Laban Movement Analysis

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Laban is a way and language for interpreting, describing, visualizing and notating all ways of
human movement. Created by Rudolf Laban, LMA draws on his theories of effort and shape to
describe, interpret and document human movement. Used as a tool by dancers, athletes, physical
and occupational therapists, it is one of the most widely used systems of human movement
analysis.

Extended by the work of Irmgard Bartenieff, the system is known also as Laban/Bartenieff
Movement Analysis or Laban Movement Studies and comprises:

 Laban Movement Analysis

 Anatomy and Kinesiology
 Bartenieff Fundamentals (sm)
 Labanotation

Qualified practitioners are known as "Certified Movement Analysts" (CMAs) or "Certified

Laban Movement Analysts" (CLMAs).

On a stylistic note, terms which have specific meaning in the system are typically capitalized.
Thus there is a difference between "strong weight effort" and "Strong Weight Effort". The
former is an English phrase with a variety of connotations. The latter is LMA specific vocabulary
referring to one of the two configurations of Weight Effort, a qualitative category of movement
expression.

Contents
[hide]
  1 Laban Movement Analysis
o 1.1 Body
o 1.2 Effort
o 1.3 Shape
o 1.4 Space
 2 Anatomy and kinesiology
 3 Labanotation
 4 Bartenieff Fundamentals(sm)
 5 Centers
 6 Further reading
 7 See also
 8 Notes and references
 9 External links

[edit] Laban Movement Analysis

Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) is an outgrowth of Laban's theories that comprises four main
categories: body, effort, shape, and space. LMA/BF is the integrated study of Laban and Irmgard
Bartenieff's embodiment of his theories.

[edit] Body

The body category describes structural and physical characteristics of the human body while
moving. This category is responsible for describing which BODY parts are moving, which parts
are connected, which parts are influenced by others, and general statements about body
organization. The majority of this category's work was not developed by Laban himself, but
developed by his student/collaborator Irmgard Bartenieff, the founder of the Laban/Bartenieff
Institute in NYC, through the "Bartenieff Fundamentals" (sm). The Body category, as well as the
other categories, continue to be further developed through the work of numerous CMAs, and
applied to ever extending fields, such as: fitness, somatic therapies, rehabilitation, dance
technique, and more.

Several subcategories of Body are:

 Initiation of movement starting from specific bodies;

 Connection of different bodies to each other;
 Sequencing of movement between parts of the body; and
 Patterns of body organization and connectivity, called "Patterns of Total Body Square
Connectivity", "Developmental Hyper Movement Patterns", or "Neuromuscular Shape-
Shifting Patterns".

[edit] Effort
Effort, or what Laban sometimes described as dynamics, is a system for understanding the more
subtle characteristics about the way a movement is done with respect to inner intention. The
difference between punching someone in anger and reaching for a glass is slight in terms of body
organization - both rely on extension of the arm. The attention to the strength of the movement,
the control of the movement and the timing of the movement are very different. Effort has four
subcategories, each of which has two opposite polarities.

 Space: Direct / Indirect

 Weight: Strong / Light
 Time: Sudden (or Quick) / Sustained
 Flow: Bound / Free

Laban Effort graph

Laban named the combination of the first three categories (Space, Weight, and Time) the Effort
Actions, or Action Drive. The eight combinations are descriptively named Float, Punch(Thrust),
Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring, Flick, and Press. The Action Efforts have been used extensively in
some acting schools to train the ability to change quickly between physical manifestations of
emotion.

Flow, on the other hand, is responsible for the continuousness or ongoingness of motions.
Without any Flow Effort, movement must be contained in a single initiation and action, which is
why there are specific names for the Flow-less Action configurations of Effort. In general it is
very difficult to remove Flow from much movement, and so a full analysis of Effort will
typically need to go beyond the Effort Actions.

[edit] Shape

While the Body category primarily develops connections within the body and the body/space
intent, the way the body changes shape during movement is further experienced and analyzed
through the Shape category. It is important to remember that all categories are related, and Shape
is often an integrating factor for combining the categories into meaningful movement.
There are several subcategories in Shape:

 "Shape Forms" describe static shapes that the body takes, such as Wall-like, Ball-like,
and Pin-like.
 "Modes of Shape Change" describe the way the body is interacting with and the
relationship the body has to the environment. There are three Modes of Shape Change:
o Shape Flow: Representing a relationship of the body to itself. This could be
amoebic movement or could be mundane habitual actions, like shrugging,
shivering, rubbing an injured shoulder, etc.
o Directional: Representing a relationship where the body is directed toward some
part of the environment. It is divided further into Spoke-like (punching, pointing,
etc.) and Arc-like (swinging a tennis racket, painting a fence)
o Carving: Representing a relationship where the body is actively and three
dimensionally interacting with the volume of the environment. Examples include
kneading bread dough, wringing out a towel, avoiding laser-beams or miming the
shape of an imaginary object. In some cases, and historically, this is referred to as
Shaping, though many practitioners feel that all three Modes of Shape Change are
"shaping" in some way, and that the term is thus ambiguous and overloaded.
 "Shape Qualities" describe the way the body is changing (in an active way) toward some
point in space. In the simplest form, this describes whether the body is currently Opening
(growing larger with more extension) or Closing (growing smaller with more flexion).
There are more specific terms - Rising, Sinking, Spreading, Enclosing, Advancing, and
Retreating, which refer to specific dimensions of spatial orientations.
 "Shape Flow Support" describes the way the torso (primarily) can change in shape to
support movements in the rest of the body. It is often referred to as something which is
present or absent, though there are more refined descriptors.

The majority of the Shape category was not developed during Laban's life, but added later by his
followers. Warren Lamb was instrumental in creating a significant amount of the theoretical
structure for understanding this category.

