Choreutics: Laban defined choreutics
as “the practical study of harmonized movement.” Latter day colleagues
of Laban’s, such as Valerie Preston-Dunlop and Vera Maletic, have
delineated Choreutics respectively as the “spatial organization for
dance” and “the theory and practice of ordering movement in space.”
Kinesphere: “the sphere around the body whose periphery can be reached by easily
extended limbs without stepping away from that place which is the point
of support when standing on one foot” (1966, p.10). This spherical space
around our body shifts as soon as we shift our weight. It is also the
first area of movement exploration before going into “space in general”.
It follows anatomical limitations, being actually more elliptic than
spherical as constitutionally, the average body has a wider area of
reach forward than backward.
Visibly speaking the kinesphere stays invisible until the moment we
move within it and make it tangible by leaving our trace-forms, the
spatial consequences of our movements (Preston-Dunlop, 1981, p.27).
Trace-forms: As
an analytical study, choreutics delineates the natural paths that the
limbs of the body trace on the space around the body. Laban calls these
paths “trace-forms.”
Harmonic” Three-dimensional Patterns: Laban’s
space harmony scales are similar. Laban has taken the curves of natural
movements and geometricized them, creating “harmonic” three-dimensional
patterns.
Breath Connectivity: Deliberately bringing your awareness to your breath as support for your
movement is a precursor to whole-body coordination and virtuosity in
movement. This is true for movers of all levels as breath allows the
entire body to be supported from within in complex coordination.
Patterns of Body Connection: With knowledge of Laban's concepts, Peggy Hackney identified six developmental patterns of body connectivity: breath, core-distal, head-tail, upper-lower, body- half, and cross-lateral.
Laban's Cube: Thee
kinesphere is also the container of a cube (containing all diagonal
directions and dimensions) and of an icosahedron made by three
bi-dimensional planes: it contains angular geometry inside a round
geometry.
Laban’s Four Components of Human Movement with their Respective Elements:
•Direction – direct/indirect
•Weight – heavy/light
•Speed – quick/sustained
•Flow – bound / free
Laban’s Eight Effort Actions:
The
Eight Effort Actions help clients both physically and emotionally to
embody and understand internal impulse while developing an expressive
body.
•Wring:
•Press
•Flick
•Dab
•Glide
•Float
•Punch
•Slash
II
Expressionist Dance
Expressionist dance was expressive, and show more spirit
and emotion and less virtuosity. The dance would be improvisational,
uninhibited and provocative. Future spiritual and bodily reform
movements expressed themselves in a new "natural" dance.
Schools for expressionist dance had special philosophies and emphases
for dance, such as naturalness, breathing, tension / relaxation etc. It
was often associated with floor contact, "weight" of dance movements,
and experiments with music. Body and physicality were strongly
emphasized.
Mary Wigman
She worked upon a technique based on contrasts of movement; expansion and contraction, pulling and pushing.
Her technique is structured in five main groups:
1 - Striding and sliding
2 - Springs, vibrations and bouncing
3 - Momentum and oscillations
4 - Falling and dropping (floor technique)
5 - Tensions: relaxed, sustained and motor tensions
1. Which ideas created by Rudolph Laban are important for dance?
2. Which cultural movement influenced Laban's movement ideas? Why?
3. What was the main difference between Mary Wigman's approach to dance and Laban's approach?
4. Why was Wigman's dance expressionist?
5. Why was Kurt Jooss' piece The Green Table an important piece in the evolution of modern dance? (See the videos bellow).
6. In which way have these dance/movement styles influenced your own dance abilities?
7. List the phrases we have put together so far, both, for your ensemble piece and your solo piece.
8. Briefly reflect on your performance in this class by writing about your takeaways in terms of body movement, expression and relationships.
I WARM UP II STRETCH III Activity 1 REVIEW: LEVELS & DIRECTIONS FOCUS COMBINING ALL IV Review Short Bio Rudolf von Laban , also known as Rudolf Laban, was an Austro-Hungarian dance artist and theorist. He is considered as one of the pioneers of modern dance in Europe and as the "Founding Father of the Expressionist Dance" in Germany. Rudolf Laban (1879-1958) was was a dancer, a choreographer and a dance / movement theoretician. Being one of the founders of European Modern Dance, his work was extended through his most celebrated collaborators, Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss and Sigurd Leeder. Laban was a visionary, humanist, teacher and theoretician, whose revolutionary ideas bridged the gap between the performing arts and science. V CONCEPTS Laban's Choreutics Laban links his modern studies of movement to Pythagorean mathematics, notably musical scales and the “harmonic relations” of geometrical forms such as the...
I ACTIVITY a) Introduce yourself to the group by saying your name, where you come from, your major, if you have any physical training [dance, martial arts, sports, yoga, etc], your expectations about the course. b) Write a brief introduction of yourself in which you summarize who you are. Post your introduction on Discussion Board. II WARM UP III MOVEMENT EXPLORATION Students are guided through pedestrian movements in which they explore: DIRECTIONS LEVELS SPACE IV Introduction of Rudolph Laban's concept of choreutics experientially as a foundation for next class. Rudolf Laban ( 15 December 1879 – 1 July 1958), was an Austro-Hungarian dance artist and theorist . He is considered one of the pioneers of modern dance in Europe as the "Founding Father of the Expressionist Dance" in Germany. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of dance, Laban believed that the key for the u...
I Warm Up II Review However, in keeping with its Pythagorean roots, Laban's Choreutic theory goes beyond mere descriptions of natural movement to designate harmonic spatial sequences analogous to musical scales. Source: https://movescapecenter.com/whole-body-movement/ Activity 1 Create your own scale by choosing a geometric figure and designing 8 movements within it. ----------------------------------------------------
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