Effort Economy = Trouble

In the previous blog I claimed that Laban’s effort theory is elegant; that is, his ideas explain the dynamics of human movement clearly, directly, and economically.  Yet the elegant parsimony of the model is also troublesome.

At its most basic level, there are only eight qualititative terms in the effort model with which to describe any movement that any human being can do.  How can only eight terms begin to capture this diversity?

Because effort theory doesn’t end with only eight movement qualities.  Laban went on to theorize an effort “chemistry.” Find out more in the next blog.