Decoder’s Dilemma

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Admittedly, Part 1 of Laban’s Choreutics is pretty tough going for readers. But Part 2 is even tougher for several reasons. While Laban wrote Part 1 in 1938-39, Part 2 was compiled by Gertrud Snell Friedburg ten years earlier, in 1929. When Lisa Ullmann edited Laban’s Part 1 manuscript, she decided to add Part 2. So, the tone of the writing changes. But that’s not all!

The “basic movement scales and configurations” that are discussed in Part 2 do not use the Labanotation direction symbols Instead, Friedburg used an earlier system of numbers and letters to notate the pathways through space.… Read More

Laban’s “Deflected Direction” Hypothesis

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Dimensions = stability and diagonals = mobility. Yet, according to Laban, “neither pure stability nor pure mobility exist.” Natural human movement “is a composite of stabilizing and mobilizing tendencies.”

What is going on here? Laban has taken a lot of trouble to delineate the dimensional and diagonal lines of motion. And every Laban student, whether in a basic or advanced course, practices dimensional and diagonal sequences over and over again.

Then Laban surprises us with the “deflected direction hypothesis.” All of a sudden, he observes that “the deflected or mixed inclinations are more apt to reflect trace-forms of living matter.”… Read More

The Icosahedron Revealed

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

As my imaginary conversation with Laban progresses, he begins to share more deeply.

CLM: I always suspected there was more to your choice of the icosahedron as a model of the kinesphere. Please go on.

R.Laban: You see, the icosahedron isn’t found in any crystalline forms. That is, it isn’t found in inorganic matter. But some microscopic organisms have icosahedral shapes – it is one of the shapes nature chooses for living forms.

CLM: Why is that important?

R. Laban: Because life curves, and most trace-forms of human movement are curvilinear.… Read More

Laban Clarifies the Geography of the Kinesphere

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

As my imaginary conversation with Laban continued, the topic of the icosahedron came up.

CLM: Let’s talk more about the kinesphere.

R.Laban: Think of it as the bubble of territory surrounding your whole body – the space you can reach with your limbs without taking a step.

CLM: Does this movement space have a shape? Is it a sphere?

RL: Ideally yes. But I needed to give it a more definitive shape, with some landmarks the dancer or mover could use for orientation.… Read More

Laban and I Talk about Art

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

CLM: I can see that you’re sketching. Your biographers claim you gave up painting to pursue dance…

R. Laban: I gave up art as a profession, but I’ve always enjoyed drawing. So when I’m on holiday, I like to sketch, especially landscapes.

CLM: From digging in your archives, I know that you did lots of drawings related to dance and movement. These mainly figure drawings and geometrical forms. Some are quite lovely.

RL: Thank you. The drawings you are talking about weren’t meant for public display. … Read More

World of Movement, World of Wonder

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Guest blog by Juliet Chambers-Coe

Laban characterized the dynamic yet ephemeral world of movement as “a jungle of sudden appearances and disappearances, a glistening and colorful wonder-world which awaits exploration.”

The www.Labanarium.com is a part of this ‘jungle’ and ‘wonder-world’ of which Laban speaks. Members from across the globe meet through the network to share practice, ideas, research and inspirations from the world of movement, and it awaits your exploration!

In the spirit of movement and dance theorist Rudolf Laban, the Labanarium seeks to foster an exchange between members of the movement community and is open to the breadth and diversity of practices that explore all human movement.… Read More

The Labanarium – A Global Community

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Guest blog by Juliet Chambers-Coe.

In A Life for Dance, Laban recounts how he set about developing an artistic community of shared practice and ideals:

“To participate creatively in this great community idea and in the festive spirit which should be the goal and supreme aspiration of every culture…the daily building up of the communal culture which should culminate in festivities and celebrations and be intimately bound up with the development of the self…I asked all those who were sympathetic with my views to come and help realize this dreamed of way of life somewhere in the open country” (Laban, 1975).… Read More

Movement, Magic, and Transcendence

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

The magical powers of movement fascinated Laban. Two anecdotes recounted in his autobiography highlight his keen interest – the first was observing a folk dance meant to make warriors immune to wounds; the second was witnessing Sufi rituals in which dancers actually stabbed themselves but the wounds closed immediately. Laban mused, “Belief in a magic that conquers nature was surely just foolishness, a childish superstition – but even so, wasn’t there something great, something immense hidden behind it?”

This reflection, or perhaps quest, is reflected in many of Laban’s theoretical writings, where he hints at the spiritual value and transcendental power of movement. … Read More

Laban and War

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Rudolf Laban’s father was a general in the Austro-Hungarian Army. As Laban writes in his autobiography, “My father taught me the life of a soldier, which fascinated me almost as much as did the arts.” Subsequent events show that the life of the artist won. Nevertheless, Laban drew on his military background when it came to theorizing dance and movement.

As Gwynne Dyer asserts, for almost all human history, a battle “has been an event as stylized and limited in its movement as a classical ballet, and for the same reasons: the inherent capabilities and limitations of the human body.” … Read More