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The language for describing human movement, called Laban Movement Analysis, was created by Rudolf Laban (c. 1879-1958), a pioneer in movement research. As Laban was developing a way to write about human movement, he uncovered basic principles of form, sequence, and dynamics. These principles, and the symbols through which they are represented, make it possible to describe, analyze, and record human motion.
Laban Movement Analysis is a way to synthesize experience, to see movement as the common denominator of behavior in a variety of artistic and scientific contexts. As the human body moves through space dynamically, in constantly changing patterns: dance, sports, work, quiet conversation, whatever the activity, the body is never still. This analysis is the most extensive framework for understanding movement as communication.
Laban Movement Analysis breaks down the scope of movement possibilities into basic elements which generate movement or describe movement. This provides a vehicle for understanding movement and for developing a method for movement efficiency and expressiveness. Each human being combines movement factors in his/her own unique way and organizes them to create sequences of movement and relationships within the body and the body with the mind, that reveal personal, psychological, artistic, and cultural meaning.
Using Laban Movement training, we can:
This approach uses the patterns of radial, head-tail, left-right, upper & lower, and diagonal connectivity. With those patterns in mind, it looks at the body's attitude, relative rates of activity of its parts, and the continuity of sequencing. The body's attitude is further broken down into the feeling-tone, the texture, the energy of movement, using effort qualities and effort elements. These qualities and elements combine to form the phrases which express a person's relationship to him/herself, to other people, and to the world at large.
Laban Movement Analysis is the tool which enables Annelies Smith, a registered Somatic Movement Therapy Training and Body-Mind Centering practitioner, to assess and work with people who face difficulties with their body mechanics, embodiment, and movement for a variety of reasons.
Annelies Smith