One of the creators free dance- forerunners of modern dance.
Born in Austria-Hungary, lived and worked in Germany and England. Laban sought revival social role art as a joint action of people; the main place in this he assigned to the dance. A true innovator and one of the first dance theorists, he came up with new system his notes are "labanotation". Most famous Laban acquired as the creator of "expressive dance" (Ausdruckstanz) and the art of "moving choirs" (the latter art form was especially common in Germany and Soviet Russia in the 1920s-1930s).
In order for dance to rise to the level of other arts, a revolution must take place in it, similar to the one that took place at the beginning of the 20th century in fine arts. Laban helped make this coup. Perhaps the most radical of all the pioneers of free dance, he abandoned not only the traditional dance steps, but also musical accompaniment, themes and plot. He discovered that it was the space, not the body itself, that gave expression to the dance. Freed from learned movements, the body must seek its own rhythms and "revel in space."
In the 1920s, no less than bold experimenters dance - Kurt Joos, Mary Wigman, Susanne Perottet, Dussia Bereska. They worked together in large summer schools in Munich, Vienna and Ascona, until the first international troupe Tanzbuehne Laban (1923-1926) was founded - "the theater of authentic gesture" or "expressive dance".
The Laban Dance Theater was not alien to social themes, being inspired by B. Brecht's drama, constructivism, and political caricature. In the 1930s, together with Joos, Laban created political anti-war ballets. In 1938 he left Germany, and after the end of the war he opened a movement study studio in Manchester. In 1975 this studio moved to London and became the world famous Laban Center for Movement and Dance.
One of the most powerful means of a modern dancer is knowledge of Rudolf von Laban's movement system. This choreographer worked in the first half of the 20th century. He was a pioneer of modern dance: he moved away from memorized choreography into the field of body expression and laid down an innovative way detailed analysis sequence and nature of movements and gestures. Moreover, its analysis is suitable for studying any dance of any style. Let's touch the "sacred knowledge" of professional dancers.
Laban Analysis: Factors
Rudolf von Laban described that any dance step exists in 4 parameters or factors: space, time, dynamics and flow.
Based on this, you can perform a dance by varying the characteristics of each factor. When we fill our movements with feelings, this happens naturally, but through these factors we can diversify the expressiveness, make it more detailed, corresponding to the music and more meaningful.
Laban's Analysis: Space and Kinespheres
Notice how your dance fills the space. To study this parameter, Laban introduced the concept of "kinesphere": a spherical volume that can be minimal, medium (up to the elbow or outstretched arm, up to the knees or outstretched legs) and large (wider than our limbs).
How are your movements described using volume? How much space do they take? Can they be wider or more concise?
The volume as a factor of the game was also studied by our compatriot actor, director, theater theorist and researcher of human psychology P.M. Ershov, teaching actors the technique of acting. He highlighted that different volumes are used to transfer different characters. Sweeping movements are more expressive, so they correspond to the intensity of feelings in the characters, and also reveal an open, extroverted, free personality. And compressed gestures fit roles that are sad and depressed. They seem to have lost their powers. Constriction at the same time can be tense. This means that, according to the logic of the development of a number or scene, tension can manifest itself in the climax and reveal the pent-up feelings.
The volume of movements determines the space of feelings. In Art Nouveau, for example, any volume can become a platform for self-expression. Try to do the same combination in three kinespheres. So you will achieve greater clarity of technique and understand that for different swings in the same mood, completely different amounts of tension are required.
Laban analysis: weight
Imagine that in your arms and legs, on your shoulders and on your back, there is a heavy bulky load. Your joints are literally filled with lead! Dance your dance in these heavy chains.
After that, try to move as if you were the lightest fluff. Play with your imagination with the weight of your limbs and center of your body and express it to the music.
In contrast, this is even easier to achieve!
Think about a time when you felt heavy in Lately and relive that memory with gesture and posture.
Add the feeling of lightness of a butterfly to your jump.
Think of people from whom different sensations of weight come: someone can walk with a heavy or light gait, while someone moves quickly, and someone slowly. These characteristics help to convey the features of this or that character in the role: more solid people look heavier and more voluminous, the center of their body is balanced and is located in the navel area, but insecure people and people of mental labor seem to be raised above the ground, their weight is closer to the shoulders and head.
