“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

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

Writing about Laban’s Choreutic Theory

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

I was intrigued when I first read Rudolf Laban’s Choreutics as an undergraduate dance student.  I didn’t really understand it, but I found it inspiring.

Later, when I did the “Effort/Shape” Program at the Dance Notation Bureau, I loved the space material.  I could feel spatial tensions, certain places in the kinesphere immediately evoked images for me, and I appreciated the physical challenge of the scales.

Teaching space harmony, however, presented other challenges.  As I have discovered, many students respond negatively to this part of Laban theory, with reactions ranging from mere confusion to outright loathing. … 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

Revitalize
with Body, Effort, Shape, Space, and FRED

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

OK, I’m kidding.

Cate Deicher and I are not going to talk about FRED in the Revitalize workshops on Saturday, December 6th, in New York City. Instead, we will be sharing our novel views of BESS (Body, Effort, Shape, and Space) in these exciting refreshers for certificated Laban Movement Analysts.

Why are these refresher workshops unique? Because over the past decade, I’ve been integrating original material based on my research in the Rudolf Laban Archive into my LMA classes. Meanwhile, Cate has been pioneering new approaches in her work with unconventional students of LMA – artists, designers, architects, and nurses.… Read More

Human Effort

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

(The following passage is taken from my forthcoming introductory textbook on Laban Movement Analysis, Meaning in Motion: Introducing Laban Movement Analysis. The following excerpt is from the chapter on effort.)

First and foremost, human effort is volitional. “Man moves in order to satisfy a need,” Rudolf Laban asserts. The voluntary motions we make require energy. Not only can we be more or less energetic when we move, we can also change the quality of energy applied. We can alter at will how we move.… Read More

Boycott Body Language

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

As I mentioned in my last blog, popularity is seductive. The chance for serious movement analysis to garner publicity through the national media is almost irresistible. However, when serious study gets showcased as “body language,” the publicity does little to foster appreciation of movement.

A case in point is the March 7 story in USA Today bearing the headline, “Pentagon studies Putin’s body language to predict his actions.” The studies referred to involved legitimate analysis of movement patterns. Yet the press merely referenced this work as “body language.”… Read More

Why is Body Language Popular?

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

There seems to be a great divide in the American public’s awareness of movement.

When it comes to watching sports, like the recent Winter Olympics in Sochi, the American viewing public seems perfectly happy to witness a progressive process of change. This appreciation of movement as movement accounts for the popularity of events like downhill skiing, figure skating, and ice dance, where Bergson’s “flux and continuity of transition” are particularly obvious.

When it comes to everyday activities, this appreciation evaporates. Movement is omnipresent in working and conversing.… Read More

Movement Versus Body Language

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Body language tends to single out isolated gestures and still poses for purposes of study. Then it attaches psychodynamic interpretations to these snapshot. Thus “arms folded over the chest” means a person is closed. Lifting and exposing the palm signals flirtation, rubbing the nose indicates disapproval, and so on.

Body language isolates postures and gestures from the steam of ongoing movement in manner analogous to “instantaneous photographs,” such as those of Eadweard Muybridge. His photos recorded various moments in a series of actions.… Read More

Body Language and Social Order

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

In Body Language and Social Order, Albert Scheflen argues that body language is used for political control, manipulation, and the maintenance of power and class hierarchies. The book reveals how specific bodily behaviors in public places reinforce the status quo. Scheflen utilizes numerous candid photographs of men, women, and children to support his arguments.

When I first read this book many years ago, I found it deeply disturbing. I felt that body movement was a liberating force, not a binding one.… Read More