle of the 20th century when Laban was writing, finding a healthy balance between effort and recovery was not easy. As he noted, the complexity of life is so great that it is hard to tell at first glance if an action is serving as exertion or recuperation.
He goes on to write that the fundamental alternation between effort and recovery, which can be observed in work during the day and sleep during the night, can give some general hints. But “work is not exclusively effort and sleep is not exclusively recovery.” Work requires “effort sprinkled with recovery” and “puzzling efforts of a special kind” take place during sleep.
The ordered alternation of contrasting effort elements; that is, the rhythmic change between contending and yielding effort qualities, is central to Laban’s examination of healthy rhythms. But the broader change in activities – between work and recreational pastimes, between wakeful consciousness and dreamy sleep – also play a role in his thinking.
Find out more in the next blog.