Laban Analysis: Speed
Each movement is either fast or slow. Dynamics can accelerate or slow down. These vortexes of unfolding movement in time make the technique truly alive.
Perform an improvisation by dancing like you're frozen. Weight, tension and volume may vary. And when you go into a fast pace, you will feel how warm you are. Fast dance often called hot, passionate.
Laban Analysis: Flow
Different styles differ from each other in the specific nature of the flow. Admit it, because the number of movements in the joints of our body is limited. All trajectories have already been described. However, the flow of dance is an elusive thing. You cannot learn any dance style as described in the book. Only a live broadcast teaches you to distinguish ballet from rhythmic gymnastics(their technique is quite similar), hip-hop from funk (both of them are quite impulsive), and belly dance from go-go (don't girls do similar waves and eights?).
The flow can be smooth, impetuous, impetuous, blurry, deep, barely noticeable... An important component of the flow is the degree of tension, and the configuration of muscle tension, the movement of the tension pattern in time, make the style recognizable.
Tension is almost the same as weight. But the weight reaches to the ground and describes general impression from the gesture as a whole, and the waves of tension can change more subtly and fill only some elements or parts of the body. Tension can create support and stability, but be striving. Weight is a more inert quality.
Laban analysis: how to apply
On the one hand, one can start from the description of the movement according to the factors of Laban's analysis and come up with exercises for improvisation. On the other hand, you can first dance or observe other people's dances, and then describe your own and others' dance steps using these parameters. So you will better understand the features of the technique of a particular performer and realize what makes the technique a standard, and what can be varied in it.
You will also notice that different parameter configurations correspond to bodily manifestation. different feelings. With the help of memories, you will be able to enter into experiences during the dance and fill them with your own and other people's ligaments.
Once you have experienced Laban's analysis factors, you can move on to the next topic of his theory.
Laban Analysis: Basic Efforts
Laban singled out eight basic efforts. From this you can push off to fill your movements with images. When you move on to imagery and feeling, you get closer to flow thinking, which is what happens in . It, as I already wrote, is devoid of words. However, this does not mean at all that there is no thinking - on the contrary, it is extremely productive, since it is not clogged with value judgments of the left hemisphere of the brain, packed with stereotypes and labels.
So, basic efforts: movements are similar
1. Pressure.
2. Slip resistant.
3. Wiggle.
4. Hit.
5. Biting blow.
6. Touch.
7. Swipe.
8. Compression.
As you understand, these basic efforts can be combined in your improvisational studies with the main factors of Rudolf von Laban's theory described above.
I recommend exploring your own and others' choreography with your own hands. different ways, verbal or figurative, with the help of experience or, conversely, detachedly and rationally. All these are bridges to deepen your experience and your creativity, to fill the dance with spirit, feeling, holistic experience. It is with them that we paint, like artists with paints, on the canvas of the body and in the space of the stage, in the time of the performance of music (or in silence). By the way, musical accompaniment, voice and rhythm can also be described using the analysis of Rudolf von Laban's movements in order to match the sound and dance.
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Studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During my studies, I became interested in the interaction between the movement of the human body and the space that surrounds it. At the age of 30, carried away by the ideas of Heidi Dzinkowska (Heidi Dzinkowska) and free dance, von Laban moved to Munich, where he began to develop own style plastics - "Expressive dance" ( Ausdruckstanz).
In 1915, von Laban founded the Choreographic Institute in Zurich, which later had branches in other European cities.
Laban sought to revive the social role of art as a joint action of people; the main place in this he assigned to the dance. A real innovator and one of the first theoreticians of dance, he came up with a new system for recording dance - "Labanonotation". Laban gained the greatest fame as the creator of "expressive dance" ( Ausdruckstanz) and the art of "moving choirs" (the latter type of art was especially widespread in Germany and Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s).
In order for dance to rise to the level of other arts, a revolution must take place in it, similar to what happened in the visual arts at the beginning of the 20th century. Laban helped make this coup. Perhaps the most radical of all the pioneers of free dance, he abandoned not only the traditional dance steps, but also the musical accompaniment, theme and plot. He discovered that it was the space, not the body itself, that gave expression to the dance. Freed from learned movements, the body must seek its own rhythms and "revel in space."
