Vaslav Nijinsky in Afternoon of a Faun, Diaghilev's Russian Ballet, Paris, 1912
In classical ballet, focused on self-preservation, the role of choreographic notation is simple and clear, but Theater. interested in the adventures of notation in “non-ballet”
Attempts to record dance in the same way as music, so that anyone familiar with choreographic literacy could read, evaluate and perform what was written, have been known since the end of the 15th century. Choreographers saw here a way to convey their creations to the widest possible audience and preserve them intact for posterity; theaters and dancers were a practical way to cut costs by reducing to the necessary minimum the presence of a choreographer during production or a dance teacher during the preparation of performances.
Notation in ballet
The heyday of choreographic notation dates back to France XVIII centuries, and this is easy to explain, given the tradition of magnificent celebrations and the passion for systematization in all spheres of art. In 1700, Raoul-Auger Feuillet's treatise “Chorégraphie”, that is, literally “recording of a dance,” was published. Although Feillet was accused of stealing the intellectual property of the dancer Beauchamp, the very fate of his system reflects the high status of dance at the French court: it went through many reprints, Feillet’s students and imitators in France, Spain, and England in their treatises clarified and detailed the original harmonious structure, the foundations of which were are also presented in Diderot's Encyclopedia. The Feillet system visually reflected the already existing dance dictionary. It was necessary to know ballet terms in order to use the system (a notation system developed by another dancer, Favier, independent of terminology, given in the same Encyclopedia, was not in practical use). Around 1780, the last book on the Feuillet system was published (Malpieu's Treatise on the Art of Dance); after the Great French Revolution, no more appeared: the system became a thing of the past along with the court culture that gave birth to it.
The theoretical thought of 19th century choreographers linked the invention of a new, more advanced notation system with in-depth study anatomy and patterns of movement. Carlo Blasis wrote about this in his treatise of 1820, and already in 1831–1832 the French-English teacher Edward Elcock Teleur not only entered into an argument with the generally accepted French classification of positions and movements, but also proposed a system of notation, for the understanding of which knowledge of the terminology was optional. Another thing is that in the 19th century, notation lost its practical appeal, because accuracy (authenticity) of both recording and reproduction ceased to be an encouraged value. The ballet was distributed through plagiarism: choreographers came to the Paris premiere, memorized the production with spectacular dances and staged it, as they remembered, at their place of work. For example, “Pas de trois pour M. Albert” to the music of Carafa di Cobrano, added in 1828 to the ballet “Paul and Virginia” for the first dancer Albert, came from the Paris Opera to Copenhagen, becoming part of Bournonville’s early ballet “The Soldier and peasant" (1829), and to Moscow, where these notes were signed as the property of the dancer Richard Sr. Choreography was recognized as intellectual property only in 1862 at the trial of Jules Perrot against Marius Petipa (Petipa staged the dance created by Perrot without his permission and name). At this trial, interestingly, lawyer Perrault brought in as a witness and expert Arthur Saint-Leon, a multi-talented choreographer, dancer, musician and author of the notation system he outlined in the book “Stenochoreography” (1852). The court was interested in the testimony of Saint-Leon as a professional and an eyewitness who had been in St. Petersburg. There was, of course, no talk of notation as a document proving authorship. In practical terms, it was easier and faster for Saint-Leon’s colleagues (no matter whether they composed their own or transferred other people’s ballets) to write names or abbreviations of movements over the notes, explaining them with drawings and some special signs, as did the Danish classic August Bournonville or Henri Justaman, who settled in Cologne, former choreographer of the theaters of Lyon, Brussels and Paris.
Marius Petipa did the same thing, chief choreographer Imperial theaters from 1869 to 1903. Petipa was interested in notation systems; sheets from Feillet’s treatise were preserved in his archive, but for him, as he said, it was easier to compose anew than to wait for the deciphering of the recorded dance. In the 1890s, the elderly master staged ballets that became undisputed classics: “The Sleeping Beauty” (1890), “ Swan Lake"(1895, together with Lev Ivanov) and "Raymonda" (1898). But in these years, the problem of maintaining in order the expanded ballet economy (renewals, introductions, dances in operas, etc.) arose much more acutely than before, which became increasingly difficult to manage for a middle-aged and not very young person. healthy person. Moreover, Petipa’s own ballets, given his pride and authority, had to be restored with the greatest possible accuracy. In attempts to apply to Petipa's works the same methods that he himself used in relation to the works of other choreographers, he saw personal resentment and settling scores on the part of the management, as exemplified by the caustic reviews in his memoirs about the revivals of his Don Quixote in Moscow (1900). ) and St. Petersburg (1902), carried out by Alexander Gorsky.
