Laban’s reputation rests almost entirely on his creation of two tools for the objective study of human movement:  Labanotation and Laban Movement Analysis.  While deservedly useful, these tools overshadow other dimensions of Laban’s oeuvre, notably his deep understanding of the significance of bodily movement.

Laban was a philosopher of movement.  Recognizing movement as a psychophysical and spiritual phenomenon, his study of movement extended beyond analysis to a consideration of the integrative, regenerative, and gnostic aspects of human movement experience.

Laban’s worldview is merely suggested in his writings. … Read More

The dancer Rudolf Laban was asked to improve the loading of a van with small staves at a sawmill.  A dozen strong men, who usually unloaded heavy trees, were sometimes assigned the job, which they executed in a clumsy way with much grumbling and many dropped and broken staves.

Confronted by this grotesque spectacle, Laban visualized a different effort rhythm for the flow of material.  He replaced the twelve men with five women.  One collected the staves from a pile, three stood equally spaced passing the staves from hand to hand with a light swinging action, while the fifth woman arranged them neatly in the van.… Read More

In the upcoming MoveScape Center course, “Effort Mutation,” participants explore how the eight basic actions naturally change into “vision-like,” “spell-like,” and “passionate” expressive movements.

Laban first observed the eight basic actions (Gliding, Pressing, Slashing, etc.) in functional physical labor.  From this foundation, however, Laban elaborated his effort theory to incorporate a broad range of psychophysical states and drives.

Learn how you can expand your dynamic range.  In the new MoveScape Center course, “Effort Mutation,” we start with the basics and then discover how each basic action can be changed into an expressive compound of one of the other drives.… Read More

Laban first perceived effort mutation among the eight basic actions employed while working.  These changes occurred as spontaneous replacements of one effort quality with another, for example, resulting in Punching become Pressing or Floating becoming Flicking.

In studying expressive actions, Laban began to perceive how the motion factor of Flow changed an action.

For example, he writes: “When Flow replaces Weight, the drive becomes ‘vision-like’, because it is now not supported by active weight effort and is therefore reduced in bodily import.”… Read More

Laban’s notions of effort crystallized during the 1940s, through his observations of workers using tools and manipulating materials. While his perspective was that of the third person, objective observer, Laban remained aware of the other side of movement – the somatic, first person perspective.

He also saw a relation between functional and expressive actions and was convinced that the four motion factors and the eight effort qualities were always at play, regardless of the type of activity.

Yet he perceived a difference, writing “while in functional actions the movement sensation is an accompanying factor only, this becomes more prominent in expressive situations where the psychosomatic experience is of utmost importance.”… Read More

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