The Mystery of Laban’s Masterpiece, Choreutics

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Choreutics has always been my favorite book by Rudolf Laban, although it is by no means the most accessible of his writings. The text is prone to sudden jumps, from practical movement description to mystical metaphysics. Moreover, other mysteries surround this work.

For example, Laban wrote Choreutics during 1938-39, as he convalesced at Dartington Hall following his timely escape from continental Europe to England. According to his colleague Lisa Ullmann, Laban intended for the book “to introduce his ideas on movement and dance to an interested reading public in Britain.”… Read More

Decoding Rudolf Laban’s Choreutics: A Year of Guided Study

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Beginning in March, MoveScape Center will offer a series of Red Thread courses centered on Rudolf Laban’s Choreutics. These courses combine body and mind, delving into the physics and metaphysics of human movement through space and time.

The series opens with a Tetra seminar focused on Laban’s posthumously published masterpiece, Choreutics. Out-of-print for many years, Choreutics is once again available in paperback through Princeton/Dance Horizons Books.

In the opening springtime Tetra, MoveScape goes retro with a correspondence course. Based on an easy schedule, participants will read the Preface, Introduction, and first 12 chapters of Choreutics.… Read More

Looking Back, Looking Forward

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The wintery month of January is named after the Roman god Janus.  Janus had two faces, one that looked back and one that looked forward.  Similarly, this time of year invites introspection – reflection on things past and anticipation of things yet to be.  In honor of Janus, I look back and forward.

Movement study is not recognized as a discipline in its own right.  But someday it will be, thanks to the vision of remarkable people whose work and teachings have laid a foundation for the study of human movement. … Read More

Keeping Together in Time

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Moving rhythmically, in sync with others, is a peculiar human pleasure.   “Muscular bonding” is the term William McNeill has coined to describe “the euphoric fellow feeling that prolonged and rhythmic muscular movement arouses among participants.”

McNeill, a military historian, became interested in muscular bonding as he reflected on his own Army experiences of prolonged marching in close order drill.  He recalled that “moving briskly and keeping in time was enough to make us feel good about ourselves, satisfied to be moving together, and vaguely pleased with the world at large.” … Read More

Dancing through Time

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Dance is often viewed as a form of self-expression.  But everyone expresses themselves through their bodily movements.  These quotidian expressions differ from dance in an important way however, for everyday expressive actions are spontaneous, un-rehearsed, un-premediated and largely unguarded.

Dance movements, on the other hand, are carefully chosen, rehearsed, and controlled.  One of the attractions of dance training is not only enhanced freedom of bodily expression, but also increased control.  Yes, dancers are control freaks.  But they are also optimists.  Dance offers the possibility to construct a new self – one that is leaner, stronger, more capable, more sexy — in short, more of whatever attribute a particular style of dance may emphasize.… Read More

On Space and Time

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Dance is an art that exists in both space and time.  In 2016, MoveScape Center will be offering a series of workshops about space, focusing on Rudolf Laban’s Choreutic theories.  As 2015 draws to an end, however, I want to focus on time.

Space is multi-dimensional. Time, on the other hand, is uni-directional.  It flows in one irreversible direction — from past to present to future.

In reality, we exist only in the present moment.  The past is gone; the future may never come. … Read More

Body Usage – The Japanese Bow

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I have long been fascinated with the ritual of bowing in Japan.  Clerks in a hotel bow when you enter the lobby.   They bow when you finish checking in.  Conductors bow when entering a train car.  They bow again when exiting.  Groups of friends, particularly if they are older, with bow deeply when parting.

I can’t pretend to grasp the ins and outs of the etiquette of bowing.  But bowing seems to serve as a boundary marker, delineating the beginning and ending of many social interactions. … Read More

Personal Space in Japan

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It is helpful to have a malleable kinesphere in Japan, because one often finds oneself in a crowd.  For example, I have made a close and practical study of how to weave through a crowd while dragging a suitcase.  Shape flow growing and shrinking is of little use (the suitcase, after all, has a fixed shape).  Instead, one needs to watch for openings and slip through in a timely manner, or detect a stream flowing in your direction and go with the flow.… Read More

Space in Japan – Small Is Beautiful

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General space is a commodity not to be wasted in Japan.  Heavily forested mountains cover most of the archipelago of islands.  Flatland suitable for habitation and cultivation is precious.  Wherever we have traveled in Japan, small rice fields, gardens, and orchards are sandwiched between a jumble of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.

Personal space must also be used economically.  Each time my husband and I checked into a new hotel, we had a moment of consternation – the room was so small!  … Read More

Effort in Japan – Play Hard

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The Japanese also play hard, and some of the biggest, most labor-intensive parties take place in the street during traditional festivals.  The fall festival in the city of  Takayama, where our daughter teaches English, is one of the most spectacular.

Takayama’s festival is famous for its yatai, some of which are 300 years old.  Yatai are elaborately carved and richly decorated three story wooden wagons.  People ride in the wagons, and many have small groups of children on board, playing traditional Japanese flutes and drums.… Read More