This, apparently, explains the interest with which the management of the Imperial Theaters in the early 1890s reacted to “one talented invention” (the words of theater official Pavel Pchelnikov) - a dance recording system proposed by the young corps de ballet dancer Vladimir Stepanov. “While still a student at the Imperial St. Petersburg Theater School, he more than once dwelled on the idea of why human speech and sounds have ways of being recorded, but movements do not,” wrote Gorsky. - Developing this idea and analyzing the imaginary process of the emergence of the alphabet and musical notes, he decided to compile the alphabet of movements of the human body, basing it on anatomical data, under the guidance of Professor Lesgaft, and developing it in Paris, according to the instructions of Professor Charcot" [Gorsky A. A. Table of signs for recording movements of the human body according to the system of the Artist of the Imperial S.‑ St. Petersburg Theaters V. I. Stepanov. St. Petersburg, . P. 3–4].
Stepanov's system embodied the dream of a choreographic recording similar to a musical one. The type of recording - three staves, similar to musical ones: the lower one for recording the movements of the legs, the middle one - the arms and the upper one - the head and body - resembled some notations bell ringing(and perhaps he was prompted by them). Notes and additional signs indicated body positions, thus the system did not depend on terminology. It was approved for use by a commission of choreographers and leading artists. Probably, if Stepanov had invented some other, more traditional system, the management of the Imperial Theaters would also have approved of it. One way or another, thanks to the assistance of the administration, choreographic notation was introduced into the Imperial curriculum for the first time in history. theater school. A remuneration was also established for recording ballets in the theater, which created the conditions for its professional development.
Exercise No. 111 from the book “Choreography” compiled by Alexander Gorsky. Reading examples." Animation using choreographic notation – Sergey Konaev
From Stepanov to the Nijinskys
What, however, does this have to do with free dance in all its forms, with what is easiest to define by contradiction: with everything that is not ballet?
Stepanov’s system is outlined in the book “Alphabet des mouvements du corps humain: Essai d’enregistrement des mouvements du corps humain au moyen des signes musicaux.” It was published in 1892 by French and is practically unknown in Russia. The most striking thing in it is the preface, in which only one paragraph is devoted to the Imperial Ballet itself, where Stepanov served and which provided organizational support for his quest. Stepanov is looking for a "rigorous method of recording movement" to help "the artist create an impeccable theory of choreography for the development ballet art, a theory that would allow one to navigate the countless movements of the body, which would establish the laws of harmony of movements."
This set of movements has no hierarchy; they are equal and equally important for the notator-researcher. Recording the dances of Marius Petipa is as interesting for Stepanov as trying to express in writing the plasticity of a mentally ill person, to find a formula for her movements: “Hands imitate playing a drum, the girl beats on the floor at regular intervals, as if she were beating time; at the same time the head turns quickly from left to right.”
In short texts by Stepanov and Gorsky (he taught the system after Stepanov’s premature death and before his transfer to Moscow in 1900), the whole range of ideas is given, the development of which Rudolf von Laban, the founder of the Ausdruckstanz, the teacher of the largest choreographers and artists of this direction: Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss, Sigurd Leeder and others. In his theory of the laws of movements there is a sense of dance as the highest art, which cannot do without “dance writing”: the preservation of monuments of choreography is an indispensable guarantee of its prosperity and development. Laban is close to the idea of a choreographer composing a dance score in the same way as a composer does, and the artists, like orchestra musicians, learning it from notation.