In the 1920s, no less daring dance experimenters united around Laban - Kurt Joss, Mary Wigman, Susanne Perrott (Susanne Perottet), Dussia Bereska (Dussia Bereska). They worked together at large summer schools in Munich, Vienna and Ascona until the first international company was founded. Tanzbuehne Laban(1923-1926) - "the theater of authentic gesture" or "expressive dance".
The Laban Dance Theater was not alien to social themes, being inspired by B. Brecht's drama, constructivism, and political caricature. In the 1930s, together with Joos, Laban created political anti-war ballets. In 1938 he left Germany, and after the end of the war he opened a movement study studio in Manchester. In 1975, this studio, having moved to London, became world famous Laban Center for Movement and Dance.
Modern dance today is extremely diverse. Thank you Rudolf Laban, choreographer, researcher and theorist who worked in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Now even we can only thanks to him. At the same time, it is difficult to understand from the outside what exactly Laban did. He had many schools, but he did not invent any style. He was a dancer, but left no works behind him. His works were banned, while they were completely apolitical. He studied architecture but raised dance stars Mary Wigman And Kurt Yoss. The frame of a huge polyhedron in which people move is strongly associated with the name of Laban. And intricate signs - a system for recording movement.
What do they mean, what was the essence of the work of Rudolf Laban, and why is it still relevant, we asked Hilary Bryan. Hilary - American dancer and choreographer, certified instructor in movement analysis Laban, who came to Kyiv at the invitation Ruban Production ITP Ltd. She told Balletristic how the system came about and why even golfers and construction workers use it. How Laban helps to choreograph and find your individual style in dance.
Looking at Hilary, it's hard not to believe in his contribution. During the conversation, she is constantly on the move. In order to convey his idea, he can casually show the classic grand rond de jambe at his far from ballet age. And in her performance, it looks very special - light, lively and absolutely natural.
Laban said that life is unfinished symphony. And his motion analysis system is not closed, it continues to develop. It changes in the same way as, for example, language: when something new happens in the world, words appear to describe it. So Laban's system becomes more extensive and detailed over time. It is alive, it is used in many areas.
Laban always treated his students as colleagues. Not just taught them - they developed ideas together. And as a result, we created an arsenal of tools that can be taken out into the world and developed in other collaborations.
How did the Laban system originate?
It is difficult to say where the Laban system takes its roots from. He started at a time when everyone experimented. Many things arose spontaneously. Loy Fuller explored movement, light and technical innovation. Dalcroze - music and rhythm through movement. There were many works related to the tone of the body, its internal techniques, expression. Gymnastics developed. And Laban was part of it all.
Only in the late 20s did they begin to separate directions and styles: ethnic dance, modern, free dance, ballet. But they all influenced each other. Even a particularly clear distinction between ballet and modern appeared later. At the beginning of the century, ballet was interested in experiments: Cecchetti, for example, taught Pavlova in front of a huge portrait of Isadora Duncan.
Laban himself was most interested in free expressive dance because it refers to the individuality of a person. He was not worried about the style, but the language of movements and understanding how the body reacts to them. Laban's dance is not normative, it does not tell anyone how to move. He asks the question: what happens when you move?
Why did Laban come up with his system?
One of his goals is to help people return to their bodies. Rudolf Laban lived at the end of the industrial revolution, when many moved to cities and were squeezed by their borders. I must say, people are still wondering: how to help the body feel alive? Someone goes to yoga, someone buys a bike and rides on weekends. Laban, on the other hand, sought to enlighten the body and inspire people to express their individuality through it.
His other goal is to understand how movement works and to put it into words. Music has a theory, literature has a visual art. Theory is a set of tools through which people can communicate on specific topics. But how can we talk about movement?
In pursuit of his goal, he held long classes with his students. Sometimes the whole day was devoted to one movement: to understand what happens to a person when he performs it. This is a study. For example, think about going up and down. How does your body feel? Or more complex: how does the body open and close? And if you combine: what will you feel as you close and move down? As a result, Laban developed a whole vocabulary to talk about how the body changes and moves in space.
architectural thinking
Before taking up the movement, he studied design and architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. One day he was given the task of designing a theater and Laban began working with the actors to create space for them. He was interested in what they needed, and seriously thought about the relationship between artists and space. He really had an architectural mindset. He thought how human body can explore geometric shapes: cube, octahedron, icosahedron, and saw new possibilities in this.
