Mapping General Space

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It is easy to think of general space as an empty void offering an overwhelming number of possibilities for movement. Laban came up with helpful concepts to avoid overload.

For example, level provides a simple way to organize empty space in a way that can be related to the dancer’s body. Laban identified three levels – low, middle, and high.

Low level is near the floor. The mover can access this area of general space by bending deeply, or kneeling, crawling, even slithering or rolling along the floor.… Read More

Beyond the Kinesphere – General Space

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Rudolf Laban notes that we can distinguish between the space within reach of the body (the kinesphere) and “space in general.”

General space may be like an empty room (think of a dance studio).  Or it may be characterized by the objects within a space, which serve as landmarks and/or obstacles (think of a living room with sofa and chairs).

Landmarks help to structure and guide movement, if only because we don’t like to collide other objects (like sofas and chairs). … Read More

Your Kinesphere – Personal and Adaptable

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Rudolf Laban coined the term “kinesphere” for the space surrounding the body that can be reached by extended limbs without taking a step.  He also notes that “we never leave our movement sphere but carry it always with us, like an aura.”

From this description, it is easy to think of the kinesphere as a fixed bubble surrounding the body, an empty orb with boundary at the limits of far reach.

But, in fact, our movements create the kinesphere, establishing its shape and extent moment by moment. … Read More

Space – The First Frontier

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Space may be the final frontier on Star Trek, but it is the first frontier in human life. Access to space (and the desirable things in the surrounding environment) motivate the infant’s movement development.

There is a classic sequence, from rolling to lifting the head, to sitting, crawling, cruising, and walking. At each juncture the child encounters another plane – the horizontal, the vertical, and finally the sagittal – developing a cognitive map of the territory through which he/she can move.… Read More

Don’t Forget Effort Harmony

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Choreutics is often referred to as “space harmony.”  But there is also effort harmony, and three of the chapters in Laban’s masterwork Choreutics address consonant and dissonant effort sequences.

These effort sequences, however, are easily overlooked, because when Laban wrote Choreutics he had not yet invented effort notation.  He amends direction symbols with a small “s” to represent effort qualities and combinations of qualities.  Consequently, effort sequences can be mistaken for spatial sequences….

That is why Choreutics needs decoding.  Find out more in my upcoming hybrid course sponsored by LIMS, Decoding Laban’s Choreutics.… Read More

Space Harmony – Not a Myth

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Laban affirms that there is not only a superficial resemblance between the harmonic life of music and dance, but a “structural congruity.”  He means what he says, and the Primary or Standard Scale is an example.

In the upcoming hybrid course, Decoding Choreutics, I demonstate how Laban constructed the peripheral Primary Scale to be analogous to the Chromatic Scale in Western music.  Just as the Chromatic Scale provides the foundation for musical composition, Laban’s Primary Scale can be mined to create many different harmonic dance sequences and melodies.… Read More

Why Read Choreutics?

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Attention Labanistas!  It is vital to learn about movement by moving, but reading about Laban concepts also enhances and extends kinesthetic understanding.

Go to the source! Laban devoted his life to ensuring that dance could have a history, a theory, and a literature.  He wrote prolifically.  Fortunately for English readers, three of Laban’s most important works were written in English during the final decades of his career.

Want to know more about movement harmony?  Find out what the inventor of LBMS had to say in Decoding Choreutics, starting at the end of this month.… Read More

An Artist Looks at Dance

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Around 1913 the Austro-Hungarian painter Rudolf Laban declared he was giving up art for dance. When a fellow responded with insulting remarks about dancers, Laban became involved in a scuffle, knocking out his opponent. Afterwards he was inwardly tormented, not only for fighting, but also for having set his heart “on the most despised profession in the world.”

In the early years of the 20th century, visual art was a rich field. Masterworks of art dating from previous centuries could be studied.… Read More

Decoding Choreutics

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In the upcoming hybrid course, jointly sponsored with the Laban/Bartenieff Institute, I guide readers and movers through one of Laban’s most difficult books, Choreutics.  Across six weeks, we read and discuss all twelve chapters written by Laban.

These readings are arranged by themes:  space and body, space and effort, spatial scales and effort sequences, with side discussions on Laban’s philosophy of movement.

Questions are provided for each chapter, to help readers identify key ideas. Movement prompts are also given to link theory with physical practice. … Read More

Choreutics Is Bewildering

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While Laban’s book Choreutics can inspire, it can also bewilder the reader.  That is why it is good to study the book with a guide and in the company of others.

In the upcoming hybrid workshop, “Decoding Laban’sChoreutics,” participants read the first 12 chapters across six weeks.  I provide targeted questions for each chapter, along with additional commentary.  The four Zoom sessions provide more opportunities for lecture and discussion.

Here is what previous participants have said about the course:

  • “Your guided study has helped me approach Laban’s work with more patience and enthusiasm than I would have been able to muster on my own.”
… Read More