Everything we do in life, whether physical, mental, or emotional, requires energy, or from Laban’s perspective – effort. In fact, he found effort everywhere, not only in physical activities but also in “the expression of inner states of mind and emotions.” Because works of art capture various states of mind and emotions, we can also find effort in art.
In this month’s blogs, I discuss several paintings and illustrations by well-known artists that that express an state or drive, conveying a mood that can be described in effort terms.
I find such works helpful for a couple of reasons. First, they can serve as images to stimulate movement studies. Secondly, these images add to one’s “effort bank” and can be used as a reference when observing, to help identify states and drives.