Bartenieff has written that movement dynamics are a critical component in understanding movement behavior.  As she notes, “We see not only the design of movement (its direction and timing) but by its specific dynamics we catch its meaning, its impact and expressiveness.”

Notation captures which part of the body moves, where it goes, and how long the action takes.  Space Harmony/Choreutics approaches bodily movement in space from a more theoretical position by prescribing spatial paths and sequences of whole body action.  … Read More

Irmgard Bartenieff notes that there are three crystallizations of Laban’s ways of looking at, describing, and notating movement: “(1) space harmony (choreutics), (2) Labanotation/Kinetography, and (3) Effort/Effort notation.”

In addition, Bartenieff explains that the existence of these three systems enables Laban’s “colleagues and students to study and work with some extremely elusive phenomena in tangible ways.”

The “elusive phenomena” to which Bartenieff refers are human movements.  In everyday life, the actions of our bodies disappear even as they are occurring.  That is, movement exists at a perpetual vanishing point. … Read More

I have always found Rudolf Laban’s book, Choreutics, to be inspiring.

Here are a few of my favorite quotations:

• “Movement is the life of space.”
• “Stability and mobility endlessly alternate.”
• “Although in analysis we look at movement from the standpoint of an outside observer, we should try to feel it sympathetically from within.”

Find your own inspiration in the upcoming hybrid workshop, “Decoding Laban’s Choreutics,” offered in conjunction with the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies.

 … Read More

By the time I was studying Effort/Shape at the Dance Notation Bureau with Irmgard Bartenieff, the Laban taxonomy had a third component – Body.  This makes sense – there is no visible movement from place to place or mood to mood without the dancer.

Moreover, the integration of Bartenieff Fundamentals into the Laban canon added the essential element of functional action and connectivity to support full expressivity in Effort and Space.

So when did Shape come into its own?  Find out more in the next blog.… Read More

MoveScape Center (MSC):  Delivering all those gifts in one night is an arduous task.  What is one of your biggest physical challenges?

Santa (S):  Level change.  I’m hopping out of the sleigh, zipping down the chimney, kneeling to place the gifts around the tree, then popping back up the chimney over and over again.

MSC:  What’s your secret?

S:  Bartenieff Fundamentals.

MSC:  Tell me more.

S:  Of all the somatic practices, this is the one that really supports the ability to change levels. … Read More

In the beginning of her 1962 lecture, Irmgard Bartenieff explains: “My work in rehabilitation has been almost from the start research into the nature of physical disability (distorted functional movement) and of mental illness (disturbed emotional or expressive movement).”

She goes on to note that “thinking in terms of EFFORT eliminates the arbitrary separation of the physical and the psychological.”

She closes by recommending that the Dance Notation Bureau promote effort notation and observation in addition to Labanotation.  “The existence of both systems, supplementary to each other, opens up new possibilities for research in all areas of human movement, whether it be dance, science or industry.”… Read More

After explaining that effort notation captures the essence of movement – its quality and dynamics, Bartenieff describes how effort assessment can be of value to the physical therapist.  She notes that many patients have vague complaints that cannot be tracked down to any organic source but do relate to an imbalance of dynamic energy (Effort) and how that energy is formed (Shape).

Bartenieff affirms that “Movement expression alwas comprises functional and emotional components which may weaken or reinforce one another; in looking at a physically distorted movement, one is often viewing emotional expression.”… Read More