Movement Pattern Analysis – Business and Beyond

Posted on by

movement business and beyondIn the 1940s, Rudolf Laban took his dance theories into the world of work, addressing issues of efficiency, job satisfaction, and reduction of fatigue on the factory floor.

In the 1950s, Warren Lamb took Laban’s methods of movement analysis into the executive suite, discerning how patterns of movement reveal unique decision-making processes.  He applied his Movement Pattern Analysis profiles to thousands of senior executives in businesses around the world.

Today, Movement Pattern Analysis (MPA) is being applied to new arenas of human endeavor.

In the series of blogs that follow, three registered Movement Pattern Analysts – Laurie Cameron, Alison Henderson, and Madeleine Scott — describe how they have applied MPA respectively in creative work for dance, the theatre, and teaching at the university level.

MPA is not just for business – decisions are made in all kinds of enterprises and activities.  You can find out more about your own decision-making processes in the upcoming Tetra seminar, Introduction to Movement Pattern Analysis.

Mixing Business, Physical Exercise, and Creativity

Posted on by

Walk, exercise, businessThe Wall Street Journal has also been covering the health benefits of walking, notably the walk-and-talk business meeting.  According to their September 13th article, “the health benefits are real for people who take walking meetings; their work gets more creative, too.”

These walking meetings are typically held with two or three people over a set route and period.  Given mounting research on the health benefits of being more mobile at work, the walking meeting provides a way to integrate movement with other work activities.

There is science behind the walk-and-talk.  For example, one study found that the more people engaged in moderate physical activity at work, the less likely they were to phone in sick.  While standing desks have received positive attention as an alternative to sitting all day at work, walking burns more calories than just standing.

More intriguingly, a 2014 study at Stanford University found that walking increased creative output.  Study participants were given a standard creativity test – to think of alternate uses for a common object.  When participants were walking, they produced more original responses that no one had thought of when the group was merely sitting.

So don’t just sit there, stand up.  Better yet, take a five minute walk!

Dancing from Mood to Mood

Posted on by

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.

MoveScape CenterIn 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.

Warren Lamb, Creative Pioneer

Posted on by

Warren Lamb is one of the most creative people I have ever known.  His creativity is likely to escape the casual observer, for Lamb is very much the proper Englishman and his long and successful career as a management consultant has led him to adopt a conventional façade.  Moreover, he is inclined to stand modestly in the shadow of his mentor, Rudolf Laban, who is widely recognized as a creative genius.

However, without Lamb’s contribution to the study of human movement, Laban’s own reputation would be diminished.  The ground-breaking work done by Laban and F.C. Lawrence in British factories in the 1940s would be nothing but a curious footnote in the history of industrial psychology.

legacyAndVision-warrenLamb

Fortunately, Lamb respected Laban’s ideas and took them seriously.  But he did not just slavishly accept Laban’s notions as givens – he tested them empirically by carefully observing movement behavior and modifying observation and analysis procedures as needed.  Challenged to think outside the box by the collaborative research he did with child psychiatrist Judith Kestenberg and physical therapist Irmgard Bartenieff, Lamb  imaginatively explored links between movement and personality, expanding and confirming connections intuitively outlined by Laban.  Moreover, each creative link had to hold up in the practical context of helping his business clients understand themselves and their fellow workers better.

As Lamb notes, “We all observe movement and form impressions of people from what we see…. But to progress beyond simple impressions there had first to be both a notation system and a language in which it could be discussed.  Laban started this by describing movement in terms of its various component parts… After his death it was for me to complete the process by building on the concepts he had given us and organizing his theories into a purposeful framework.”