According to some reports, Kurt Jooss was very disappointed when Laban began studying industrial work movement in English factories. For Jooss, physical labor had nothing to do with dance. Even in later years, Jooss continued to view “Eukinetics” as dance dynamics, while Laban’s expanding notions of “Effort” related only to work.
Irmgard did not agree with Jooss. Instead, she wrote the following to Laban in 1944:
“I cannot share the doubts of those of your friends who think that you are not doing ‘the right thing’ in the world of dance – to me this world has become – shall I say: ‘enlarged’ or ‘deepened’ under the material and artistic struggle of these last years.”
In this letter, Irmgard goes on to describe her own transition to therapeutic work and the treatment of physical disabilities. Find out more in the upcoming MoveScape Center course, ““Irmgard Bartenieff: In Her Own Words”.