Dancers move through space as fish move through water. In the seemingly vacant sea of space, Laban identified central lines of motion that extend through the dancer’s body outwards into the surrounding area, making what appears to be empty tangible.
Angiola Sartorio, one of Laban’s early dance students, explains it this way:
“Try to visualize that the directions in space are everywhere, and when you activate a pathway, you align with a network that already is there for you to find. … Read More
An analogy can be drawn between Laban’s maps of the kinesphere and the geometrical grid cartographers employed to create state boundaries in the western United States.
If the boundaries of the western states followed the natural watersheds, the states would be rounded and irregular in shape rather than having the squared off and block-like shapes they have today.
Similarly, while Laban knew that most bodily movements follow curved trajectories, he chose to stylize these as straight lines and angles. By imposing a regular geometrical structure on the globe of the kinesphere, Laban identified spatial pulls and their directional vectors.… Read More
North American Indians are said to have marvelous “topographical” memories. According to Lucien Levy-Bruhl, “it is quite enough for them to have been in a place only once for them to have an exact image of it in their minds.”
The natural landscapes of North America have many memorable landmarks. On the other hand, there are no visual landmarks in the very personal territory of the kinesphere.
Fortunately, pioneering movement analyst Rudolf Laban created maps of space to enable the mover visit new places and enjoy fresh kinesthetic experiences. … Read More
Welcome to your movement home – the kinesphere. It’s prime real estate. It’s always around you and very convenient. You can reach every part of it without even taking a step!
What’s that? The kinesphere just seems empty to you? Nonsense. As Rudolf Laban said, “Empty space does not exist. On the contrary space is a superabundance of simultaneous movements.”
Intrigued? Find out more in “Exploring your Kinesphere: A Personal Journey,” beginning August 30.
In the upcoming MoveScape workshop, “Exploring Your Kinesphere,” we focus on the central lines of motion – dimensions, diagonals, and planar diameters – for two reasons.
First, these are the fundamental lines of motion that Laban uses to define directions in the kinesphere.
Secondly, these central lines of motion connect body and space. Here is how. Because your body occupies the center of your personal movement space, body center and kinespheric center are congruent – one and the same.
Consequently, dimensions, diagonals, and diameters can be felt, as vectors emerging from body center and extending outwards into your kinesphere and beyond. … Read More
Level provides another simple way to organize the kinesphere. Laban identified three levels – low, middle, and high.
Low level is near the floor and accessed by bending deeply. Middle level is where we live in normal activities. High level is accessed by stretching and extending the limbs.
Laban suggested that individuals may show a preference for a certain level. For example, “a high-dancer has a natural tendency of uplifting and rising. He will prefer movements which stress erectness of the body carriage.” … Read More
Laban defined the kinesphere as the space surrounding the body that can be reached by extended limbs without taking a step. This personal space is defined further by the notions of “reach space.”
Quite simply, limbs can be extended in three ways – fully extended to access “far reach space,” partially extended to access “middle reach space,” and barely extended to define the space close to the body in “near reach space.”
Reach space is central to “proxemics” – the study of space and how it makes us feel in relation to objects and others. … Read More
The observation that God geometricizes has been attributed to Plato, but it could be ascribed to Rudolf Laban as well.
To create a longitude and latitude for mapping body movement, Laban gave the empty space adjacent to the mover a shape. Or rather, three geometrical shapes – the octahedron, the cube, and the icosahedron.
These geometrical shapes of the kinesphere seem cold, linear, and abstract in sharp contrast to the warm, rounded, concreteness of the body. Yet Laban found relationships between the two that unlock access to space in new ways for the mover.… Read More
It is easy to think of general space as an empty void offering an overwhelming number of possibilities for movement. Laban came up with helpful concepts to avoid overload.
For example, level provides a simple way to organize empty space in a way that can be related to the dancer’s body. Laban identified three levels – low, middle, and high.
Low level is near the floor. The mover can access this area of general space by bending deeply, or kneeling, crawling, even slithering or rolling along the floor.… Read More
Rudolf Laban notes that we can distinguish between the space within reach of the body (the kinesphere) and “space in general.”
General space may be like an empty room (think of a dance studio). Or it may be characterized by the objects within a space, which serve as landmarks and/or obstacles (think of a living room with sofa and chairs).
Landmarks help to structure and guide movement, if only because we don’t like to collide other objects (like sofas and chairs). … Read More