I launched the new MoveScape Center correspondence course, Mastering Rudolf Laban’s Mastery of Movement, with 19 reading companions on five continents (North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia). In early April we plunged into the first chapter.
In his Introduction, Laban covers a dizzying array of topics, addressing animal and human movement; playing, dancing, and acting; humane effort; movement thinking; dance as a civilizing force; and more. Yet how he delineates virtuosity and artistry seems to have provoked the most heated responses from my fellow readers.
According to Laban the virtuoso employs the “mechanical perfection of speech and gesture” to mirror “man’s happiness, folly and misery.” By representing “the more external features of life,” this actor entertains, allowing the audience “to find comfort and relief from its workaday sorrows.”
On the other hand, there is another kind of actor, one who pays “little attention at first” to skillful physical representation. Rather this actor concentrates on mirroring “the hidden processes of the inner being.” As Laban sees it, a different kind of contact with the public results, one that he sees as being on a higher rung.
Not all my reading companions agree with Laban. And I’m delighted to see that a close reading can trigger reflection and critical response. The whole experience is making me think more about the relationship between virtuosity, artistry, and mastery. That’s what I like about Laban. Even if one doesn’t always understand what he means, he encourages thinking about the many dimensions of embodiment.