In my September blogs, I praised the Denver Art Museum’s “Summer of Dance” – four separate exhibitions all focused on American dance. However, I noted that the Denver Post’s art critic disagreed, claiming that dance was a far too trivial topic for a “serious museum” to tackle.
I suggested that the critic’s dismissive comments sprang from the fact that the real value of dance is best understood by dancing. And dance is not really embedded in the lives of everyday Americans.… Read More
Laban’s Choreutic forms both mirror and challenge the natural range of motion of the human body. As Laban was designing these movement sequences, he drew upon his first career as a visual artist. It’s clear from his figure drawings that he had studied anatomy. And he applied this knowledge in theorizing the shapes the moving limbs can trace in space.
As I note in The Harmonic Structure of Movement, Music, and Dance, Laban does not distort the proportion of the body itself. … Read More
Human beings have big heads, and biomechanically speaking, this is a headache. Standing up freed our arms and hands and opened new spatial horizons. But it also means we must cope with balancing our heavy heads against the constant pull of gravity.
Irmgard Bartenieff always felt that homo sapiens are still working out the possibilities of movement in three-dimensional space. Evolution has given us greater potential than we have figured out how to use. And this is where Laban’s Choreutic theories come in.… Read More
Laban’s Mixed Seven-rings are an important extension of his theory of movement harmony. But they are not just important theoretically – they are quite challenging to perform. And, because of their harmonic analogies, they offer novel approaches for movement invention.
In the forthcoming Ico workshop, Cate Deicher and I draw upon Laban’s unpublished writings to facilitate learning and embodying the mixed seven-rings. Because these trace-forms are drawn from the better-known axis and girdle scales, we will start with reviewing these forms. … Read More
Laban moved into new Choreutic territory with five-rings, and consequently they are fascinating to embody. Primarily Laban built his space harmony scales around the cubic diagonals. But the peripheral and transverse five-rings that Cate Deicher and I will be teaching in the Advanced Space Harmony workshop are built around the planar diameters.
The peripheral five-rings create pentagonal shapes around corners of the icosahedron that both match and challenge range of motion for gestures of the arms and legs.
The transverse five-rings trace star-like shapes around corners of the icosahedron. … Read More
by Cate Deicher
What kinds of choreographic impulses can open and closed Choreutic forms elicit in you? In our Advanced Space Harmony workshop, December 3 and 4, Carol-Lynne Moore and I will be exploring the experiences of both kinds of Choreutic forms.
Laban’s Space material has always held a keen interest for me. As I undertook creative projects for dance groups and theater productions, the space material became a springboard for choreographic ideas. Robert Ellis Dunn talked about how Laban’s scales serve to stimulate the neuromuscular system and spark compositional possibilities. … Read More
Rudolf Laban thought so; he found them in the kinesphere! “Snakes” are one of the seldom taught space harmony forms that Cate Deicher and I will be exploring in our “Advanced Space Harmony” workshop, December 3-4, in New York City.
Our aim in this workshop is to introduce new Choreutic forms and demonstrate how these can serve as a design source for movement. Unlike most of the familiar space harmony scales, snakes are not rhythmic circles. That is, they do not begin and end at the same point in the kinesphere. … Read More
If the field of Laban-based movement study is to grow, theoretical research must be on-going, public demand for the services of movement professionals must be cultivated, and the field must be self-governing so that incompetent and unethical practices are not tolerated.
Since its inception in 1991, Motus Humanus has addressed these needs in a variety of ways.
Research and Publication. Through our Seed Money program, Motus Humanus has provided over $3000 of funding for research, publication projects, and archival support. We have published two monographs, contributing copies to universities where Laban Movement Analysis or Labanotation are taught.… Read More
Since 1991, Motus Humanus has been serving the Laban community by providing various services to support movement professionals as they develop their post-certification careers. These include the following.
Continuing Education for Movement Analysts. Motus Humanus has sponsored 14 advanced seminars addressing topics such as space harmony, effort phrasing, Bartenieff Fundamentals, teaching Laban Movement Analysis, observation and notation, movement psychology for actors, understanding movement patterns, and more. Our roster of instructors draws upon 40 leading Laban experts from the US and overseas. … Read More
In 1991, Charlotte Honda, Kaoru Yamamoto, and I formed Motus Humanus, a professional organization for Laban-based movement specialists. Over Labor Day weekend, we celebrated our 25th anniversary in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with over 30 movement analysts and invited guests.
“Six Conversations about Human Movement” provided the theme for this, our 8th Roundtable on Professional Issues. In this unique event, each of our six volunteer Board members (David Bauer, Cate Deicher, Alison Henderson, Becky Nordstrom, Kaoru Yamamoto, and myself) invited a special guest for a chat. … Read More