I think architecture is expressive. Any room we enter projects the movement of our body. For example, a room with a high or low ceiling, or going through a wide or narrow door - in each case, we feel differently, and the body reacts differently. But we can also influence the perception of space with our movements. Suppose, thanks to one intention to move up, we can feel the space differently - it will seem to us more. I don't separate expression and movement, it's all one.
Laban icosahedron
Laban built his famous polyhedron just to show how the human body exists in 3-dimensional space. It's like da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, only in an expanded form. An icosahedron is 3 golden rectangles joined together. 12 corners. One plane is vertical (responsible for moving up and down), the other is horizontal (right-left), the third crosses it and gives direction back and forth.
The icosahedron helps to orient the body in space. It is useful as a diagnostic and practical tool: for example, I can understand how to interact with the space around me. I can play with these 12 points and suddenly find that I don't use some of them at all. But why not? Why limit your body instead of expanding its range of possibilities?
Sometimes people perceive the intersecting bars of the icosahedron as a cage. They go inside and feel limited by these 12 points. But that's not the idea. The icosahedron is not a list of rules, but a model by which new possibilities can be revealed. In life, we do not use all 12 points. But in a performance, for example, it is worth using them, expressing something with a partner, an audience. Limiting yourself is not creative.
It also happens differently. I once built an icosahedron at an art festival and people who went into this shape felt that it fits their bodies amazingly. They felt comfortable and very relaxed in it. It gave a sense of balance and peace. One of Laban's former students is still practicing meditation according to this model, performing the most basic movements: up-down, front-back, right-left. People use the icosahedron for a variety of purposes.
Laban schools
Despite the fact that Rudolf Laban was not interested in the rules, he had schools in all major cities Germany. Students even received diplomas. But in schools they taught the principles of movement, proportions, thinking, and not things that need to be repeated. The Laban technique is about how to use expression and imagination in what you do.
Laban was great at working with a lot of people. He created large events so that people from different cities could come together, share ideas and work. The group movement at that time was of interest to the National Socialists. The Nazi Party thought they could use Laban's work, but as they delved deeper, they realized that this was not at all what they needed. Goebbels attended a rehearsal and the schools were closed the next day. The Nazis misunderstood the aspect of the group movement. They wanted a uniform, and that was about individuality.
What is the essence of the Laban system?
Laban's system is very extensive. Space is only one of its parts. Another, for example, is the dynamics of movement. It is about lightness, strength, how we use tension and time, about the mobility of our muscles. The third is about the body itself: how is it arranged? This system is often used in physiotherapy. Movement Productivity: What's Happening? We can talk about our body like an amoeba that is constantly changing its shape. And then, we can combine these systems in any order. Here we are with you. We are sitting - this is the productivity of movement. We sit face to face. We are sitting in the middle. We use the space in front of us. This is already a description of the space. You can analyze how the energy and dynamics change the movement itself: I slowly put handset or throw it away - that's a big difference.
Laban's system seems to me the most complex of all that have developed in the 20th century. Many Western systems do not consider some aspects: space or, for example, dynamics. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether his works have full-fledged analogues.
Who will benefit from Laban's finds?
His tools can be used everywhere. And in the dance, and in the way we drive. Choreographers can use the Laban system a lot different ways I can't even imagine them all. In many programs for choreographers in the USA, Laban is required for study. His system allows you to analyze your work from the outside. It doesn't matter what it's about. You can look at it as a frame and understand what it lacks. For example: “I put the whole piece on a mundane level. But perhaps I should add something on another level.”
You can simply create works based on one or more ideas from the system. improvise with own weight, come up with a duet in tango, using new points in space. Develop your own unique style of movement, even in ballet, even in tap dance.
People who are not associated with dance have the same bodies. They communicate with others different levels expression. And the Laban system is not about dance, but about movement. For example, I know a woman from Seattle who makes a lot of money working the Laban system with golfers. She positions herself as a movement coach and teaches them how to swing the stick correctly. Consider space, tension, body grounding, foot placement, connection with the center in the body. The system helps you move efficiently.
