Material Extensions and the Elaboration of Movement Behavior

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

The Choreometrics Project, developed by Alan Lomax, Irmgard Bartenieff, and Forrestine Paulay, provides a provocative hypothesis regarding the relationship between tools, work movement, and dance.

Taking a cross-cultural perspective, the project studied dance and work movement as formalized, culturally conditioned behavior, drawing on hundreds of filmed examples from pre-industrial societies. They found that dance mirrors the movements necessary to carry out recurrent work tasks. Moreover, the Choreometrics team found the shape and dimensionality of the dance movement to be associated with the types of tools traditionally employed in working.… Read More

Body Movement – Humankind’s First Extension System

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Humankind’s first attempts to extend their capabilities must have focused on the use of the body itself. This is Lewis Mumford’s view, articulated in his seminal Technics and Human Development. His argument goes like this:

“Early human beings persistently explored their own organic possibilities and in the process made two discoveries. First, certain bodily actions were intrinsically pleasurable. Such actions tended to be repeated for purely personal reasons. However, prehistoric man also discovered that such deliberately executed movements could serve a social function.… Read More

Beyond the Body

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

In the long-standing dichotomy of mind and body, movement specialists tend to value the body more than the mind. From an evolutionary perspective, however, the body is standing still. That is, Homo sapiens have changed very little on the biological level for eons. Instead, as Weston LaBarre notes: “The real evolutionary unit now is not man’s mere body; it is ‘all-mankind’s-brains-together-with-all-the-extrabodily-materials-that-come-under-the-manipulation-of-their-hands.” These “extrabodily” inventions are known as “extension systems.”

Extension systems augment human capabilities of both body and mind and fall into two broad categories: external or material extensions and internal or non-material extensions.… Read More

On Barbie, Laban, and Movement Imagination

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

In last month’s lecture-demonstration, “10 Ways to Bring Laban Theory to Life,” Cate Deicher and I stressed the importance of movement imagination. Laban’s notions of effort and space are pretty abstract, and we feel movement analysts must bring their own imaginative forces to bear when teaching, lest Laban’s ideas seem cut and dried. Which they most certainly are not!

To illustrate this point, I compared Barbie to a Waldorf school doll. Barbie is made of molded plastic, with well-defined features and realistic, somewhat idealized anatomy.… Read More

Evoking Effort with Balloons

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Everyday objects can be employed creatively to evoke effort. In our Meaning in Motion lecture in New York last month, Cate Deicher showed how balloons can be used to evoke various combinations of the Action Drive.

Balloons were distributed to audience members. First they were asked to inflate their balloons by PRESSING the air into the balloon. Next participants were instructed to tie the balloon by WRINGING.

Now the fun began, as the audience began DABBING and sometimes FLICKING balloons to one another.… Read More

Illustrating the Geography of the Kinesphere with Oranges

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Laban visualized movement space as a spherical orb surrounding the body, which he called the “kinesphere.” He then went on to create a virtual geography for this spherical space, using lines, planes, and regular polyhedra — notably the octahedron, cube, and icosahedron.

Laban’s imaginary geography is quite practical. Nevertheless, imagination fails many students when they have to visualize their own bodies surrounded by geometrical figures.

During the Meaning in Motion lecture last month in New York City, I demonstrated one technique I have used to make Laban’s geometry of the kinesphere concrete.… Read More

“Suit the Action to the Word…”

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

These are the instructions that Hamlet gave the actors in Shakespeare’s famous play. Cate Deicher has used Hamlet’s advice in another way  —  to help nurses, artists, and architecture students invent movement. Such “non-dance” students are often shy about moving. So Cate has developed a lengthy list of action words as an icebreaker to get students on their feet and thinking kinetically.

In our Meaning in Motion lecture-demonstration last month, Cate shared her list with audience members and invited them to choose five words at random.… Read More

Finding New Meanings in Motion

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Cate Deicher and I had a wonderful time teaching the Meaning in Motion workshops last month at the lovely Balance Arts studios in mid-town Manhattan.  Fifteen movement analysts, both seasoned professionals and recent certificate program graduates, kept us on our toes as we reviewed key Laban Movement Analysis concepts and explored advanced theories of effort and space.

Cate and I had planned the workshops around two closely related themes:  stimulating movement imagination and using Laban’s Eukinetic and Choreutic models as design sources. … Read More

The Body

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Laban did not neglect the body.  He had to create body part symbols and categorize bodily actions to develop his notation system.  Movement themes in Laban’s Modern Educational Dance address awareness of the body and explorations of various actions of the limbs, while over half of Mastery of Movement is devoted to enumerating bodily actions of all kinds.  Laban’s focus in both these works, however, is primarily expressive.

Elaboration of the BODY category in Laban Movement Analysis is rightfully credited to Irmgard Bartenieff. … Read More

Stimulating Movement Imagination

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

It requires imagination to bring Rudolf Laban’s ideas to life.  In Meaning in Motion: Introducing Laban Movement Analysis, I provide Creative Explorations in the chapters on body, effort, space, shape, and movement harmony.  These are meant to provide ideas for taking theory into practice.

The following example of a Creative Exploration, taken from my chapter on effort, suggests ways to embody the Spell Drive:

“Create a brief solo or duet. The study should be choreographed, not improvised, so that it can be repeated.… Read More