Stepanov's notation did not become a mass hobby in theater school. Bronislava Nijinska wrote: “Since 1900, when I entered the Imperial Petrograd Theater School, I have seen only two people who were interested in and put a lot of work into “grafting” and the desire to leave several ballets of M. I. Petipa recorded. These were N.G. Sergeev and A.I. Chekrygin (unfortunately, they did not take into account Fokine’s ballets, not recognizing them as art, and perhaps not having the means to record movements that were so different from the previous conventional “pas”).” [Nizhinskaya B.F. School and Theater of Movements. // Mnemosyne. Vol. 6. M., 2014. P. 385]. Moreover, from school there came a skeptical attitude towards notation from Fyodor Lopukhov, an avant-garde artist and experimenter of the 1920-1930s. His sister Lydia, a famous ballerina who danced with Diaghilev, laughingly called these lessons “kabalistics.”
On the other hand, it was from the school course, from the manual by A. A. Gorsky “Table of signs for recording movements of the human body according to the system of V. I. Stepanov” that Vaslav Nijinsky learned about notation systems, for whom improving the system became the moment of self-determination as a choreographer. The accuracy of recording and performing dance was a sacred thing for the creator of “The Afternoon of a Faun” (1912) and “The Rite of Spring” (1913), with which they now usually begin conversations about a new direction of dance. This explains, in part, the unprecedented number of rehearsals that Nijinsky required to learn his pieces. Organizationally, this was an unbearable burden for a touring enterprise, which in essence was Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet, but in the logic of creating a mystery that is designed to change and transform its viewer, in the logic of immersion in ritual, it was necessary. Nijinsky forbade the dancers from performing ballet exercises at the rehearsal of The Rite of Spring, declaring that he “physically could no longer see old-school dances,” but notation remained for him an experience that needed to be developed and not discarded. Not just a practical tool, but one that will preserve his creations in their sacred immutability. Characteristically, he did not leave a key to his notation, and only one of the complete notes is known: in 1915, Nijinsky, interned by the authorities of Austria-Hungary, wrote “ Afternoon rest faun." When the manuscript was discovered, it took Anne Hutchinson Guest many years to decipher it.
His brother's views and hobbies had a huge influence on Bronislava Nijinska. When in 1918-1919, simultaneously with Laban and independently of him, in her Kyiv studio, Nijinska developed a program for educating a new person (“School and Theater of Movements”), because “only a strong spiritually developed person can create,” Stepanov’s notation was a mandatory point of this program , a guide, a means of preserving dance, helping to navigate the laws of movement and consciously build new ones: “Movement should be used like drawing, paint. All colors are beautiful, all lines are beautiful. What you need to identify<…>, then we must take it from accumulated movements or newly seen ones,” “there are no ugly movements, nothing in school should be denied, every movement must be “accumulated,” be able to master it, and it will always be necessary for something whole.”
In Nijinska’s unfinished plans and statements that have not been formalized into a coherent system, one of the constant motives, like Laban’s, is the demand to remove dance from subordination to music, which also cannot be achieved without choreographic notation: “Even if musical scores are now written after many conversations with the choreographer and artist, yet neither the choreographer nor the composer can be satisfied with each other. It’s another matter if the choreographic score could be understood - the music would be written for a ready-made creation, and then only for the first time would the composer-choreographer see himself. There would be no violence against oneself when applied to already written music. One would think that then music in choreography would be reduced to some kind of working situation? This is wrong. With a ready-made choreographic score, it would be easier to criticize; the composer-musician could point out the weak points, in his opinion, in the choreographic score, and together with the composer-choreographer and artist they would come to the highest understanding of each other and therefore to the creation of integral works.” .
Laban system
Rudolf von Laban (1879–1958), the founder and theorist of "expressive" dance, believed that "the cathedral of the future is a moving temple, built from dances that are prayers." Hungarian by birth, Laban spent his childhood in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where his father was governor. Laban's biographers have no doubt that his ideas about the reunification of man with nature and the cosmos through dance arose from the impression of the dance rituals of Bosnian villages. Like his Russian contemporaries, Laban dreamed of dance writing, which would allow choreography, like other arts, to preserve and accumulate its treasures, movements different types and forms. For him this accumulation was imbued with mystical meaning, because it contributed to the coming transformation of humanity. But also analytical, because it is impossible to teach a person (each person, and not a group of selected dancers) self-knowledge in dance, without knowing these patterns and without having the means to convey knowledge to the masses, who, united in crowded “moving choirs”, could rush towards achieving highest goal. Possessing a systematic mindset, broad education and perseverance, Laban developed his theory for many years.
