The Future of the Body

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

The physical capabilities of human beings are increasing, and this was quite evident at the Winter Olympics. For example, snowboarders were doing feats in the qualifying runs that would have won medals at previous Olympics. Michael Murphy, co-founder of the Esalen Institute, has been fascinated by the expanding horizon of human potential represented by such exceptional athletes.

In The Future of the Body, Murphy claims that “no culture has ever possessed as much publicly available knowledge as we do today regarding the transformation capacities of human nature.” He argues that “by gathering data from many fields – including medical science, anthropology, sports, and the arts, psychical research, and comparative religious studies – we can identify extraordinary versions of most, if not all, of our basic attributes, among them sensorimotor, kinesthetic, communication, and cognitive abilities; sensations of pain and pleasure; love; vitality; volition; sense of self, and various bodily processes.”

For Murphy, the challenges athletes embrace, the technical knowledge used to achieve high-level performance, and the pain and sacrifice these players accept “demonstrate our human capacity and drive to achieve new levels and kinds of functioning.” Moreover, athletes often experience “altered states and ecstatic moments bordering on the mystical.” Consequently “the fact that spiritual moods occur spontaneously in many athletes indicates that disciplines for the body sometimes catalyze depths of the mind.”

Does physical virtuosity point towards something deeper? Find out more in the next blog.

Movement, Magic, and Transcendence

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Carol-Lynne Moore

The magical powers of movement fascinated Laban. Two anecdotes recounted in his autobiography highlight his keen interest – the first was observing a folk dance meant to make warriors immune to wounds; the second was witnessing Sufi rituals in which dancers actually stabbed themselves but the wounds closed immediately. Laban mused, “Belief in a magic that conquers nature was surely just foolishness, a childish superstition – but even so, wasn’t there something great, something immense hidden behind it?”

This reflection, or perhaps quest, is reflected in many of Laban’s theoretical writings, where he hints at the spiritual value and transcendental power of movement. For example, in Mastery of Movement Laban laments that “The European has lost the habit and capacity to pray with movement… The ritual movements of other races are much richer in range and expressiveness.”

Later, in this same book, Laban explains that “Living beings struggle with their surroundings, with material things, with other beings, and also with their own instincts, capacities and moods; but man has added to this the struggle for moral and spiritual values.” He adds, “The theatre is the forum wherein the striving within the world for human values is represented in art form.”

Is Laban doing for acting and dancing what Kandinsky did for painting in Concerning the Spiritual in Art? Find out more by joining other readers for a journey through Mastery of Movement, beginning in early March.

The Value of Movement Study

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Carol-Lynne Moore

The diversity of applications of movement analysis showcased at the June conference in Montreal was awesome. And that is just the beginning….

As the sociologist Bryan S. Turner noted: “The body is at once the most solid, the most elusive, illusory, concrete, metaphorical, every present and ever distant thing.” Surely the same can be said of bodily movement – it is omnipresent in human life, yet elusive to perceive and interpret. Nevertheless, it has enormous potential.

According to journalist Olive Moore: “This science of movement study is so remarkable that at first its significance is difficult to grasp. But if we think of human movement as we should – as the outward and visible symbol of man entire, his spirit mirrored indelibly in every conscious and unconscious movement he makes – we have for the first time in human history a complete diagnosis which allows no error and cannot lie.”

It is true that disciplined movement study like Movement Pattern Analysis profiling can provide objective insight into human behavior; it can enhance the understanding of self and others. But movement study can be more — it can bring us closer to something fundamental in existence, something of great intrinsic value.

As the philosopher Henri Bergson observed: “Movement is reality itself.” Once we recognize this, “What was immobile and frozen in our perception is warmed and set in motion. Everything comes to life around us, everything is revivified in us.”

International Movement Analysis Encounter

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Carol-Lynne Moore

During the first week of June, I participated in unique collegial exchange with fourteen other movement analysts from the U.S., Canada, and France. Hosted by the Dance Department of the University of Quebec at Montreal, the seminar provided an opportunity for comparative and comprehensive study of two approaches to qualitative movement analysis: Laban Movement Analysis and Functional Analysis of the Dancing Body, a system developed in France and little known in the English-speaking world.

The purpose of the Montreal seminar was threefold: 1) to renew perspectives and the analytical discourse about the dancing body, 2) to explore movement analysis’s potential to enhance and refine the narration of aesthetics in performing arts, and 3) to open up exchange and discussion on the contributions of movement analysis to the fields of dance, theatre, music, kinesiology, ethnology, nonverbal communication, and therapy.

The brainchild of Montreal dance professor Nicole Harbonnier-Topin, the five-day seminar incorporated various activities: 1) a preliminary report about comparative research on the two analysis systems, 2) movement workshops and collegial discussions, 3) formal presentations on various applications of movement analysis, and 4) a Roundtable open to the general public. In this final session selected movement analysts responded to “Mille Batailles,” an intense duet choreographed by Louise Lecavalier, which was a part of the concurrent Festival TranAmeriques.

In the following blogs I will share various aspects of my experiences as a participant in this unique international encounter.

Movement Analysis: Enhancing Body Knowledge, Transcending Body Prejudice

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Carol-Lynne Moore

Rudolf Laban observed that movement can be perceived from three distinct angles:

the “biological innocent” — the person enjoying movement inwardly, as a bodily experience,
the “scheming mechanic” – the person who observes movement analytically and objectively from the outside,
the “emotional dreamer” – the person who seeks the meaning of movement in the intangible world of emotions and ideas

Laban asserts that these three perspectives operate constantly in all of us. Sometimes we favor one or the other view, and “sometimes we compress them in a synthesized act of perception and function.”

The synthesis of these three perspectives yields body knowledge. Body knowledge serves an important function, for it allows us to size up another person’s movement intent and react without undue delay. If a loitering stranger makes you nervous, it is prudent to get away rather than second guess impressions.

However, how we experience, perceive, and interpret movement also leads to body prejudice. Sometimes it is essential to separate these processes. And this is where Laban Movement Analysis becomes useful.

Laban’s analytic framework is value-neutral. It allows the observer to describe and differentiate elements of a movement event without immediately jumping to interpretive conclusions.

Taking the perspective of the “scheming mechanic” does not do away with body prejudice. But movement analysis can provide significant details that may alter the observer’s initial impression, allowing for more objective and reflective insights to emerge.

In the next blog I explore imitation and intuition as alternative tools for understanding movement.