Faye's Laban Notes

Rudolf Laban 101
Birthplace: Austro-Hungary
Family Background: Hungarian Military Family
Religion: Combination of Victorian Theosophy, Sufism, and popular fin de siecle Hermeticism.
Training: Art and Architecture in Paris

Important dates:
1879: Rudolf Laban, born in Austria - Hungary
1915: Rudolf Laban established the Choreographic Institute in Zürich and later founded branches in Italy, France, and central Europe.
1928: First publication of what will be known as Labanotation
1938: Flees from Germany to the UK to join Kurt Jooss and Lisa Ullmann, his students.
1947: Published “Effort”
1948: Laban School establishes as the Art of Movement Studio in Manchester.
1953: Studio moves to Addlestone in Surrey due to expansion.
1958: Rudolf Laban died.

Interest in movement arts:
In Munich, he was influenced by dancer/choreographer Heidi Dzinkowska to study German Expressionist Dance. His study in architecture and movement arts led to his interest in the moving human form and the space around it.

Movement choir:
He developed the movement choir, which involves choreographing people en masse. His spiritual pursuits shaped this form.

Alleged Nazi Involvement:
In 1934, he was promoted to director of the Deutsche Tanzbuhne in Nazi Germany. He received funding from the propaganda ministry for running dance festivals. He published this statement: “We want to dedicate our means of expression and the articulation of our power to the service of the great tasks of our Volk. With unswerving clarity our Führer points the way”. He started removing non-Aryan pupils from his children’s course in July 1933. By 1936, he had fallen out with the Nazi regime.

“Shadow movements”
Laban believed that “shadow movements” wasted evergy and time. While in the UK, he tried to help workers eliminate these “shadow movements and to concentrate on effective movements for their jobs. This work led him to publish a book entitled Effort in 1947.

Legacy:
His student Irmgard Bartenieff developed Bartenieff Fundamentals based on his teachings. Kurt Jooss, Mary Wigman, and DH Lawrence also studied with him. He shaped the philosophical basis of the new German Dance Theatre that flourished after the 1960s with Pina Bausch and Susannah Linke and others.

Trivia:
Laban means “Bible” in Hebrew.

Overview of Laban Movement Analysis:

People combine the elements of movement in unique ways and organize them to create phrases and relationships, which reveal personal, artistic, or cultural style.

The elements of movement are
Effort, Shape, Space and Body

It is in the PHRASING of these elements that relationships are formed.

Patterns of Total Body Connectivity:
Breath
Core-Distal Connectivity
Head-Tail Connectivity
Upper-Lower Connectivity
Body-Half Connectivity
Cross-Lateral Connectivity

Sequencing of movement:
Simultaneous
Successive (adjacent)
Sequential (non-adjacent)

Effort
Flow, Weight, Time and Space

Flow effort: Free and Bound
Weight effort: Light and Strong
Passive sensing: Limp and Heavy
Time effort: Sustained and Sudden
Space effort: Indirect and direct