The Tetra Takes Off

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Twenty-one brave readers on four continents began the Tetra seminar, Decoding Laban’s Choreutics on March 26^th. This “great books” correspondence course is focused on Laban’s posthumously published masterpiece, also known as The Language of Movement.

Over a six-week period, we are exploring the book two chapters at a time. I use the word “exploring” purposefully, for I see this course as a journey of discovery for all twenty-two of us.

It is certainly proving to be a journey of discovery for me. As the guide, I have two tasks. First, I assign questions to provide a focus for each reading assignment. Secondly, I write a commentary on the assigned reading. These commentaries provide background information to help illuminate Laban’s thinking, link themes that recur across chapters, and, in some cases, clarify what Laban appears to be saying.

I have always found some parts of the book to be mystifying. I don’t expect to be able to dispel all the mysteries. However, I am finding that some confusion is due to errors, particularly in the illustrations and notations that accompany them. Perhaps someday an edition of this significant theoretical work can be published with an errata sheet!

For the moment, it is enough to have thoughtful companions and interesting exchange of views as the Tetra takes off.

Decoding Choreutics – Key #1

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Another example of Laban’s double vision is his concept of the kinesphere and dynamosphere as dual domains of human movement. To represent both domains, Laban utilizes the cube.

Decoding Choreutics via Movescape

With regard to the kinesphere, Laban uses the cube quite literally. Its corners, edges, and internal diagonals serve as a kind of longitude and latitude for mapping movement in the space around the dancer’s body.

With regard to the dynamosphere, Laban uses the cube formally to represent patterns of effort change. This shift in how the model should be interpreted is complicated further by Laban’s use of direction symbols to stand for effort qualities and combinations.

When Laban wrote Choreutics in 1938-39, the effort symbols had not yet been created. Consequently, his dual use of direction symbols to stand in for effort obscures the discussion, but not entirely.

To decode the models discussed in Chapters 3, 6, and 9, it is only necessary to translate the direction symbols into effort qualities and combinations. Once this is done, Laban’s discussion of dynamospheric patterns becomes clear.

Want more keys? Register for the correspondence course, “Decoding Laban’s Choreutics,” beginning March 26.

Was Laban Seeing Double?

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Carol-Lynne Moore

More than any of his other books in English, Choreutics reveals Laban’s dual vision as a dance artist and movement scientist. The forthcoming course, “Decoding Choreutics,” examines Laban’s double vision from more than one angle.

For example, Choreutics and the whole fabric of Laban’s space harmony theory can be seen as a design source for dance. The various scales and “rhythmic circles” can be mined as abstract patterns for movement creation. In this sense, Choreutics is analogous to various design sources utilized by Art Nouveau artists at the turn of the 20^th century.

The fin de siècle was a time when artistic and scientific circles overlapped. In their stylized renderings of natural forms, Art Nouveau artists drew upon scientific illustrations. A case in point is Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms in Nature. Haeckel (1834-1919) was a biologist-philosopher whose beautiful illustrations of biological forms, ranging from microscopic creatures to sea life, plants, and animals, inspired the artists of his day.

One of the Art Nouveau artists who drew upon Haeckel’s illustrations was Hermann Obrist, with whom Laban studied in Munich. Originally trained as a botanist, Obrist the artist moved progressively from realistic depiction of natural forms to increasingly abstract and geometrical designs. Laban’s own geometricizing of the biomorphic curves of human movement in Choreutics follows a similar trajectory.

Led by the Art Nouveau movement, early 20^th century artists were looking beyond the surface appearance of visual objects to reveal underlying patterns and organizing principles. With the advent of the atomic age, scientists were doing the same. Thus when Laban, the artist, turned his eyes to dance and human movement, he, too, was seeing double.

Effort and Inner Life

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Effort is not only about doing; it is also about being, or what Rudolf Laban calls movement thinking. “Movement thinking could be considered as a gathering of impressions of happenings in one’s own mind, for which nomenclature is lacking. This thinking does not serve orientation in the external world but rather it perfects man’s orientation in his inner world.”

Laban relates movement thinking to effort in the following way: “Man’s desire to orientate himself in the maze of his drives results in definite effort rhythms.” Laban goes on to describe these drives in effort terms. The way he conceives it, there are four effort drives: the Action Drive, the Passion Drive, the Vision Drive, and the Spell Drive. Laban’s mapping of effort rhythms makes it possible to explore this world and its inner landscapes by moving mindfully. I had one such adventure during my training to be a movement analyst.

