In The Thinking Body, Mabel Ellsworth Todd observes that “behavior is rarely rational; it is habitually emotional.” She continues, “Primary muscle patterns being the biological heritage of man, man’s whole body records his emotional thinking.”

From Laban’s perspective muscle patterns are effort patterns.  And effort patterns follow organic rules of mutation, modified by individual taste and experience.

What are your habitual effort patterns?  Find out more in the MoveScape Center workshop, Effort “Mutation,” beginning in October.… Read More

Embodied cognition is a contemporary theory that breaks the dualism of body and mind by suggesting that meaning, understanding, and rationality arise from the patterns of our bodily experiences.

From the perspective of embodied cognition theorists, knowledge develops through the interactions of a human organism with its environment.  Physical action is the foundation for thinking, feeling, imagining, and other processes once believed to be purely mental operations.

This current foregrounding of bodily experience has interesting connections to Laban’s effort theories.  Find out more in the next blogs.… Read More

Laban’s notions of movement dynamics gained clarity through his efficiency studies of physical labor in British factories during World War II.  He had identified four motion factors – space, time, weight, and flow – earlier.  Observing working actions, however, led to the identification of eight “basic actions” – Floating/Punching, Gliding/Slashing, Dabbing/Wringing, and Flicking/Pressing.

These contrasting compounds of space, time, and weight qualities capture practical actions and interactions with material objects and serve as the foundation of Laban’s effort theories.

While the eight basic actions are obviously physical, Laban’s concept of effort is more inclusive. … Read More

The Corona Virus has been giving “mutation” a bad reputation.  But in its original meaning, a mutation is simply a change or transformation.

Organic transformation is what Rudolf Laban had in mind when he wrote about effort combinations “mutating.”

By replacing one quality with another, any dynamic action can be transformed.   For example, a Floating action may mutate into a Gliding motion almost spontaneously if the flexible focus is replaced by a directing quality.

Some effort transformations are easier to perform than others. … Read More

As noted in the previous blog, Laban characterizes choreutics in many ways:  as harmonized movement, as the integrative study and practice of movement, and as a regenerative antidote to the social upheavals of our times.

What he does not do is to return to the Greek roots of the word he seems to have coined – choros meaning circle and the prefix eu meaning good.  Literally, choreutics is the study and practice of good circles.

What characterizes a good circle?  … Read More

According to Laban, the third branch of choreosophy is choreutics – “the practical study of the various forms of (more or less) harmonized movement.”  More recent interpretations have characterized choreutics as “space harmony.”  Laban’s original formulation, however, appears to be more integrative.

For example, he also writes that choreutics “comprehends all kinds of bodily, emotional and mental movements and their notation.”  Laban goes on to suggest that choreutics goes beyond movement analysis to an integrative physical practice with social implications.… Read More

Laban defines choreology as “the logic or science of circles.”  Lest it be seen as a purely geometrical study, he explains that choreology is the “grammar and syntax of the language of movement, dealing not only with the outer form of movement but also with its mental and emotional content.”

Contemporary readings of choreology are more varied.  For example, Benesh notation is also known as choreology.  The Trinity Laban Conservatory in London offers a specialist diploma in Choreological Studies, billed as a contemporary development of Laban’s praxis.… Read More

Based on its original Greek words, choreography is the designing and writing of circles.  In contemporary use, choreography emphasizes design – in particular, the composition of dance steps and sequences.

While acknowledging this common understanding of choreography, Laban adds that the term has been employed “to designate the drawings of figures and symbols of movement which dance composers jotted down as an aid to memory.”  In this sense, Laban’s own efforts to find a way to record movement in symbols is choreography, although he preferred the term “kinetography.”… Read More