Choreutics and Eukinetics — space and effort – are the two broad categories of human movement conceived by Laban. Laban’s spatial concepts address the visible forms of physical movement through the space surrounding the body. His effort concepts address psychological intent and motivation, surmised from the dynamic effort qualities employed in visible bodily motion.
I have offered quite a few courses and workshops focused on Laban’s Choreutics. Recently, however, I have been working with Eukinetics. I am finding that studying space or effort affects the nature of my interactions with students.
Effort is personal. Exploration of the states and drives seems to prompt the sharing of experiences, anecdotes, artwork, photos, coping mechanisms, perceptions of self and significant others. And while there is no hard division between inner and outer in the psychophysical phenomenon of human movement, effort certainly veers towards the inner and space towards the outer.