According to Laban, balance “is never complete stability or a standstill, but the result of two contrasting qualities of mobility.” Laban provides the following simple example of contrast: “when one side of the body tends to go in one direction, the other side will almost automatically tend towards the contrary direction.”
Balance in space arises from counter-tensions and oscillations of movement in opposite directions. Laban used this principle of balance in the spatial sequences he designed. For example, the dimensional scale follows the oppositional pattern of moving upwards, then downwards, across the midline of body, then opening away from the midline, shifting backwards, then going forwards.
As Laban’s balanced spatial sequences become more complex, he layers in some principles of progression. For example, in the A and B Scales, the movement progresses from the vertical to the sagittal to the horizontal plane in an ongoing cycle of motions touring the kinesphere.
Laban also used contrast and orderly progressions to develop balanced sequences of effort change. Find out more in the next blog.