Laban did some of his most important work during the last two decades of his life. He extended his study of movement beyond dance – to physical and mental labor, movement for actors, physical education for children, and even psychotherapy.
Each time Laban turned his eyes to a different arena of human activity, he developed his ideas. And he wrote a book – Effort, The Mastery of Movement on the Stage, Modern Educational Dance, and Effort and Recovery (which remains unpublished).… Read More
In Choreutics, Laban relates human movement to a dizzying array of subjects – Pythagoras, crystals, Lissajous curves, symmetry, musical semitones, lemniscates, cuboctahedra, the Golden Mean. Consequently, for each reading assignment in the “Decoding Choreutics” course, I provide a written Commentary to help participants understand the wide-ranging relationships Laban mentions.
Dance historian Walter Sorrell claims that Laban was “a voracious reader whose thirst for knowledge embraced everything from religion and philosophy to literature and science.” This is because artistic and scientific circles overlapped to a much greater extent during Laban’s lifetime than is now the case.… Read More
MoveScape Center has run “Decoding Choreutics” twice – once in 2016 and again in 2017. Over 40 students on four continents have taken the course. Here is what they say about the experience.
“This has been a wonderful re-connecting with Laban’s teaching.”
“The questions were the perfect assistant in helping me to form clear understandings of Laban’s writings.”
“The pace was lovely and kept me fully engaged from week to week.”
“When reading Choreutics on my own, I often felt either inspired or frustrated. … Read More
Laban wrote Choreutics during 1938-39, while convalescing at Dartington Hall in England. He intended for the book to introduce his ideas to the English reading public. Then World War II broke out. The resident artists at Dartington Hall were dispersed, and Laban gave the manuscript to his Dartington benefactors for safe keeping. The manuscript was only rediscovered and published in 1966, after Laban’s death.
When Laban wrote Choreutics, he had not yet invented the symbols for effort notation. Consequently, he had to use spatial direction symbols, amended with a small “s,” to represent effort qualities and combinations.… Read More
Coming in early March — MoveScape Center again offers a unique opportunity to study Rudolf Laban’s masterpiece, Choreutics !
In this inspirational work, Laban articulates his understanding of the physical and metaphysical dimensions of human movement. And although his presentation is logical, many parts of the book are difficult to grasp.
That is why I have developed this correspondence course. Together with me over six weeks, participants read the first 12 chapters – though not necessarily in numerical order. Here’s why.… Read More
Learning to paint has interesting parallels with learning to observe movement. These similarities are fascinating in themselves. For me, however, the greatest reward of learning to paint is the way it enriches my visual experience of the world.
Colorado can be very sere in the winter, when the leaves fall and the fields turn a dusty brown. Fortunately, we enjoy many sunny days. And when light touches the trees, the branches glow orange or pale lavender. Some shrubs appear to be magenta; some grasses, pale yellow. … Read More
As a beginning art student, I’m in awe of my painting teacher. His work is work is so accomplished, his demonstrations so sure that I assume painting is easy for him. Beginners always assume that the activity, whatever it is, becomes easy for the expert. And this is where we make a mistake.
I’m an experienced movement observer and presumably an expert Movement Pattern Analyst. But that doesn’t mean that observing is easy for me. Every time I begin an interview with a new person for whom I will prepare a movement profile, I pass through the vale of doubt. … Read More
For the movement analyst, accurately capturing the salient aspects of the movement event is critical. It is equally vital for the representational painter to capture the subject so that the painted image is recognizable. In both cases, details matter — and this can be a problem.
During a recent gathering of Movement Pattern Analysts, we spent time observing and analyzing the videotape of an interview. We were identifying Posture-Gesture Mergers, and classifying these short sequences in terms of effort and shape. … Read More
I have found that the same observation sequence of relaxation, attunement, point of concentration, and recuperation can be applied when painting.
The preparatory phases of relaxation and attunement go together. Whether the subject is a figure, a still life, or a landscape, you have to decide where to stand and how to position your easel for the most unobstructed view. Then you have to attune to the subject, taking it in as a whole before choosing what specifically you may want to paint.… Read More
Rudolf Laban noted that movement occurs in patterned phrases of preparation, exertion, and recuperation. When I was learning to analyze movement, I found applying this structure helped me see movement events more clearly.
We all have movement habits; that is, there is a pattern to each individual’s movement behavior in which certain facets of movement occur more frequently than others. The pattern is real, but it takes time to see it. And this is where phrasing is helpful.
Preparation in observing actually has two parts: relaxation and attunement. … Read More