[edit] Space

One of Laban's primary contributions to Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) are his theories of
Space. This category involves motion in connection with the environment, and with spatial
patterns, pathways, and lines of spatial tension. Laban described a complex system of geometry
based on crystalline forms, Platonic solids, and the structure of the human body. He felt that
there were ways of organizing and moving in space that were specifically harmonious, in the
same sense as music can be harmonious. Some combinations and organizations were more
theoretically and aesthetically pleasing. As with music, Space Harmony sometimes takes the
form of set 'scales' of movement within geometric forms. These scales can be practised in order
to refine the range of movement and reveal individual movement preferences. The abstract and
theoretical depth of this part of the system is often considered to be much greater than the rest of
the system. In practical terms, there is much of the Space category that does not specifically
contribute to the ideas of Space Harmony.
This category also describes and notates choices which refer specifically to space, paying
attention to:

 Kinesphere: the area that the body is moving within and how the mover is paying
attention to it.
 Spatial Intention: the directions or points in space that the mover is identifying or using.
 Geometrical observations of where the movement is being done, in terms of emphasis of
directions, places in space, planar movement, etc.

The Space category is currently under continuing development, more so since exploration of
non-Euclidian geometry and physics has evolved.

The applications of LMA/BF, originally directed toward the performing arts, have been
spreading to many and new exciting fields, such as peace studies, anthropology, business
consulting, leadership development, psychotherapy, health & wellness, and more.

[edit] Anatomy and kinesiology

The system involves no departure whatsoever from conventional anatomy and kinesiology.

[edit] Labanotation
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (October 2007)

Labanotation - also called Kinetography in Europe and South America - uses abstract symbols to
define the:

 Direction of the movement

 Part of the body doing the movement
 Level of the movement
 Length of time it takes to do the movement[1]

The shapes of the symbols indicate nine different directions in space and the shading of the
symbol specifies the level of the movement.

Labanotation is a record of how you move so that you can do the same thing again and again.
The symbols are placed on a vertical staff, the horizontal dimension of the staff represents the
symmetry of the body, and the vertical dimension time. The location of the symbol on the staff
defines the body part it represents. The centre line of the staff represents the centre line of the
body, symbols on the right represent the right side of the body, symbols on the left, the left side.

The staff is read from bottom to top and the length of a symbol defines the duration of the
movement. Drawing on western music notation, Labannotation uses bar lines to mark time
measures and double bar lines at the start and end of the movement score. The starting position
of the dancer can be given before the double bar lines at the start of the score.

Spatial distance, spatial relationships, transference of weight, centre of weight, jumps, turns,
body parts, paths, and floor plans can all be notated by specific symbols.

Although the abstract symbols represent Laban's work on shape, Laban's theories of effort (see
Laban Movement Analysis) can also be represented in Labanotation. The four effort categories
are:

 Space: Direct / Indirect

 Weight: Strong / Light
 Time: Sudden / Sustained
 Flow: Bound / Free

and they appear in the notation as an effort graph:

Laban effort graph

The basic difference between Kinetography Laban and Labanotation is how the system is
perceived:

 Those practicing Kinetography Laban (International Council of Kinetography Laban)

believe that the system is based on spatial analysis.
 Those practicing Labanotation (The Dance Notation Bureau) believe that the system was
developed to record body movement.

It is this difference that explains the differing interpretations of the notation by the two groups.

Labanotation is used in a variety of settings including Laban Movement Analysis, dance

notation, documentation and reconstruction, Movement analysis, Robotics, Human movement
simulation and Human movement synthesis.

Motif Description is a subset of Labanotation that depicts the overall structure or essential
elements of a movement sequence.
[edit] Bartenieff Fundamentals(sm)
Bartenieff Fundamentals(sm) are an extension of LMA originally developed by Irmgard
Bartenieff , the Founder of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies - LIMS NYC,
who trained with Laban before moving to the USA and becoming a physiotherapist and one of
the founding members of the American Dance Therapy Association.

[edit] Centers
A number of centers exist around the world, dedicated to Laban's work. Most offer certification
programs. See the individual websites for more details:

 The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (New York): LIMS NYC was
established by Irmgard Bartenieff in 1978 as an organization for Laban & Bartenieff
movement studies in all walks of life and offers the title of CMA (Certified Movement
Analyst) through graduate level Certification Programs
 Integrated Movement Studies (California): Certification programs available in Laban
Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals in various through-the-year and
intensive formats
 Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (London)

[edit] Further reading

 Newlove, J. & Dalby, J. (2005) Laban for All, Nick Hern Books, London. ISBN 978-
1854597250
 Newlove, J. (1993) Laban for Actors and Dancers: Putting Laban's Movement Theory
into Practice, Nick Hern Books, London. ISBN 978-1854591609

[edit] See also

Dance portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Labanotation

 Benesh Movement Notation

 Choreography
 Dance notation
 Dance Notation Bureau
 Dance score
 Lea Anderson
  Motif description
 Rudolf Laban

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ "Handbook for Laban Movement Analysis" Written and Compiled by Janis Pforsich.
copywrite Janis Pforsich 1977

[edit] External links

 Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies - LIMS
 Integrated Movement Studies (Laban/Bartenieff)
 Laban/Bartenieff & Somatic Studies Canada (LSSC)
 Laban/Bartenieff & Somatic Studies International (LSSI)
 Laban Analyses.org Laban analysis and Labanotation searchable database
 Laban Lab (learn the basics of Labanotation)
 Introduction to Labanotation
 Motif Description
 Language of Dance Adaptation of Motif Description
 International Council of Kinetography Laban
 LED and LINTER - a UNIX and X11 mini-editor and interpreter for Labanotation
 Calaban - AutoCAD Labanotation editor for Microsoft Windows
 Motif Notation