Cate Deicher and I had a wonderful time teaching the Meaning in Motion workshops last month at the lovely Balance Arts studios in mid-town Manhattan. Fifteen movement analysts, both seasoned professionals and recent certificate program graduates, kept us on our toes as we reviewed key Laban Movement Analysis concepts and explored advanced theories of effort and space.
Cate and I had planned the workshops around two closely related themes: stimulating movement imagination and using Laban’s Eukinetic and Choreutic models as design sources. Review of key concepts was always linked with a creative exploration. For example, after reviewing the Dimensional Scale, participants choreographed “folk dances” based on moving up and down, sidewards, and forward and back. After brushing up on the Action Drive combinations, participants were introduced to “modulated” sequences of Action Drives, asked to embody these, and then to choose one sequence and develop it as a short duet. A Bartenieff Fundamentals sequence that moved from the floor to standing was turned into duets, drawing on various relationship concepts. Symmetry operations were used to generate studies based on the A Scale.
The weekend culminated with the publication celebration for Meaning in Motion and our lecture-demonstration of “10 New Ways to Bring Laban Theory to Life.” The demonstration involved sewing, chopping, chanting, clapping, and various activities with oranges, balloons, a bathrobe, and a Barbie doll. There was method in this madness, though, and I’ll be sharing some of these ideas for teaching Laban theory in the next few blogs.