Advancing and Promoting Movement Analysis

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If the field of Laban-based movement study is to grow, theoretical research must be on-going, public demand for the services of movement professionals must be cultivated, and the field must be self-governing so that incompetent and unethical practices are not tolerated.

Since its inception in 1991, Motus Humanus has addressed these needs in a variety of ways.

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Research and Publication. Through our Seed Money program, Motus Humanus has provided over $3000 of funding for research, publication projects, and archival support.  We have published two monographs, contributing copies to universities where Laban Movement Analysis or Labanotation are taught. We have encouraged movement specialists to write and publish, running advanced seminars and sponsoring a writing contest, with winning essays made available for download on our website.

Self Governance and Standards of Practice.  Motus Humanus has served as the certificating body for individuals qualifying in Movement Pattern Analysis (MPA).   With the support of Warren Lamb, creator of MPA, Motus developed a written examination and portfolio review process.  We went on to establish the Warren Lamb Trust as a standing committee with a mission for MPA analogous to that of the International Council of Kinetography Laban for Labanotation.  We managed to do this prior to Warren Lamb’s death in 2014.

Now that the community of Movement Pattern Analysts has grown sufficiently, Motus Humanus has provided funding for the Warren Lamb Trust to become an independent organization.  This became fact in the spring.  So the functions of maintenance of standards, promotion, and development of MPA, so carefully tended by Motus Humanus for over two decades, is being carried forward by the Warren Lamb Trust.

Serving the Laban Community

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communitySince 1991, Motus Humanus has been serving the Laban community by providing various services to support movement professionals as they develop their post-certification careers.  These include the following.

Continuing Education for Movement Analysts.  Motus Humanus has sponsored 14 advanced seminars addressing topics such as space harmony, effort phrasing, Bartenieff Fundamentals, teaching Laban Movement Analysis, observation and notation, movement psychology for actors, understanding movement patterns, and more.  Our roster of instructors draws upon 40 leading Laban experts from the US and overseas.  Over 265 individuals have taken advantage of these opportunities to deepen their movement analysis skills.

Networking Opportunities.  Motus Humanus has organized 8 Roundtables on Professional Events in which over 100 individuals have presented their work.  In addition, through our Adventure Grant program, we have provided over $2400 in funding for members to present their work at other professional conferences and workshops in Phoenix, Washington DC, Chicago, Brazil, Austria, and, most recently, Montreal, Canada.

And that’s not all.  Read more in the next blog.

The Value of Movement Study

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LabanThe 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.”

Comparing Movement Analysis Practices

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LabanAs one of 12 Laban Movement Analysts who participated in a 2014 research project comparing our observations with those of 12 experts in the French system of Functional Analysis of the Dancing Body (AFCMD), I was keen to hear the preliminary results of the study.

The presentation of the project by co-researchers Nicole Harbonnier-Topin, Genevieve Dussault, and Catherine Ferri at the Montreal conference in early June did not disappoint.  Here is a brief report on their findings.

The study focused on making explicit the “tacit knowledge” employed by expert movement analysts.   To clarify not only what experts see, but also how they accomplish skilled movement observation, Harbonnier-Topin utilized a structured, phenomenological interview technique while asking each analyst to respond to the same videotaped dance sequence.

Eight interviews from each analyst group were chosen and transcribed.  Then these transcriptions were coded as to the various observation processes each interviewee employed, such as describing, identifying, prioritizing, inferring, evaluating, constructing meaning, etc.  Some interesting differences in choice and frequency of process use emerged between the two groups of analysts.

A secondary aspect of the research addressed convergence and divergence between the analytic systems themselves.  Based upon emerging data, the areas of flow, weight, and relationship of space emerged as areas needing additional research.

The Montreal seminar provided an opportunity for additional data collection, as participating analysts were asked to run movement workshops focused on these aspects.  Learn more in the next blog.

Seeing Movement More Precisely with Laban

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Laban Movement Analysis allows the observer to see movement more objectively and precisely. But after 35 years of teaching LMA, I can safely say that learning to observe accurately and developing confidence as an observer takes time. And there is a reason for this.

The beauty of Laban’s taxonomy is its parsimony. Laban worked hard to develop a finite number of descriptive terms for movement. Effort is a good example. There are only four motion factors (flow, weight, time, and space) and eight effort qualities with which to capture the enormous variation of motion dynamics.

Laban’s identification of very basic and general elements of movement allows his system to describe a wide variety of movement events. As a result, however, Laban Movement Analysis functions at a high level of abstraction. By this I mean that the same effort quality – take increasing pressure for example – can be present in hammering and passionately hugging someone. That is, increasing pressure can be present in two actions that are nothing alike.

Consequently, learning to analyze movement means not only learning to see; it also involves being seen. Observation skills and confidence develop best when the novice analyst can work with a more experienced observer who can confirm – yes, there is increasing pressure in that hug.

MoveScape Center’s Tetra seminar in March provides a lot of opportunities to see and be seen. Click here to find out more.