Teaching LMA at The College Level

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) requires thinking as well as moving. Whether one is working with performing arts majors or a more mixed population, most students have never thought about movement and its component parts.  In this month’s series of blogs, I explore how to deal with some of the challenges of teaching LMA at the college level.

Besides providing rich movement experiences that highlight key features of movement (Body, Effort, Space, and Shape), it is vital to help students connect these experiences with meaning.  … Read More

Effort and Human Potential

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

“We live only part of the life we are given,” writes Michael Murphy in The Future of the Body.  “Growing acquaintance with once-foreign cultures, new discoveries about our subliminal depths, and the dawning recognition that each social group reinforces just some human attributes while neglecting or suppressing others … suggests that we harbor a range of capacities that no single philosophy or psychology has fully embraced.”

Rudolf Laban would certainly agree.  “Preference for a few effort combinations only results in a lack of effort balance,” Laban notes.  … Read More

Effort Relationships

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

At its best, human movement flows smoothly and gracefully in organic sequences.  The proportion of our limbs and the structure of our joints determine the way movement sequences unfold in the kinesphere.  As Laban notes, “a movement makes sense only if it progresses organically and this means that phases which follow each other in a natural succession must be chosen.”

Laban was also concerned with the natural succession of effort moods in the dynamosphere.  Exertion obviously requires effort; Laban found that recovery also involves effort.  … Read More

Psychological Dimensions of Effort 1

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Rudolf Laban recognized that the four motion factors (Space, Weight, Time, and Flow) characterize both physical and mental effort.  He associated Space with attention, Weight with intention, Time with decision, and Flow with progression.

Laban saw these mental efforts as both preceding and accompanying “purposive actions.”

Warren Lamb went on to refine these correlations of physical and mental effort in relation to a decision-making process.  He found that through the careful observation of an individual’s movement patterns, a unique decision-making profile can be discerned.… Read More

Effort Range: Home Base and New Territory

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

“A healthy human being can have complete control of his kinesphere and dynamosphere,” according to Rudolf Laban.   This suggests that a wide range of motion is both desirable and achievable.

And yet, each of us has effort and shape preferences that define our way of being in the world. These familiar movement patterns anchor us; they provide a “home base.” 

On the other hand, it’s fun to move beyond this comfort zone and experience novel dynamic moods and places.  This summer, MoveScape Center workshops provide both — a chance to revel in the comfort of home base and/or the opportunity to explore unfamiliar movement landscapes.  … Read More

Flow Changes Everything

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

When flow takes the place of another motion factor, Laban wrote, “the expression is more intense” and the whole configuration “gains new meaning.” In the Mastery of Movement correspondence course, we tested Laban’s assertion.

Readers were asked to choose one of the transformation drives – either Passion or Vision or Spell. They were to work out the eight effort quality combinations of that drive and then embody each mood.

The Vision Drive combines the motion factors of Space, Time, and Flow (the motion factor of Weight is latent).… Read More

April Dances Bring Advances 1

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

In late April we celebrate National Dance Week. This year’s festivities come with scientific evidence that dancing is good for you!  A research team based at Colorado State University found that contra dancing may help to fend off aging in the brain.

A four-year clinical trial followed a group of 174 healthy adults aged 60 – 79.  The group was divided into four parts.  One group did aerobic walking, another not only walked but also took a nutritional supplement, the third group participated in stretching and balance classes, and the fourth group attended contra dance classes involving a sequence of figures as dancers progress up and down a line.  … Read More

Dancing with Your Eyebrows

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

“You must not think of dance as steps,” Rudolf Laban once told a group of student actors.  “Dance is meaningful movement.  You can dance with your eyebrows. When I have taught you, you will be able to dance with any part of your body.’’

The acting students were skeptical, or course.  They thought that dance was frivolous, not serious.  Laban, however, had spent a lifetime investigating not only the physical aspects of dance, but also its mental, emotional, and social dimensions.  … Read More

Effort and Imagination

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

“Effort is visible in the action movement of a worker, or a dancer, and it is audible in song or speech,” Laban observes in Mastery of Movement.  “The fact that effort and its various shadings can not only be seen and heard, but also imagined, is of great importance for their representation by the actor-dancer.”

Awakening the imagination is an important part of enriching one’s dynamic range.  Laban draws a close link between imagination and playing.  During play, he explains, the child experiments with all imaginable situations —  offense, defence, ambush, ruse, flight, fear  — searching for “the best possible effort combination for each occasion.”  … Read More

Beyond Mechanical Movement

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Carol-Lynne Moore

In discussing the actor who is an artist, Laban writes “this kind of performer concentrates on the actuation of the inner springs of conduct preceding his movements, and pays little attention at first to the skill needed for presentation.”  In other words, this actor focuses on the inner intention to move.

For Laban, this inner intention manifests through visible behavior as EFFORT.  Effort reveals itself as a fighting or indulging attitude towards one of the four motion factors of flow, weight, time, and space.  … Read More