One of the most significant chapters in Mastery of Movement is Chapter 5, “The Roots of Mime.” This chapter reveals Laban’s vision of what theatre should be. It also provides rich discussion of effort and the way Laban has come to conceive of its links to thought and feeling. As Laban writes, “The chain of happenings which is the very stuff of dramatic actions, and therefore also of mime, has its roots in the chemistry of effort.”
The “chemistry of effort” is better known as Laban’s theory of states and drives. This is a combinational theory in which different motion factors and their related effort qualities occur simultaneously, evoking various movement moods. We could see these combos as the result of a mathematical process (which it is). But Laban personifies combinations of motion factors and qualities, giving them a dramatic character.
Part of Laban’s aim in Mastery of Movement is to enhance movement thinking and movement imagination. This allows the reader, the actor, and/or the dancer to envision effort dramatically – not in a static way, but as a process of dynamic changes. Laban’s own vivid imagination makes effort theory exciting.
You can experiment with the dramatic and dynamic chemistry of effort – register now for the upcoming MoveScape Center course, “Mastering Laban’s Mastery of Movement.”