Laban identified four floating islands in the watery world of the Dynamosphere. He called these “effort drives.” These effort islands surface in the fluid continuity of movement when three motion factors cohere.

Each effort island has a unique landscape. The Action Drive island is hardscaped. Here the residents are always working, toiling, and building – never giving in to softer feelings.

The landscape of the Passion Drive island is softer, yet also rugged and threatening. Here the residents sometimes bump into each other, because they can’t be bothered to focus or pay attention to where they are going.… Read More

Laban defined bodily motion as the “flow of weight in time and space.” These four motion factors provide the basic landmarks in the kinesphere.

Each motion factor is colored by the mover’s intention, resulting in contrasting qualities of movement.

Flow, the effort to control movement, can result in binding, the effort to restrain and stop a movement, or freeing, the effort to relax control and let the movement go.

Weight, the effort to apply the right amount of pressure, can result in a strong movement in which forcefulness prevails, or a light motion, in which a delicate touch is used.… Read More

Just as Laban provided landmarks for the kinesphere, he also conceived a geography for the inner landscapes of the Dynamosphere.

The geography of the Dynamosphere, however, is neither solid nor fixed. Rather it is a floating world of shifting vistas and mysterious islands that surface and then disappear.

Nevertheless, Laban has conceived some fixed points that help us navigate in this fluid environment.

These fixed points are the four motion factors, the four effort drives, and the six effort states.

With only these few fixed points to guide us, we can tour the Dynamosphere.… Read More

Rudolf Laban defined the Dynamosphere as “the space in which our dynamic actions take place.” This virtual “space” is the companion domain to the “kinesphere,” the real bubble of space adjacent to the body in which visible movements occur.

The Dynamosphere is the realm of energy and effort. It can be thought of as a motivational area in which the inner need to act arises and becomes visible in how effortfully a movement is done.

Any movement can be performed with many different effort qualities.… Read More

In his essay, “The Rhythm of Effort and Recovery,” Laban concludes by noting that “the ideal is that harmonized effort should penetrate work and sleep as much as possible.  But art in leisure-time remains indispensable.”  Consequently, my final holiday selection is Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide by comic actor and writer John Cleese.

Initially aiming to be a lawyer, Cleese stumbled into writing comic sketches while at Cambridge and discovered, to his surprise, that he could be creative.  Defining creativity as “new ways of thinking about things,” Cleese notes that creativity “can be seen in every area of life.” … Read More

My third holiday book selection is The Power of When by Michael Breus, psychologist.  This book addresses the importance of understanding your own circadian rhythm and using that knowledge to maximize how you organize your daily schedule.

According to Breus, “not every person’s biological clocks keep the same time.”  Consequently, the book opens with questionnaires that allow the reader to find his/her “chronotype.”  Breus has expanded this typology beyond “larks” (early risers) and “owls” (late risers) to four types.

Once your individual type is established, the book is chock full of advice for how best to schedule your day. … Read More

My next holiday book recommendation is Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley.  This authoritative tome unravels the mysteries of sleep and provides persuasive scientific evidence that sleeping well is the foundation of physical and mental health.

Contemporary neuroscience is now able to chart the differences in brain wave activity between wakefulness, deep non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when dreaming occurs. … Read More

Breathing is free, and how we breathe is under our control.  Yet 90 percent of us are breathing incorrectly, and this has a negative impact on our overall health.  Thus my first holiday book suggestion is Breath:  The New Science of a Lost Art by journalist James Nestor.

Prompted by his own respiratory difficulties, the author set out to discover how and why breathing in different patterns can enhance wellbeing. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of breath, beginning with Nestor’s own experiment, under a doctor’s supervision, of breathing only through his mouth for 10 days. … Read More

MoveScape Center usually features Santa’s “holiday hacks” in December.  But this year the jolly old elf was too busy securing hazmat garb and making backup plans for gift delivery with Amazon to grant us an exclusive interview.

So instead, this month’s blogs will focus on great books to get and give —  reading material to help you look after yourself during this stressful period.

In selecting books, I turned to Rudolf Laban for advice about finding a healthy rhythm of exertion and recuperation.… Read More

Pandemic constraints have disrupted normal rhythms of day and night for all too many of us, leading to disharmony and lack of balance. In his discussion of effort and recovery, Laban suggests a four-part rhythmic pattern of day and night as a point of departure for restoring harmony and balance.

Laban’s pattern contrasts day, which consists of wakeful work, with night, which consists of restful sleep. Between these two periods he inserts connecting links – leisure activities and dreams.

Leisure-time activities link working and sleeping by providing a period of recovery through pleasurable, playful, and creative activities in which “rhythm is practiced and experienced.”… Read More