In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving in November, feasting with friends and family.
While the day is often focused on material blessings, I would like to acknowledge other blessings from my life in movement.
First, I am grateful that Rudolf Laban studied visual art before he became involved in dance. If this seems strange, let me explain.
Laban had the rudiments of a late nineteenth century academic art education, which drew on centuries of theory and practice, as well as the study of classic and renaissance masterpieces. By the early twentieth century, he witnessed modern and iconoclastic art movements, producing new theories, practices, and master works.
Consequently, when he turned his attention to dance, he could not help but be struck by what a poor art it was – no theory, virtually no written literature, and few surviving masterpieces. He set out to change all this – and he did. He rescued dance and movement from disappearing and provided some fixed points that allow this ephemeral phenomenon to be an object for study and reflection. Thank you, Rudolf!