His revolutionary discovery, made during the First World War in Switzerland, in the colony of idealists, seekers and vegetarians Monte Verita, was the kinesphere: a three-dimensional figure of 20 faces and 12 spatial directions (icosahedron), formed by all possible positions of elongated human limbs and with a single center . Within this icosahedron, Laban identifies a “sequence of movements” like musical scales: “This three-dimensional figure, more complex than that which reflects classical dance (an octahedron of eight faces and six spatial directions), allows us to embrace the entire integrity of forms human movement and best represent unstable spatial forms, such as diagonals, curvatures and angles. By combining the study of space with the concept of dynamics, Rudolf von Laban also makes it possible to consider movement as an existential integrity rather than a linear unfolding. He breaks with the Cartesian tradition of separating gesture and expression. With the kinesphere, a different quality of movement arises, capable of reflecting new relations of force in space (fall, fracture, vortex) and emphasizing the density of gestures,” writes French dance historian of the 1920s-1930s Laura Guilbert
Modern dance was born out of its founding father's desire for harmony - in contrast to the sad circumstances of world war and personal life: Laban was absolutely alone at that time, almost all of his students had left Monte Verita, so the only one on whom he could test his theories was Mary Wigman, who recalled: “It was at this time that Laban began to work intensively on his dance notation. Since no one was there, I became a mostly obedient and sometimes stubborn victim of his theoretical research.” Every morning Laban knocked on her door, exclaiming: “The choreographer is coming.” He laid out “papers covered with hastily scribbled notes and signs, from crosses to thin human figures and again crosses, stars and curves,” and the difficult collaborative work began. “The result of this hard struggle was the development of his movement scales (Schwungskalen). The first of these scales consisted of five different pendulum movements leading in a spiral from bottom to top. The organic combination of these spiraling directions and their natural three-dimensional properties led to perfect harmony. The various movements not only occurred effortlessly from one another, they seemed to be born from one another. To indicate their dynamic value, he gave them names - pride, joy, anger, etc.<…>Each movement had to be done again and again before it could be mastered, analyzed, transposed and transformed into an adequate sign.<нотации>. I have always had a clear sense of rhythm and dynamics, and my belief in “living” rather than just going through a movement was strong. So my personal approach to expression and reaction was as torture for Laban as his tireless attempts to achieve objectivity of movement were for me.” Laban flew into a rage at Wigman’s attempts to perform the “anger” movement in her own way. He called Wigman a clown, a grotesque dancer, and reproached her for a complete lack of harmony, arguing that the movement of “anger” is anger in itself, without any individual interpretation.
Laban's notation was formed into a system in the 1920s, after he moved to Germany. This was facilitated by the expansion of the business and the strengthening of practical needs - moving choirs and dance schools of students and supporters of Laban were established throughout Germany. The kinetography, substantiated in the chapter “Manual for Recording” (“Schriftanleitungen”) of Laban’s book “Choreographie” (1926), was officially presented in 1928 at the Second German Dance Congress in Essen and became the fruit of the collective efforts of Laban and his followers: Dusi Bereska, Sigurd Leeder, Kurt Jooss and Albrecht Knuss. In addition to the term "kinetography", two others were also used: dance recording (Tanzschrift) and dance recording (Schrifttanz). "While the 'dance record' is seen as a means of documenting and preserving dance, the dance record should facilitate the process of creating the dance composition itself." According to Laban, “the ultimate artistic goal of cinematography is not the recording of dance, but the recording of dance,” points out Vera Maletic in her book on Laban’s notation “Body, Space, Expression.”
The ideas of cinematography, combined with the cult of mass celebrations and spectacles that reigned in Germany in the 1920-1930s, came to fruition on a scale that Stepanov and Gorsky could not have dreamed of. They assumed that the choreographer would simply compose the dance score, and the artists would learn it in their parts. Laban notation was gradually transformed from a way of self-knowledge and collective experience in dance into an instrument of political influence. In 1931, Laban's student Martin Gleissner, a supporter of the Social Democrats and the concept of "dance for all", worked for eight months preparing the choral play "Red Song", presented in Berlin at the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the German Workers' Singers' League: "Thanks to notation he did not need a single rehearsal, except the dress rehearsal, to stage the finale of a spectacle with a thousand participants,” writes Laura Guilbert. Gleisner, who had Jewish roots, fled Germany with the rise of the Nazis, who initially encouraged moving choirs. In 1936, as part of the Olympic celebrations, Laban prepared a choir game for two thousand participants, “From spring wind and new joy" ("Vom Tauwind und der neuen Freude"), the purpose of which was to demonstrate the German spirit. The game was learned by the participants - some of whom were qualified dancers, some of whom were amateurs - from scores. But while approving notation as a drill tool, the Nazi state, represented by the Minister of Propaganda, was wary of the intellectual nature of Laban’s choreography ( state artist had to appeal to feelings). As a result, he was suspended from training Olympic Games, choral playing was banned, and a year later Laban was accused of containing “Eastern Masonic elements” in his theory and notation. He was forced to leave Germany.
