Experimental psychology and Rudolf Laban were born in the same year.

In 1879, a German scientist named Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig.  That same year, Rudolf Laban was born in Bratislava, near Vienna.

Perhaps this is mere coincidence.  Nevertheless, there is a relationship.

Wundt’s aim was to examine connections between physiology and human thought and behavior; that is, between body and psyche. As an artist-scientist, Laban’s aimed to understand body movement as both a physical and psychological phenomenon.… Read More

Studies of repetitive physical labor in British industry during World War II stimulated Laban’s conceptualizations of the dynamics of human movement. Initially, Laban was hired by the efficiency engineer F.C. Lawrence to notate workers’ actions.  Soon they both realized that it was not what was being done, but how it was being done that was significant.

Within two years, Laban and Lawrence expanded the scope of their studies to examine white collar labor in clerical and managerial jobs.  They found that mental activities also required effort. … Read More

For Laban, balance results from “contrasting qualities of mobility.” In space, this means moving in opposite directions. In effort, this means moving with contrasting qualities of kinetic energy.

In addition to effort contrast, however, Laban also discerned a principle of progression that seemed to govern natural patterns of dynamic change. He gave this principle a funny name – the Law of Proximity. Funny or not, Laban’s observation provided him with a means of creating balanced effort sequences.

I have felt for some time that Laban’s notions should be seen as hypotheses about movement that are subject to empirical study and, where necessary, modification.… Read More

The COVID pandemic has been an emotional roller coaster ride, triggering anxiety, frustration, grief, anger, loneliness, depression – need I go on?? Whatever the nature of stress, I have found the Action Drive to be surprisingly calming. Let me explain.

Sometimes when I become upset, I will engage in a mundane task such as folding the laundry, watering house plants, or putting away dishes. It doesn’t much matter what the task is, as long as it is practical, routine, and something that requires focused attention.… Read More

One of Laban’s most intriguing comments about “incomplete efforts” (a.k.a. effort states) is that they express a variety of “inner attitudes.”

Apparently, Laban became intrigued with the less fully crystallized efforts carried out between essential actions. Though initially puzzled by these purposeless movements, he came to see them as psychologically expressive, and in that sense, attitudinal. Thus he concluded that the inner workings of our personalities are revealed by the effort states.

Effort states are not steady states. Instead they are dynamic fluctuations in which the energy flows freely between yielding and contending qualities.… Read More

Exploring expressive movement requires imagination.  In Mastery of Movement, Rudolf Laban provides a variety of suggestions for stimulating movement imagination.  These involve both personal movement explorations as well as observation exercises.

You can read Laban’s book and do these exercises on your own. But having a structured class and an instructor providing guidance makes awakening your movement imagination much easier.  That is why I have developed the online course, “Mastering Laban’s Mastery of Movement.”  Across six weeks we read the first six chapters together, with structured movement composition and live and YouTube observations assignments.… Read More

Like all of Laban’s writings, Mastery of Movement has a text and a subtext.  Explicitly, the text explores how to use bodily actions and effort rhythms to convey characters and situations on stage.  Implicitly, the book is about much more.

As Irmgard Bartenieff lamented, “We have no major publication that summarizes Laban’s insights into one philosophical-theoretical statement.”  But Mastery of Movement provides glimpses, not only of Laban’s movement theories, but also of his philosophy.

For example, Laban discusses the differences between virtuosity of movement performance and artistry in several chapters. … Read More

Rudolf Laban was no stranger to troubled times.  By the time he published Mastery of Movement in 1950, he had survived the flu pandemic of 1918, the economic depression of 1929, political upheavals, and two world wars.

As a youthful painter and dancer, Laban studied longstanding artistic traditions of Europe, then witnessed and participated in iconoclastic modern movements that upended traditional visual and dance practices.

Through all this tumult, Laban maintained his balance by focusing on the artistic, social, and spiritual values of movement.… Read More

I find Laban’s Mastery of Movement insightful and inspiring – but it is not an easy read.   Chapters 2 and 3 alone can be daunting.  Over the course of 60 pages, Laban introduces the reader to the analysis of simple and complex bodily movements through verbal descriptions and short movement notations (added by Lisa Ullmann).  The reader is meant to get up and perform these movement sequences, which is not an easy task!

That is why having a guide and a correspondent helps. … Read More