I was intrigued when I first read Rudolf Laban’s Choreutics as an undergraduate dance student. I didn’t really understand it, but I found it inspiring.
Later, when I did the “Effort/Shape” Program at the Dance Notation Bureau, I loved the space material. I could feel spatial tensions, certain places in the kinesphere immediately evoked images for me, and I appreciated the physical challenge of the scales.
Teaching space harmony, however, presented other challenges. As I have discovered, many students respond negatively to this part of Laban theory, with reactions ranging from mere confusion to outright loathing. Over three decades of teaching this material, I have experimented constantly to find ways to make Laban’s notions of space both accessible and meaningful. Space is, I believe, the hardest part of Laban Movement Analysis to teach really well.
Writing about space harmony is equally challenging. As Jeffrey Longstaff once noted, natural language is not well-suited for spatial description. Laban certainly would agree. In order to present his ideas about space, he developed elaborate geometrical schemes that are more visual than verbal. I believe these are brilliant, though not user-friendly at first glance.
Explaining Choreutic theory on the printed page involves two challenges. First, Laban’s geometrical schemes must be presented in a logical sequence. Secondly, the geometry of space must be related to the felt sense of moving.
I have revised the space chapter in Meaning in Motion: Introducing Laban Movement Analysis many times in order to make the material accessible for college students who are just being introduced to Laban’s way of thinking about movement. In addition to geometrical drawings, I have included photos in which the spatial form of the movement is clear. And I’ve provided “Creative Explorations” to allow students to embody the material. For as I note in the book, “In contrast to standard dance practice, Laban’s outline of harmonic forms leaves most details of embodiment unspecified. As a result, the mover must draw upon his or her inner resources to bring these harmonic sequences to life.”