Much of Irmgard Bartenieff’s reputation rests on “Bartenieff Fundamentals” – the somatic practice she evolved during her rehabilitation work with polio patients. In my 20s, Bartenieff Fundamentals altered how I approached dance technique. Now, as I experience conventional physical therapy in my 70s, I start to see how radical Bartenieff’s practices were, and are.
Irmgard received conventional training in physical therapy, graduating from New York University. But early in her work with patients recovering from paralysis, she started to see limitations to existing practices.
These practices focused on single joint actions and either strengthening or stretching muscles associated with those joints. Irmgard realized that focus on the movements of one joint do not define the completely integrated patterns of several joints or limb-trunk relationships that are necessary for normal functional movement.
This critical insight allowed Bartenieff to utilize her Laban training, notably Laban’s notion of diagonal movement paths. As she writes, “By seeing trunk-limb patterns as visible spatial paths…it became possible to develop more adequate stretching patterns.”
While Bartenieff Fundamentals is comprised of specific movement sequences, Irmgard’s contribution goes beyond a set of exercises. She developed a “theory of practice” by integrating anatomical knowledge with Laban theory in a way that remains revolutionary.