I chose a phrase with the Spell Drive configuration in it. The Spell Drive combines effort qualities of space (direct or indirect), weight (strong or light), and flow (bound or free). Spell is the timeless drive, hypnotic and mesmerizing. As I note in Meaning in Motion, “When our sensation of the passing of time disappears, we usually find the experience to be slightly unreal, even uncanny.” And that is indeed what happened to me.

I struggled to embody an effort rhythm combining strong, bound, and indirect qualities. When I finally succeeded, I was transformed into a Grendl-like creature. It was a very real experience. It shook me up, and started me on a long journey to understand the psychological ramifications of effort.

We use effort to assert our will over things in the outer world, but the effort choices we make also influence our inner worlds.

Laban Movement Analysts – A “Cognitive Minority”

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Laban-based movement professionals belong to a “cognitive minority,” a term coined by sociologist Peter Berger. Berger points out that all human societies are based on knowledge. However, most of what we “know” has been taken on the authority of others. For example, I’ve never personally attempted to verify that the earth travels around the sun, but I accept this view as genuine knowledge of how our solar system functions. Such socially-shared concepts define our world and allow us to move through life confident that we know what is real and meaningful, and what is not.

A cognitive minority is a group of people whose view of the world differs significantly from the one taken-for-granted in a society. For example, in our materialistic, scientific society, individuals who seriously base life decisions on astrology belong to a cognitive minority. The idea that objects in distant space influence individual human affairs is generally seen as an unscientific notion, and therefore a deviant one.

Similarly, the Laban community is oriented around “deviant” knowledge. We believe that movement is meaningful and may be studied in all its dynamic variations, yielding valuable insights into human behavior. This is not the prevalent view in our society. Knowledge comes from one’s head, not one’s body. And movement is perceived, if at all, as nothing more than “body language” – a simplistic code of isolated actions conveying fixed meanings.

The status of a cognitive minority is uncomfortable, not because the cognitive majority is repressive or intolerant, but because this majority refuses to accept the minority’s definition of knowledge. Any member of the cognitive minority foolish enough to voice his or her views will be met by shocked surprise or tolerant amusement. Recent press regarding the movement analysis of Putin met with just such reactions – the whole idea that movement study could possibly yield any knowledge was simply laughable.

I do not really expect to the cognitive majority to embrace the view that movement is meaningful. Nevertheless, the Laban community has had some good friends who come from other disciplines and walks of life. These friends are not “converts.” They seldom become movement analysts themselves. Yet, they appreciate something in our worldview. The following series of blogs are dedicated to these “friends of movement study.”

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.”

The Beauty of Movement Study

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Several years ago, while I was teaching Laban Movement Analysis at the University of Surrey, I encountered one of our Korean students outside the library. She approached me, cradling something in her hand. When she opened her hand, I saw it was a small leaf.

“Look,” she cried with delight. “Doesn’t this have a beautiful shape!”

We had, earlier in the day, been doing a class on shape. I had to agree, the leaf did have a lovely shape. But what was even more beautiful to me was the student’s delight. Somehow, the movement class on shape had opened her awareness to all kinds of shapes around her. She was seeing the world with new eyes.

Movement is omnipresent, yet slippery. It disappears even as it is occurring. It requires some effort to bring movement into awareness, to keep it in focus, to think about it. Rudolf Laban’s great contribution was to provide ways of seeing and thinking about movement. As his protégé, the English choreographer Geraldine Stephenson recalls, Laban “taught us that movement was fundamental to living. As students our senses were opened to movement in nature – trees, clouds, sea – and we saw movement in paintings, sculpture, sound and music.”

Movement study is a way of seeing, a way of making connections. And this is the strongest and best argument for making it a part of general education.

Movement Study and the Goals of General Education

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Effective communication and critical thinking are often cited as goals of general education at the university level. Movement study can contribute to the development of both these skills.

It is widely acknowledged that communication has two parts: the verbal and the nonverbal. As the anthropologist Edward Hall explains, words make up only a fraction of any message. The movements accompanying speech convey more significant information. Nonverbal behavior “stresses feedback on how people are feeling, ways of avoiding confrontation, and the inherent logic that is the birthright of all people.”

Laban Movement Analysis provides a means for students to become more aware of their own movement preferences, to extend their movement repertoire, and to become more reflective about nonverbal behavior. This knowledge can be applied to improve communication skills.