For example, I used this practice with office workers. Most time people sit at the table and do not use their legs. And they get hurt. One can apply Laban's principles in this context. I had a client with a shoulder injury - a construction worker who worked with a hammer. He showed me how he moved and we found that he had lost touch with the center in the body. And this is the source of strength in movement. It turns out that the shoulder took on excess tension. You can’t just hit with a hammer, you need to take into account its weight. In a word, any movement can be considered through the Laban system. I myself, for example, with her help, cured several chronic injuries.
Permission to move
I get the most satisfaction when I realize that I can help people reconnect with their bodies. Give them back their bodies. They had them in childhood, but then they went to school and someone said: sit still, keep your hands at your sides. Now people need permission to listen to their body, a special context. Therefore, someone goes to the gym, someone walks at a certain time.
Laban's system may seem strange only if you think of it in this way. Yoga 40 years ago also seemed strange to everyone, but now what? It all depends on the context and what society decides to consider strange.
Our whole life happens in motion, while we are moving, we exist. Each person during his life strives to know all its foundations and facets. But if life is movement, then human life must be known through movement. Knowledge of the processes to which the work of the body is subject is fundamental for understanding the process of movement, because with the body a person cognizes texture and time. By analyzing the levels, processes and goals of the movement, we thereby learn the world around us in all colors. Thanks to the analysis of movements, a person is able to comprehend the nature of his own being, relationships with other people, reach agreement with himself, with his needs and desires, understand his place in this world.
The motion analysis system was created Rudolf Laban, Czechoslovakian dancer, choreographer and teacher who has mentored many of the great stars of modern dance. R. Laban studied the processes of movement both in modern and folk dances as well as in everyday life.
Biography of R. Laban.
Rudolf Laban was born on December 15, 1879 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Real surname R. Labana - Varalhas. IN early youth Laban often traveled with his father to the Middle East and North America, since his father was a military man and often changed his place of service. These trips became the basis for the study of Eastern and Slavic culture. The study of various dances and cultures became the foundation for the further work of R. Laban.
In 1900, Rudolf left for Paris, where until 1907 he studied at the School of Fine Arts. While at school, he became interested in the basics of dance, drama and design. Together with his troupe, he performed in the famous cabaret "Moulin Rouge" under the pseudonym "Attila de Varalja", and was also a dancer in ballet companies famous opera houses.
The period of study in Paris was full of events in the life of a young dancer, because it was there that he began to study the rituals and traditions associated with movement, and also organized experiments with dance recordings. In addition, Rudolf Laban was engaged in scenery and theatrical costumes worked on architecture.
In 1910, in Munich, Germany, he created a school of "free dance", where Laban was the leader. A few years later he was already the leader dance schools in Hamburg, Zurich and Nuremberg. During the First World War, R. Laban was the head of the Lago Maggiore festival, held in the village of Ascona, located in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Maggiore (hence the name of the festival). It was during the festival that he came up with the idea of natural dance, which would be accessible to everyone, as well as the idea of creating moving choirs. At the same time, he began to conduct his own research in the field of the form of harmony and space. To implement these ideas, Laban decided to build a theater.
Construction own theater succeeded Laban, but soon the theater was destroyed as a result of hostilities. Frustrated, but with an unquenchable desire to realize his plans, Rudolf Laban leaves Ascona, leaves all his affairs in Munich and moves to Zurich, where he also creates own school dance.
The conduct of hostilities did not interfere with the study of the natural nature of dance, the harmony of space and rhythm and the harmony of space. Laban could rightfully be called the great dance reformer, who brought new colors to classical ballet. In 1920, Laban gathered around him like-minded people who worked with him in many summer schools in Vienna and Munich. A few years later, Laban and his team founded the first international troupe, named after the leader of the troupe - “Tanzbuehne Laban” (“Laban Theatre”, other names are “Authentic Gesture Theatre”, “Expressive Dance Theatre”).
In the period 1919-1923, dance schools were founded by Rudolf Laban in Prague, Rome, Hamburg, Vienna, Basel and other major European cities. All schools were united by one common name– “School of Laban”, which in itself already aroused interest in studying in it. Since the creator of the motion analysis system was physically unable to manage the schools located in different cities and countries, each of the schools was run by the best of his students. Later, Laban realized the idea of creating moving choirs, as well as created the performances of Prometheus and Faust, staged dance performances with musical accompaniment and without it (“Death of Agamemnon” (1924), “Titan” (1927), “Night” (1927), as well as on classical music(“Don Juan”, 1925).
