Dance is an art that exists in both space and time. In 2016, MoveScape Center will be offering a series of workshops about space, focusing on Rudolf Laban’s Choreutic theories. As 2015 draws to an end, however, I want to focus on time.
Space is multi-dimensional. Time, on the other hand, is uni-directional. It flows in one irreversible direction — from past to present to future.
In reality, we exist only in the present moment. The past is gone; the future may never come. … Read More
Since the discovery of neuroplasticity (the lifelong capacity of the human nervous system to regenerate and form new neural pathways), we aging Baby Boomers have been admonished to reinvent ourselves and learn new things, presumably so we will stay young forever.
This is, of course, hard advice to follow. Not everyone wants to take up scuba diving or have a second career. Moreover, we are creatures of habit. And one hallmark of skilled movement is that it has become, at least in part, automatic.… Read More
Effort is not only about doing; it is also about being, or what Rudolf Laban calls movement thinking. “Movement thinking could be considered as a gathering of impressions of happenings in one’s own mind, for which nomenclature is lacking. This thinking does not serve orientation in the external world but rather it perfects man’s orientation in his inner world.”
Laban relates movement thinking to effort in the following way: “Man’s desire to orientate himself in the maze of his drives results in definite effort rhythms.” … Read More
Every voluntary human movement involves applying energy to change the position of the body. Energy can be applied in many different ways. Rudolf Laban referred to these various qualities of kinetic energy as effort. Similarly, the moving body can trace many different shapes as it traverses space. Consequently, the human beings possess a richer range of motion than most other species. As Laban observes, “When jumping the cat will be relaxed and flexible. A horse or a deer will bound wonderfully in the air, but its body will be tense and concentrated during the jump.” … Read More
According to a story in the Washington Post, mounting scientific evidence shows that sitting for long periods of time can lead to poor circulation, heart disease, and joint pain. Unfortunately, many American adults sit for approximately eight hours a day on the job. However, a recent study at Indiana University showed that five-minute walking breaks reversed some of the negative effects of prolonged sitting, especially when integrated into the working day.
This study supports Rudolf Laban’s notion that working activities should be designed to incorporate active recuperation rather than passive rest periods or breaks. … Read More
When the dancer Rudolf Laban began to study work movement in British factories, two concerns predominated. The first was efficiency; the second was fatigue. By the 1940s, of course, there were laws governing the length of the workday and providing additional protection for the health and safety of workers. Nevertheless, repetitive activity of any sort is tiring. Human beings are not machines. We cannot repeat any motion endlessly without the need for variation.
In turning his dancer’s eyes to repetitive labor, Laban identified a basic rhythm. … Read More
Movement is good for you! Increasingly medical research is underscoring the health benefits of bodily motion. Yet this is hardly news. Prior to World War I, Rudolf Laban began giving movement classes in southern Switzerland. In the nearby Kuranstalt Monte Verita, according the Mary Wigman, “there were a number of very sick people who believed that the warm sunny climate would ease their suffering.”
An elderly lady bound to her wheelchair who suffered from an incurable kidney disease was among those attracted to Laban. … Read More
In Ambition, Gilbert Brim observes that “we look for the challenges that are right for us, for what we can just manage, and in this way form and shape our lives.” For most of us, however, identifying the “right challenges” is a matter of trial and error. It involves not only assessing the situation, but also assessing our own capabilities.
The latter assessment is the more difficult, for as the novelist Thomas Mann notes, “Our consciousness is feeble; only in moments of unusual clarity and vision do we really know about ourselves.”… Read More
A wise man once observed that prayers are always answered. But what comes to you is not what you think you want, but what you embody.
Movement Pattern Analysis developed by Warren Lamb provides an objective picture of what an individual embodies and how individual patterns of movement are linked to decision-making processes.
Lamb found that all of us have a preferred pattern of taking action, and we will act in accordance with those preferences whenever we can. Power comes from understanding your preferred pattern and how to use it most effectively.… Read More
By observing that “the dancer moves, not only from place to place, but also from mood to mood,” Laban established human movement as a psychophysical phenomenon. He went on to relate the “movement from mood to mood” –manifested as effort variation – to psychological functions of giving Attention, forming an Intention, and making a Commitment to embodied action.
Laban’s protege, Warren Lamb, reasoned that there must also be correlations between the “movement from place to place” and psychological functions. He found the following associations.… Read More