Walking Is Recuperative

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Untitled design (4) 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. In the 1940’s when Laban studied repetitive labor in British factories, he built recuperative motions into the working actions themselves. At the time, this was revolutionary.

Science now seems to be catching up. For example, one study showed that six hours of sitting negated the positive effects of one hour of exercise. This suggests that compartmentalizing exercise into an hour at the gym after work may not be as beneficial as one hopes.

As I note in Meaning in Motion, Laban first sought to maintain dynamic vitality by balancing fighting and indulging efforts in the work actions themselves. Over time he came to realize that the rhythm of exertion and recuperation was more complex.

In fact, change of any kind can be recuperative. This could be a change in how one is doing an activity. Or it could be a change in the activity itself. Increasingly, studies show that the change need not be drastic or of long duration. But healthy variation needs to be rhythmic in the broad sense – integrated into the flow of daily activities rather than set aside for after work or on the weekend.

I had to apply this concept myself. Find out how in the next blog.

Movement and Health

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

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. Wigman was asked to assist Laban in a private movement lesson with the afflicted lady, although Wigman was terrified that something terrible would happen if Laban made the woman move around.

Wigman describes the lesson in the following way. After the afflicted lady was wheeled into the studio, Laban lifted her into another chair and conversed with her. Gradually he introduced relaxing exercises of the head, arms, and shoulders. Then he went so far as to make her lift her legs and move her feet! As Wigman recalled, “The drooping body of the suffering woman started to straighten up, the dull eyes came to life. It was as if she had been raised from the dead.”

Wigman continues: “It was then that for the first time in my life I understood how much natural healing power is inherent in the movement of human body if, focused on the individual case, the movement is correctly perceived and well applied in the right dose.”

The following blogs explore the healing power of movement further.

Body Movement – Humankind’s First Extension System

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Humankind’s first attempts to extend their capabilities must have focused on the use of the body itself. This is Lewis Mumford’s view, articulated in his seminal Technics and Human Development. His argument goes like this:

“Early human beings persistently explored their own organic possibilities and in the process made two discoveries. First, certain bodily actions were intrinsically pleasurable. Such actions tended to be repeated for purely personal reasons. However, prehistoric man also discovered that such deliberately executed movements could serve a social function. Movements that were repeated often enough, in the same location and in the same context of events, began to acquire a communal meaning. In this way, movement became the first form of symbolic communication known to mankind.”

As the symbolic possibilities of the human body were explored, new functions for human movement came into being. As Mumford writes, “Even the hand was no mere horny specialized work-tool: it stroked a lover’s body, held a baby close to the breast, made significant gestures, or expressed in shared ritual and ordered dance some otherwise inexpressible sentiment.”

By asserting that movement is humankind’s original extension system, I am purposefully shifting bodily actions from the biological to the cultural realm. I do not intend to deny the biological bases of human movement. Rather, I want to call attention to the fact that the majority of human motions are not instinctive. Rather, movement is learned behavior acquired within the context of human interactions. This shift positions movement behavior as a meaningful cultural artifact, open to study and interpretation, on par with other non-material extension systems.

It may seem odd to call anything as visceral as physical action “non-material.” Yet, for eons of human history, movement disappeared without a trace, leaving no material artifact behind. Even today, the most important aspect of bodily movement is not the physical act itself but the social meaning it conveys. This is why a gesture of friendship in one part of the world can read as an insult somewhere else!

The Body

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Laban did not neglect the body. He had to create body part symbols and categorize bodily actions to develop his notation system. Movement themes in Laban’s Modern Educational Dance address awareness of the body and explorations of various actions of the limbs, while over half of Mastery of Movement is devoted to enumerating bodily actions of all kinds. Laban’s focus in both these works, however, is primarily expressive.

Elaboration of the BODY category in Laban Movement Analysis is rightfully credited to Irmgard Bartenieff. Bartenieff, through the Fundamentals she developed in her physical therapy practice, provided a functional basis to support full expressivity in effort and space. Moreover, the rising popularity of somatics makes Bartenieff’s work and its integration into movement analysis training, particularly relevant today.

Meaning in Motion: Introducing Laban Movement Analysis approaches the BODY from both analytic and somatic perspectives. First, a terse discussion outlines how bodily actions are analyzed and recorded using notational devices created by Laban. A second section places the work of Laban and Bartenieff in the broader historical context of the somatics movement. A third section describes Bartenieff Fundamentals as a somatic practice, drawing on my own studies with Bartenieff in the 1970s. The following is an excerpt of this section:

“Bartenieff considered movement — a process of effort and shape variation — to be central to her somatic techniques. When I studied with Bartenieff, classes started on the floor with “six basic exercises” but always progressed to standing and moving across the floor. Little time was given over to introspection. When imagery was used, it was always accompanied by movement. The only time the body was passive was when we were asked to concentrate on the breath. Even in these cases, the breath was always moving in some direction so as to create an inner shaping, or we were being asked to make sounds.

Bartenieff observed that “the basic activities of the body are lying, sitting, crawling, kneeling, standing, and walking.” Consequently, principles addressed in the Basic Six floor exercises were practiced, not only lying, but also sitting, crawling, kneeling, standing, and locomoting. Some principles were practiced by moving between these activities, in sequences that involved level-change, effortful phrasing, clear spatial intent, and bodily awareness of the relationship between part and whole. While exercises addressed bodily function, the aim was to facilitate skillful expression.”

Dancing from Mood to Mood

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

According to Rudolf Laban, “The dancer moves, not only from place to place, but also from mood to mood.” His perceptive comment illustrates a point that neuroscientists are beginning to recognize – nothing is purely mental or purely physical. Bodily movements accompany thoughts and feelings; and thoughts and feelings accompany movements.

In his unpublished papers Laban also observed, “inner becomes outer and outer becomes inner.” That is, movement not only reflects what a person is thinking and feeling, it also affects one’s inner psychological state.

I experienced the power of movement to induce an altered psychological state when I was first studying effort. During a class on the Spell Drive, I was literally transformed, transported to an inner landscape I seldom visited. This fascinating experience crystallized in a dance called “Fairytale,” which Irmgard Bartenieff described as follows:

“It is a solo but depicts the transformation from one magic figure to another… What is distinctive is the use of Effort as an abstract theme to stimulate images that become integrated into a cohesive tale. It illustrates how the study of Effort can provide a tool – thinking in identifiable movement quality components – that supports and stimulates the intuitive flow of movement themes and development.” (1980, 197)

Isadora Duncan observed that most people are prisoners of their movement habits. Similarly, their mental activities “respond to set formulas”. This repetition of physical and mental movements limits expression “until they become like actors who each night play the same role. With these few stereotyped gestures, their whole lives are passed without once suspecting the world of dance which they are missing.”

No doubt Laban would agree, for his life work was focused on illuminating the world of dance and encouraging people to move. To me, the wonderful aspect of structured movement study, particularly the study of effort, is how it can awaken the individual to new ways of being in the world.

The forthcoming Tetra seminar provides unique opportunities to explore the inner landscape of mood through effort study. Take advantage of the early registration discount by clicking here.