According to Laban, balance “is never complete stability or a standstill, but the result of two contrasting qualities of mobility.” Laban provides the following simple example of contrast: “when one side of the body tends to go in one direction, the other side will almost automatically tend towards the contrary direction.”

Balance in space arises from counter-tensions and oscillations of movement in opposite directions. Laban used this principle of balance in the spatial sequences he designed. For example, the dimensional scale follows the oppositional pattern of moving upwards, then downwards, across the midline of body, then opening away from the midline, shifting backwards, then going forwards.… Read More

As we near the one year anniversary of the COVID pandemic, staying healthy is on everyone’s mind. Health depends upon balance. Rudolf Laban had some interesting ideas about the role of movement in staying balanced – both physically and mentally.

Laban once characterized human movement as “living architecture.” Developing this metaphor, he wrote that “a building can hold together only if its parts have definite proportions which provide a certain balance in the midst of continual vibrations and movements taking place in the material of which it is constructed.”… Read More

“Transitions from one effort quality to another are either easy or difficult,” Laban wrote, noting that no sane person will every jump from one basic action to its complete contrast, “because of the great mental and nervous strain involved in so radical a change.”

Yet, sequencing from one basic action to its complete contrast – for example, floating to punching – is usually how the Action Drive is taught and practiced. This is not only hard; it’s unnatural!

In next MoveScape Center exploration of the Dynamosphere, we are going to take it easy by embodying modulated and organic effort patterns devised by Laban.… Read More

In his studies of repetitive physical labor in British factories, Rudolf Laban identified eight basic effort actions: floating, punching, gliding, slashing, dabbing, wringing, flicking, and pressing. Almost anyone who has ever had an introduction to Laban’s work will have practiced these combinations of space, weight, and time factors. This is usually where the exploration of the Action Drive ends.

The upcoming MoveScape Center course explores the Action Drive more deeply through embodied phrases, video observations, and self-observation and reflection.

If you think the Action Drive is boring – think again.… Read More

The COVID epidemic has sharply curtailed most social and recreative activities. But we can still use effort rhythms to restore vitality and balance. The “incomplete efforts” (a.k.a. effort states) hold the key.

Hopping mad about something, or everything? Chill out with the Space and Flow combos of the Remote State.

Exhausted by too much disembodied screen time? Get down with some Weight and Time combos of the Near State.

Is life just one task after another? Dream a little with Flow and Weight combos.… Read More

Laban refers to effort states as “incomplete efforts,” yet these combinations of only two motion factors have many vital functions.

Laban actually identifies four functions for these subtle movement moods:

– Effort states “appear as transitions between essential actions.”
– They “have a recovery function.”
– These incomplete efforts are “expressive of a variety of inner attitudes.”
– Effort states can appear on their own, as “cardinal movements.”

In MoveScape Center’s Excursion #1, we explore these vital effort combinations through dance, movement, visual art, and theatre.… Read More

My choice of title for the upcoming MoveScape Center course, “Incomplete Efforts (Mostly)” is tongue-in-cheek. I don’t feel the six effort states are “incomplete.” Instead I see these less-intense effort compounds as vital “connective tissue” in the ongoing stream of movement.

This is because the effort states – awake, dream, near, remote, stable, and mobile – serve as preparations for the more intense drives, allowing the mover to build up to a peak expenditure of energy.

Within a drive, effort states serve to connect different effort compounds.… Read More

 I have been describing the Dynamosphere as a floating world whose only solid landmarks are the mysterious islands of Action, Passion, Vision, and Spell. How then does one travel in this fluid environment?

Fortunately, six “incomplete efforts” connect the floating islands of the drives. These “incomplete efforts” are constructed of only two motion factors. Yet they provide vital transportation links for travellers wishing to explore the Dynamosphere.

Also known as “effort states,” the six incomplete efforts are as different as the Action, Passion, Vision and Spell islands they connect.… Read More