Movement analysis can enhance critical thinking about the nonverbal aspects of face-to-face interactions. While nonverbal behavior may account for 90% of human communication, it is often perceived and responded to subliminally. This gives rise to what I have characterized in Beyond Words as “body knowledge/body prejudice.” We each have a private lexicon of body knowledge that is the result of our unique experiences with different movements and the meanings we have come to associate with them. This body knowledge influences our reactions to the nonverbal behavior of others. But because we seldom consciously think about movement, we tend to respond automatically. When we don’t pay enough attention to details of an action or to its context, we can misjudge the meaning of the movement. Then “body knowledge” becomes “body prejudice.”

The study of Laban Movement Analysis enables students to perceive movement more objectively and to think critically about nonverbal behavior. In an increasingly global world, wherein cultural factors complicate face-to-face interactions, reflecting rather than just reacting becomes a significant skill.

Laban Movement Analysis and Architecture

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

“The first inner vision of a choreutic shape and the first inner vision of any architectural creation or an abstract drawing have a great resemblance. The invention of an architectural, plastic or pictorial form is, in reality, a choreutic phrase.”

Rudolf Laban, Mastery of Movement, p. 115

Over my years in the field of dance and movement studies, I became increasingly curious about exploring the relationship between architectural practice and movement.

For some, this may seem an odd pairing. Architects design and create solid, tangible structures that are more or less unchanging over time; dancers articulate liminal traceforms that vanish before your eyes. But a closer look easily reveals what’s essential to both disciplines: space as a medium for creating three-dimensional patterns.

So it was with that perspective that I embarked on a project to see what Laban Movement Analysis could bring to the education of architecture students. Could a choreutic perspective inform and expand their sense of space? How might it influence approaches to the shaping of space and form? Could it support the students’ ability to “read” sites more sensitively? Could it inspire a greater imagination for the uses of materials?

With the collaborative assistance of architecture faculty at UW-Milwaukee I began to explore these questions in 2010.

Since that time we’ve developed approaches that link Laban-based movement study to architectural studio projects; that is, we develop movement “research” for students to engage that will support the execution of specific design assignments.

One of our more successful projects addressed the architectural notion of “suture.” In most cases people consider the space between forms or objects as a void keeping them apart. The “suture” proposes the opposite; it suggests that the space, far from being neutral, is active and serves to hold its surrounding forms together. Furthermore, the space can have a character of its own apart from the forms that surround it. Architects need to acquire the skill of visualizing the space without its peripheral or enclosing solids.

We created a research sequence that involved solo and group movement work, observation and drawing, which culminated in creating 3-dimensional models of a suture. The results – unusual and evocative expressions of space – lead to rich discussions about the relationship of movement and spatial/architectural design.

As one student noted: The movement work was successful in prompting us to consider our bodies as space-making devices rather than as mere sculptural objects. [It] forced us to think about space in a much more intimate way, not as vast and far removed from us, but as something we can immediately touch or express with our bodies.

Clearly, Laban-based movement work can contribute a valuable component to architecture education. The work continues.

Movement Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Study

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Over the past three centuries, knowledge has proliferated. At the same time, knowledge has become increasingly specialized. At the university level, this has led to a proliferation of departments, with courses of study carefully demarcated along disciplinary borders that are not particularly permeable. Indeed, the departmental structure of most universities makes it difficult for inter-disciplinary initiatives to succeed.

Nevertheless, it is the mission of the university to educate, and an educated person is supposed to know a little something about all fields of human knowledge. Enter the general education requirements. In our postmodern, globalized world, general education is meant to address the humanities, sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and “global culture.”

Usually there are a variety of courses that a student can take to fulfill these general education requirements. However, it is rare to find a required course that compares and contrasts the kinds of knowledge generated by these different disciplines. The student is left to his or her own devices to connect the dots. Or not.

This is where movement study could have enormous impact. Movement is a common denominator of human endeavor; it crosses disciplinary lines. Irmgard Bartenieff, who pioneered Laban Movement Analysis training in the U.S., was characterized as someone who thought “mind, body, and action are one, that the individual is one with the culture, and function with expression, space with energy, art with work with environment with religion.” When you studied with her, according to Marcia Siegel, “you could never again see the universe as a collection of isolated particles.”

Movement connects. Laban Movement Analysis can help college students make connections among the very specialized disciplines of our postmodern world.