Laban’s observations of the organic nature of effort mutation, in which one motion spontaneously changes to its polar opposite, occurred through his study of practical physical actions. This study led him to identify two aspects of effort – “one which is operative and objectively measurable, and the other, personal and classifiable.”

In a functional action, such as driving a nail, the mover’s focus is on an objective and measurable outcome.  Am I hitting the nail hard enough?  Is the nail going straight into the wood? … Read More

Laban introduces the notion of “effort mutation” in Mastery of Movement.  Discussing the basic actions (such as Punching and Floating), he writes “by taking away one element at a time and replacing it by a foreign one, the original action is mutated into another basic effort.”

For example, Punching (strong/quick/direct) can become Dabbing when the strong weight factor is replaced by a light quality.  Similarly, Punching can become Pressing when the quick time factor is replaced by a sustained quality.… Read More

Laban developed his effort theory by transforming the basic actions, or, we could say, by allowing them to mutate. These mutations change practical actions into emotional and intellectual expressions, linking body and mind.

In addition to the eight practical actions that compose the Action Drive, Laban identified eight analogous compounds of a more emotional nature.  He dubbed these the “Passion Drive.”  He found eight more compounds of an imaginative nature, and named these the “Vision Drive.”  Finally, he discovered eight additional Spell-binding mutations.… Read More

In Chapter 7 of Choreutics, Laban introduces the “Standard Scale” (a.k.a. “Primary Scale”).  This is a wonderful and challenging spatial sequence.  And a really fruitful one, because many other scales can be derived from it.

So what is so troublesome about the Standard Scale??

The problem lies with how it is presented in Chapter 7.  Errors in the illustrations and notations make it very difficult to discern how Laban created the Standard Scale and how it can be partitioned to generate other spatial patterns.… Read More

Laban uses the cube two ways in Choreutics.  He introduces it as a model of the kinesphere, using its corners to identify diagonal lines of motion that promote mobility.

He also uses the cube as a model of what he calls the “dynamosphere,” which he defines as “the space in which our dynamic actions take place.”  This sounds like the dynamosphere is a real space, like the kinesphere.

To further confound discussion of dynamosphere and effort, Laban uses direction symbols to stand for the Eight Basic Actions (float, punch, etc.).… Read More

For Laban, human movement unfolds in a sphere of space surrounding the body.  He called this orb of movement space the “kinesphere.”  Then, to provide landmarks in this trackless sphere, Laban gave it a familiar geometrical form.

Or I should say, forms.  For in Choreutics, Laban’s discussion of the kinesphere proceeds from a cubic model to an octahedron, a cuboctahedron, and then the icosahedron.

This is a logical progression, but also one with deeper meaning.  For cubes, octahedrons, and cuboctahedrons occur naturally in lifeless, inorganic crystals. … Read More

This month I am taking a page from H.L. Mencken, the journalist and humorist.  In the 1920s he penned an essay “On Being an American,” noting that “There are those who find it disagreeable – nay impossible.”  In the rest of the essay, Mencken explains why he remains in the United States, “wrapped in the flag,” while other intellectuals set sail for fairer lands.

There are those who now find it disagreeable to be a Laban Movement Analyst.  Yet here I stand, wrapped in notation symbols, devoted to movement study through a Laban lens.… Read More

Everything we do requires effort.  And since human activities seem limitless, it would also appear that human effort is equally without limits.  But not according to Laban.

In examining patterns of effort change, Laban detected what he called a “Law of Proximity” or what could perhaps better be termed degrees of similarity and difference.  He writes that certain “action-moods” (combinations of effort qualities) are closely related, some are loosely linked, while “others are diametrically opposed.”

This leads Laban to make the following observation: “Man has complete freedom in his choice and employment of action-moods. … Read More

Laban invokes infinities in the directional variations of the movement of human limbs in the space surrounding the body.  But he also identifies limits to the shapes the limbs can trace in space.

There are two types of limits that impact bodily movements in space.  The first is the gravitational field in which we live.  Due to this force field, only certain spatial trajectories allow us to maintain stability and balance, while other directional pathways are destabilizing, projecting us through space or causing us to fall.… Read More

From a rapid sequence of movements, the camera singles out only one.  The result is a crystallized pose or, in the case of Muybridge’s work, a series of poses.  If these frozen attitudes can be mechanically reanimated, they will give an illusion of movement.

But, as artists and philosophers alike have pointed out, the essential quality of movement is continuity.  The French philosopher Henri Bergson stated this most emphatically — “It is not the single snapshots we have taken along the course of change that are real; on the contrary, it is flux, the continuity of transition, it is change itself that is real.”… Read More