Laban Movement Analysis:

Unlocking the Mysteries of Movement

BY LISA SANDLOS
The beating of a human heart, the graceful orbiting pathway of the earth
around the sun, the vibrations of tiny microorganisms, and a small child
reaching for a favourite toy...  What do all these have in common?  They all
involve movement.  Movement is all around us, all the time.

The study of movement holds many secrets and truths.  It is an essential key
for the understanding of human expression, as well as patterns in nature and
the universe.  Because movement can be mysterious and ephemeral, it is
rare that most people take the time to consciously observe it.  Observations
about movement are often interpreted as intuition.  Do you remember a time
when you had a feeling or a hunch about someone, positive or negative, but
you could not quite put your finger on it?  Your "feeling" may very well
have been your unconscious observations of that person's movement. 

Laban Movement Analysis (L.M.A.): A Language For

Movement
How can we become more conscious of the movement all around us?  How
can we understand and make use of the information movement offers?  One
very valuable tool is Laban Movement Analysis (L.M.A.).

L.M.A. is a system and a language for observing, describing and notating all
forms of movement. A movement analyst can use this language to describe
and interpret human movement from the gesture of a hand in conversation to
the complex action of a skilled athlete.  L.M.A. can be used as a tool by
dancers, athletes, physical and occupational therapists, and anyone wishing
to enhance, refine, and clarify movement.

Movement reflects our innermost feelings and ways of being in the world. 
For this reason, many embrace L.M.A. as a philosophy of life and a world
view.

Rudolph Laban: Visionary, Artist, and Theorist

Rudolph Laban (1879-1958) was a dancer, choreographer, and movement
theorist.  His contributions to the field of dance were vast.  He developed a
system of dance notation (Labanotation) which helped to raise the status of
dance as an art form in his time.  He was also an initiator and facilitator of
large-scale community dance, and he created Movement Choirs for
professional and amateur dancers alike.  After World War II, Laban lived in
Great Britain, where he reformed the role of dance in education.  He
believed passionately that dance, in some form, should be available to
everyone.

Laban leaves an important legacy beyond dance.  His broad vision revealed
the general laws of human movement as they occur in work and at play, in
expression and relationships, and in everyday life.  Laban believed that
movement of the body and of the mind is the basis of all human activity.

L.M.A. was derived by students of Laban to further codify and develop

Laban's theories and practices.  In light of Laban's global view, it is evident
that the possible applications of L.M.A. are extremely broad.  Consequently,
the system has been used by a wide and diverse range of groups and
individuals including dancers, athletes, actors, researchers, sociologists,
psychologists, therapists, and educators.

L.M.A. Today: Theory and Practice

Since Laban's death in 1958, his students have continued to develop the
system.  The ideology behind L.M.A. as it is practised today encompasses
four main categories: Body, Effort, Shape, and Space (B.E.S.S.).  Each of
the B.E.S.S. components can be studied in depth.  The B.E.S.S. approach
allows for systematic analysis of the complexity of human movement, both
functional and expressive.

 The Body aspect of B.E.S.S. deals with principles such as the

initiation of movement from specific body parts, the connection of
different body parts to each other, and the sequencing of movement
between parts of the body.
 The Effort dimension is concerned with movement qualities and
dynamics, and is subdivided into Weight, Space, Time and Flow
factors.
 Shape is about the way the body interacts with its environment. 
There are three Modes of Shape Change: Shapeflow (growing and
shrinking, folding and unfolding, etc.), Directional (Spokelike and
Arclike) or Shaping (molding, carving, and adapting).
 Space involves the study of moving in connection with the
environment and is based on spatial patterns, pathways, and lines of
 spatial tension.  Space Harmony acts as a framework for Space, Effort
and Shape in the form of established scales of movement within
geometric forms.  These scales can be practised (much like a
musician practises harmonic scales) in order to refine and broaden
one's range of movement.  By practising the Space Harmony scales,
an individual's preferences in movement (functional and expressive)
may be revealed.

The Fundamentals of Movement

Bartenieff Fundamentals (B.F.) is an example of a specific application of
B.E.S.S. This extension of L.M.A. was originally developed by Irmgard
Bartenieff who had trained in dance with Laban before becoming a
physiotherapist.  She had a reputation for her innovative ways of treating
polio patients.  She worked mainly within the Body aspect of B.E.S.S.,
concerning herself with some of the most basic principles of human
movement such as coordination, initiation and sequencing, and
mobility/stability.

A Bartenieff Fundamentals class might involve a series of exercises called

"The Basic Six":

1. Thigh Lift
2. Forward Pelvic Shift
3. Lateral Pelvic Shift
4. Lateral Condensing
5. Knee Drop
6. Arm Circles

"The Basic Six" exercises are practised either on a subtle level to enhance
awareness (i.e. lying on a mat or moving very slowly) and/or in complex
actions like running, turning, reaching, balancing, and jumping.  Bartenieff
Fundamentals are currently used by dancers, actors, athletes and anyone
interested in improving the ease, efficiency, and quality of their movement.

Integrating Our Movement - Rebalancing Our Lives

In my opinion, the real beauty of L.M.A. as a system is the way it integrates
all of the modalities of B.E.S.S.  The theme of integration is extremely
relevant to our society at this time in history, when more and more people
are experiencing fragmentation and compartmentalization in their lives.  The
late Peter Madden, a Laban theorist, practitioner, and writer, has stated that
"Laban promoted movement study as a means of fostering human capacities
for creativity, imagination, and wisdom.  He hoped to counterbalance
[society's] growing fascination with machines and technology.  As a
visionary he saw the advantages of the new tools, but he remained acutely
aware of the dichotomy between progress and spiritual decay that was
emerging..."

The integration of B.E.S.S. in movement correlates with the idea of

connecting body, mind, and spirit in ourselves individually and in our
collective human experience.  Peter Madden alludes to this in saying: "The
body-mind connection lies in movement - in fact, is movement... Movement
is the constant change and interplay in the relationship between body, mind,
and psyche."

Interestingly, studies have shown that the four modalities of B.E.S.S.

correspond with the four modes of human perception as identified by Carl
Jung and developed by Myers--Briggs: Body-Sensing, Effort-Feeling,
Shape-Intuiting, and Space-Thinking.  By comparing these modalities, it is
apparent that movement really does express our ways of being in and
interacting with the world around us.

Through movement, we can begin to interconnect all of our inner attitudes,

and achieve a greater sense of balance and wholeness in our lives.  Laban
Movement Analysis is one system with the potential to launch us and
support us on this journey.