In 1928, Laban discovered and proposed for consideration a unique universal recording method dance moves(see fig. 1). With the help of special designation icons, the duration (size of the designation), amplitude (using shading) and direction of movement (shape of designation) were recorded. The designations were read from the bottom up, arranged vertically. Despite the fact that a lot of time has passed since the creation of this method, it has not lost its relevance today and is still used by many choreographers in their work.
Rice. 1. - Method of recording dance movements
The movement analysis system of R. Laban was officially recognized by the Dance Congress in Essen in 1928 after the publication of the best-selling book “Recording of Dance”. In the same year, Laban founded the Dance Recording Society.
However, after Adolf Hitler came to power, the teachings of the choreographer began to be oppressed in every possible way. So, in 1936, R. Laban organized a performance unprecedented for the whole of Germany under open sky, which was to be held simultaneously throughout Germany in different cities of the country. But this performance was not destined to happen due to the arrival at one of the rehearsals of the Chancellor of the Third Reich, Joseph Goebbels, who announced the existence of only one movement in Germany, which is Nazi salute, and therefore the representation should be prohibited. This ban was the last straw of Laban's patience, and he decided to complete his work in Germany and moved to Paris, where he began lecturing at the Sorbonne University.
The last country Laban visited was England. It was here that the choreographer found those the necessary conditions for research and experimentation, which he so lacked in Nazi Germany. In 1938 Laban created the Center for the Art of Dance and the Studio for the Art of Movement. The main attention in his research was paid to the physiological aspect of the movement process. He also lectured on the history of dance and the art of movement. Rudolf Laban died in 1958 in England.
Basic ideas of the method. Throughout his life, the creator of the motion analysis system was convinced that the modern industrial society is under the influence of meaningless physical limitations, and dance as an element of dance movement therapy is able to remove these limitations. Differentiating aspects of movement contributes to deeper observation and the formation of human perception.
Movement can give a person strength and fearlessness. R. Laban was convinced of this by watching the warlike dances of the tribes, when, with the help of dances, the warriors entered into ecstasy and increased their level of aggression. As a result of the war, they fell into a deep hypnotic state and were able to withstand any kind of pain without serious consequences.
Laban concluded that the movement had a direct impact on internal state of a person, and how a person moves reflects his current internal state. For example, if a person moves slowly and carelessly, then he experiences a feeling of fear. However, there is also Feedback- the internal state of a person can be changed by changing the movements. If an insecure person straightens his shoulders, straightens his posture and begins to move with a wide step, he will gain confidence in his own abilities.
The analysis of human movements involves knowledge of the specific purpose of the movement. To do this, you should understand why a person moves in principle. So, the person is moving:
- To perform some action (having a specific goal);
- For expression (for the purpose of manifestation of forms of feeling);
– For understanding (through experience and thoughts);
- In dance (to express previously unexpressed emotions).
A person is able to move not only consciously, but also unconsciously. Unconscious movements (called “shadow” by Laban) mean the performance of gestures of which the person is not aware, performed without the use of conscious will, but at the same time expressing the person’s internal attitude to the subject.
Studying human movements, Laban noticed the presence of a stable architecture in the vertical and horizontal parts of the skeleton, as well as the three-dimensionality of the supports when the person correctly performed the movements. He discovered the presence of a symmetrical body structure in relation to the center of the head and body: each specific organ (mouth, nose, etc.) is located in the center, while paired organs are located symmetrically on each side of the human body. A balanced structure keeps the human body in balance.
Laban divided the human body into 3 main parts:
1. Head - the area of the location of the sense organs, which is responsible for psychological and mental activity;
2. The trunk is an important part of the body, in which all the processes associated with digestion, purification, and reproductive activity take place.
3. Limbs (legs and arms) - a part of the body, mainly responsible for movement and gestures. However, movement is not the only function of the limbs.
So, the legs turn the body, jump, maintain balance, carry weight. Hands wave, show, hold, etc.