But at the same time in 1941 in educational program for teachers-mentors of mass dance in Germany, compiled by Rosalie Chladek, Dorothea Günther, Jutta Klamt, Lotte Wernicke, Mary Wigman and Gustav Fischer-Klimt, the theory of National Socialism and folklore dance coexisted with the same notation and choral dance.
Beginning in the 1940s, thanks to the energetic work of Anne Hutchinson Guest, a student of Sigurd Leeder and founder of the Dance Notation Bureau in New York (1940), Laban notation in dance world began to be perceived mainly as a way to preserve heritage. In 1955, she had an influential competitor - musician Rudolf Benes and Sadler's Wells dancer Joan Benes introduced their notation system, which eventually became the official notation system of the Royal Ballet. Despite a number of practical properties that make recording in this system more compact and faster, it did not revolutionize dance theory, and the Benes Institute of Choreology from its very foundation in 1962 was rather a purely English institution for the preservation of heritage.
From Laban to Forsyth
Laban's theory continued to be part of the constant thinking of those architects of modern dance who based their texts on spatial harmony. “Dance has a divine origin and therefore it is impossible to try to explain it - it defies explanation. But we can understand his essence if we devote our whole lives to love him and obey the rules dictated by him,” said Merce Cunningham. In 1968, when no 3D animation existed, Cunningham mused that it might be worth considering "electronic notation<…>, that is, three-dimensional. It could be contourograms or something like that, but they move in space so that you can see the details of the dance; and you can stop them or slow them down<…>see in what place in space each of them is located, the form of movement, the rhythm.”
However, with the invention of the computer, it was easier for him to design dances behind a monitor, in a visualized three-dimensional environment, directly, rather than building it from a two-dimensional notation. Since 1989, Cunningham has used the 3D animation program LifeForms to create dances, "a useful artist's tool" but not a substitute for "curiosity and ingenuity."
A new turn in the development of choreography, which was caused by Laban’s theories and notation, was made by Cunningham’s antipode, the eternal experimenter and master of deconstruction William Forsythe. This happened in 1983, when Forsythe suffered a knee injury (the irony is that the same reason and forced rest helped Kurt Jooss make a decisive contribution to the formation of cinematography in 1927). Forsythe rethought the ordered harmonious universe of Laban, turning its laws inside out. He made its principle not equilibrium, but fall, not movement from one center, within one sphere, but movement from many spheres with their own centers, competing and inconsistent with each other.
Forsyth incorporated Laban's theory and notation into his movement creation laboratory, the complexity of which is revealed in an interview with Frankfurt Ballet dancer Dana Caspersen. Thus, in “A LI E IN A©TION. Part I" (1992) Forsyth created these movements through iteration: "We took sheets of transparent paper, drew shapes on them and cut geometric shapes, which were then folded again to create a three-dimensional surface from which another was revealed. We put it on top book page a flattened projection of Laban's cube and computer-generated timelines organized into geometric shapes (the work of David Kern and Bill [Forsyth]). Then we Xeroxed them. We then transferred simple geometric shapes onto these copies and repeated the process until we had a multi-layered document. We used this document to begin with to generate the movement. Then each of us created our own list of Laban notation symbols, timelines, letters, numbers from the document, and we used these lists as a map by which we can navigate the stage space and the structure of the work as a whole. The words that would appear through the cutouts on the document were translated into a 27-part motion alphabet that Bill created (the alphabet refers to a series of small gestures based on words. In this case, H is conveyed through a gesture reflecting the thought of the word Hat - hat). The drawn lines connecting the words are visible on the stage board, and the 3D objects folded from paper are imagined as volumes or lines inscribed in the space of the stage along which these phrases from the gestures we have made are directed. For example, I take the gesture from my first word: a bent arm with a shoulder moving from the highest to the lowest right point (according to Laban's model), and redirect this gesture into space, following the figure on the map, which I imagine projected into the space of the scene."
