The Life and Times of Irmgard Bartenieff

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Irmgard Bartenieff (1900-1981) has come to personify the far-ranging applicability of Laban-based movement analysis.  Her 60-year career spanned two continents, two languages, and multiple disciplines.  Her work continues to inspire the growing community of professionals who must grapple with understanding the ephemeral phenomenon of human movement.

In preparation for the upcoming MoveScape Center seminar, “Irmgard Bartenieff: In Her Own Words,” my July blogs survey the life and times of this remarkable woman.

Let’s begin at the beginning.

During Irmgard’s childhood, Germany was a peaceful monarchy. … Read More

My Upcoming Sabbatical

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In addition to 50 years as a movement analyst, I have been directing MoveScape Center for a dozen years.  The time has come for a sabbatical.

Consequently, MoveScape Center will be quiet for a few months while I pursue various writing projects.

Blogs and email announcements will resume in July.

And two courses will be back by popular demand – “Irmgard Bartenieff:  In Her Own Words” in September and “Mostly about Shape (and a little bit about Effort)” in October.

 … Read More

Understanding Aspects of Shape

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In the decades since I received my certificate in movement analysis, Shape has emerged as a movement category distinct from Body, Effort, and Space.

Although “modes of shape change” and movement descriptors such as “rising, retreating, etc.” have been around, the emergence of shape as an independent category is new – and somewhat contested.

This inspired me to create the course “Mostly about Shape (and a bit about Effort)” in 2024.  The course traces shape terminology from Laban to the present, with observation tasks to ground the concepts.… Read More

Homage to Bartenieff

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Fifty years ago, I was lucky to study “effort/shape” with Irmgard Bartenieff, to assist in her classes at the Dance Notation Bureau, and to join the faculty and staff of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute when it was founded in 1978.

Irmgard managed to publish her magnus opus Body Movement in 1980 with the help of co-author Dori Lewis.  The book is a wonderful resource that would not have been finished without Dori’s assistance.

But I never hear Irmgard’s voice when I read the book.… Read More

Fifty Years as a Movement Analyst

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I completed my year of movement analysis training at the Dance Notation Bureau in New York City in 1976.  Fifty years later, it is safe to say that this training changed my life.

I began movement analysis training as a young dancer interested in a choreographic career.  My certificate project, a solo dance centered around the Spell Drive, unexpectedly  led me away from performance and toward a deeper interest in what the study of movement can reveal about human behavior.  This led to almost four decades of work with Warren Lamb, multiple writing and research projects, and many years of teaching.… Read More

The Poetics of Effort and Space

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The Flow of bodily effort unfolds in space, and the space we live in has only three dimensions.  This three-dimensionality posed a problem for Laban as he looked for relationships between the four motion factors and their intrinsic spatial tendencies.

Laban found affinities between the three motion factors of Weight, Space, and Time and the Vertical, Horizontal, and Sagittal dimensions respectively.  Then he ran out of places for Flow in the outer space surrounding the body.

Flow may not be naturally affined to the space outside the body, but rather to the psychological inner world in which our thoughts and feelings fluctuate continuously. … Read More

Flow Comes from Within

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Laban’s inclusion of Flow as one of the four key elements of movement dynamics was influenced by Henri Bergson’s notion of flux.  According to this popular French philosopher, reality is a constant, dynamic flow of change, unlike the static and discrete objects we perceive.

Laban’s work reflects his conceptual debt to Bergson.  While objects seem to stand still, Laban writes, “this illusion of a standstill is based on the snapshot-like perception of the mind,” analogous to cutting a film into pieces. … Read More

The Four Motion Factors

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Laban characterized movement dynamics as “the Flow of Weight in Time and Space.”  The three latter factors – Weight, Time, and Space – have always seemed commonsensical elements of motion that can be easily explained to a layman.  But Flow, as a perceivable movement element, can be harder to get across.

Laban’s own delineation of Flow seems clear enough.  He describes Flow as the variation between actions that are difficult to stop (free Flow) and motions that can be stopped and held without difficulty (bound Flow).… Read More

Reflections on Effort

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This year my work has focused the dynamics of human movement, or what Rudolf Laban called “effort.”

In July, at the Ohio State University, I presented a paper on effort notation at the International Council of Kinetography Laban, followed by a workshop on organic patterns of effort change at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute conference.

In August, through MoveScape Center, I ran a course on “Incomplete Effforts” (the six effort states).  “The Transformation Drives” workshop exploring the Passion, Spell, and Vision Drives came later in November.… Read More

Movement Gratitude 4

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In this series of blogs, I have been expressing thanks to my teachers – Laban, Bartenieff, and Lamb.  Now I want to pay these gratitudes forward and thank the many students with whom I have worked across almost five decades.

It has always been my good fortune to work with motivated, imaginative, dedicated, and sometimes demanding students.  Meeting these demands has forced me to be imaginative and to keep learning myself.

And so to all my past and present students  (and those who may come later) – keep moving, keep learning, and have a Happy Thanksgiving.… Read More