The process of motion analysis begins by clarifying the following key points:
1. Where does the movement take place;
2. Why is there a movement;
3. How does the movement occur;
4. What are the movement restrictions.
Based on this, we can conclude that there are four motor parameters by which the movement is analyzed - time, space, dynamics and flow. Each of the parameters is a scale with two poles.
Where. The body is always visible, it moves in space. Since movement is change, space must be seen as the site of change.
Orientation. The body is able to operate within a three-dimensional space, called by Laban the "kinesphere", denoting the part of space that can be accessed by a person. Within the limits of the kinesphere, the body can occupy either an insignificant space, or expand up to the periphery of the kinesphere. These changes determine the range of modified forms, and Laban identified the main factors that characterize the changes in these forms:
1. Dimension - depth, width and height make it possible to determine the movement that occurs up and down, right and left, or back and forth.
2. Proximity - a factor indicating the place in which movement occurs in relation to the body (close or far).
3. Planes. Laban identified three main planes according to dimensions: a plane parallel to the floor (“table plane”), a plane parallel to the wall (“door plane”), and a vertically elongated plane (“wheel plane”).
4. Central / peripheral direction. It is considered in relation to the center - either the movement occurs towards the body, or away from the body.
5. Orientation of space. There are two options - either directional movement (performed along the shortest of the paths), or non-directional (flexibility is allowed and an indirect path is chosen).
R. Laban's motion analysis is an extremely accurate, but very complex system, the correct implementation of which requires a fairly long accumulation of special knowledge and observation skills.
In the developed system, the main role is played by two concepts - the system of form-efforts and the kinesphere. For a correct representation of the kinesphere, Laban suggests imagining a cube covering the entire human body (see Fig. 2). This space will be a personal zone of a person, as if a continuation of his body. Within the framework of this space, a person performs all movements with limbs, head and torso. If someone tries to invade a person’s personal space, this will instantly cause him discomfort. Depending on the size, three main types of kinespheres are distinguished - a small kinesphere (it is a circle around the body, with a diameter of an elbow), an average kinesphere (a diameter of outstretched hand human) and a large kinesphere (with a diameter of an outstretched leg). It should be noted that the diameters of these kinespheres are not constant and depend on the person and the situation in which he is. The main goal of the movement analysis method in working with kinespheres is to teach a person to use each of the diameters of the kinespheres depending on the situation.
Rice. 2. - Kinesphere
The system of "efforts - forms". In Laban's movement analysis system, the concept of "effort" does not necessarily mean the presence of tension. Rather, it means the presence of movement and energy expressed in movement. At the same time, the quality of this movement is considered. So, one person can raise his hand easily and confidently, and the other slowly and with tension.
Thus, movement in the Laban system means the dynamic properties of the process of movement and the ratio of the four main physical characteristics of energy: freedom of flow, flow strength, flow time and flow direction. With each choice of a person in favor of this or that action, the characteristics of energy change, whether the person is aware of it or not. If a person is accustomed to detailed self-control, this will slow down the flow time, if a person is too self-confident, this will affect the strength of the flow in the direction of its increase. Even the simplest movements, such as walking, are made up of dynamic combinations of bound and free flow.
One of the goals of movement analysis is to understand the features of these movement characteristics and enrich the vocabulary “ dancing man". To do this, in the process of analyzing movements, all four parameters of the applied effort are first worked out, after which these efforts are considered taking into account the feelings and relationships between them.
For the analysis of movements, each of the categories of movement (weight, time, flow, space) is a kind of life theme personality. Space means how significant role a person plays in this life, how he feels his space and invades the space of other people. Time - at what rhythm of life a person feels more confident, how he can influence the existing rhythm of life. Weight - how well a person feels their own weight, how it relates to the connection with the earth, etc. Flow - how much a person can maintain a certain style of movement, how he can follow his goal.
For therapeutic purposes, it is very important to pay attention to the following points when doing motion analysis:
1. The ratio of various parameters and the presence of repetitive qualities. For example, the movement of the arms almost always begins with the movement of the hands.
2. Unused areas, ratio and quality. Movement only in rare cases passes between the shoulders.
3. Special moves average static context, the ratio of parameters.
Having clarified these points, the therapist can work with them through the development of movement history and associations, while continuing to work on the differentiation of movement analysis.
