What is Laban Movement Analysis?
Laban Movement Analysis, developed by modern dance pioneer, Rudolf Laban, is a detailed, comprehensive system of observing, analyzing and notating all forms of human movement, from a simple gesture, to a choreographed evening length ballet performance. The Bartenieff Fundamentals, created by Irmgard Bartenieff, Laban’s protege, are a series of exercises that enhance the functioning of the human body, as she developed Laban’s ideas further, and was the founder of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in NYC many years ago. Irmgard Bartenieff was a physical therapist and one of the early pioneers in dance therapy. I attended the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies and graduated as a Certified Movement Analyst in 2006.
Laban Movement Analysis and the Bartenieff Fundamentals are utilized by all kinds of practitioners - actors, dancers, somatic movement therapists, occupational therapists, dance therapists, public speakers, and more. This work is held in high regard in the fields of dance movement therapy and movement analysis.
Laban Movement Analysis is broken down into many categories, and the major ones are Body, Effort, Space, Shape and Phrasing.
Body refers to the physical body, anatomy, physiology and kinesiology. The Bartenieff Fundmantals covers a wide range of this portion of the work and includes the “Basic 6” Bartenieff Fundamental Exercises, additional, supporting exercises, nine principles and related concepts. The Basic 6 include exercises that enhance the function of the body, and allow the body to move with efficiency and ease, using the correct muscles for any given action, rather than extraneous muscles that can lead to overuse and injury.
Effort refers to the inner attitudes of the mover which reveal themselves physically through dynamics. “It is concerned with the quality of the movement, the inner participation in the movement.” (Richard Haisma) Effort is broken down into four categories to analyze and their subcategories, or elements. Each element is either an indulging effort factor, or a fighting effort factor. The categories are Time (Quick or Sustained), Weight (Light or Strong), Space (Indirect or Direct) and Flow (Free or Bound). Effort factors are then combined as 2 efforts at the same time (called States), or three efforts (Drives).
Space refers to the planes of human movement, various scales (movement sequences that have a natural harmony), and visualizing the body moving in various polyhedral forms such as the cube, octahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron and tetrahedron. Laban noticed and created various movement “scales” which are natural to the human body during different situations and experiences. In Laban Movement Analysis, Space is also referred to as Space Harmony.
Shape refers to the shapes the body carves in space, and how this occurs. It is further delineated by Shape Flow, Directional Shape (Arc-Like or Spoke-Like), and then Shaping.
Phrasing refers to the quality of a given movement phrase, or spoken sentence. It also includes effort factors as well and can be thought of, also as the quality of a given movement sequence or sentence. Examples include Emphatic, Impulsive, Decreasing, Swing-like, Increasing or Decreasing.
Additional themes in LMA/BF include the four major themes (Internal/External, Stability/Mobility, Exertion/Recuperation and Function/Expression), in addition to writing motifs (physically writing and notating scores of movement much like notes of a song), Instruments such as Bony Landmarks, Kinetic Chains, Countertension and Grounding), and Applications such as Body Attitude, Non-Verbal Communication and Action Profiling.
This information above just lightly touches upon and explains a very brief overview of Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals, as the work is extremely vast and encompassing.