Modern dance in many of its forms does not reject notation. For example, its ardent supporter is the Frenchman Angelin Preljocaj, who records his ballets according to the Benes system. Three ballets (four scores) by William Forsythe were recorded on the same system, including In the Middle Somewhat Elevated and Hermann Schmermann. However, in 1990, an expert on Labanotation concluded that although the procedures performed with movements in Forsyth's ballets are generally notable, the sequence of movements itself cannot be notated
However, there is a strange pattern in the fact that most of the choreographers who were influenced by Laban's ideas and personality, even those who knew the notation, did not care much about the preservation of their creations and did not consider conservation their mission. Of the 40–50 ballets by Kurt Jooss, co-author of the filmography, only four remain, recorded by Anne Hutchinson Guest on Labanotation in 1973 and revived in 1976 by Geoffrey Ball. It was written in Merce Cunningham's will that his choreography would die with him. During her lifetime, Pina Bausch did nothing to record her works; she cared little whether “West Wind” (Wind von West, 1975), in 2014 with great respect reconstructed and notated by John Giffin in Germany and America, also with the assistance of Dance, would be preserved or not. notation bureau. Trisha Brown is no longer going to show her ballets.
Disillusioned with choreography as a mystical message capable of stopping wars; in the fact that the masses can unite in dances with nature and the cosmos, and not to demonstrate strength to political opponents and intimidate internal enemies, Laban’s heirs and the choreographers inspired by him paradoxically came closer to what seems to be his most important ideal - self-knowledge in dance that cannot be documented . Their work embodied the idea that creating choreography is a way to live your life intensely and variedly, leaving the sorting of jewels from the “treasury of movements” of the past to less creative and less happy followers.
Modern dance today is extremely diverse. Thank you Rudolf Laban, a choreographer, researcher and theorist who worked in Germany in the early 20th century. Now even we can solely 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 did not leave behind any works. His works were banned, but they were completely apolitical. He studied architecture, but raised dance stars Mary Wigman And Kurt Joss. The name Laban is strongly associated with the frame of a huge polyhedron in which people move. And the confusing signs are the motion recording system.
We asked Hilary Bryan what they mean, what the essence of Rudolf Laban’s work was, and why it is still relevant. Hilary is an American dancer and choreographer, a certified Laban movement analysis instructor, who came to Kyiv by 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 you choreograph and find your individual style in dance.
Looking at Hilary, it’s hard not to believe his contribution. She is constantly on the move while talking. To get his point across, maybe, at his far from ballet age, he can casually show a classic grand rond de jambe. And in her performance it looks very special – light, lively and absolutely natural.
Laban said that life is unfinished symphony. And his movement 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 and is used in many areas.
Laban always treated his students as colleagues. He didn’t just teach them, they developed ideas together. And as a result, they created an arsenal of tools that can be taken out into the world and developed in other collaborations.
How did the Laban system come about?
It is difficult to say where the Laban system takes its roots. He started at a time when everyone was experimenting. Many things arose spontaneously. Loy Fuller explored movement, light and technical innovation. Dalcroze - music and rhythm through movement. Many works related to body tone, its internal techniques, and expression appeared. Gymnastics developed. And Laban was part of all this.
Only in the late 20s did they begin to separate trends 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 experimentation: Cecchetti, for example, taught Pavlova opposite a huge portrait of Isadora Duncan.
Laban himself was most interested in free expressive dance, as it appealed to the individual's individuality. He was not concerned about style, but about 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 get back to their bodies. Rudolf Laban lived at the end of the industrial revolution, when many moved to the cities and were squeezed by their confines. I must say, people still wonder: how to help the body feel alive? Some people go to yoga, others buy a bike and ride on weekends. Laban sought to enlighten the body and inspire people to express their individuality through it.
His other goal is to understand how movement works and put it into words. Music has theory, literature has theory, visual arts. Theory is a set of tools through which people can communicate about specific topics. But how can we talk about movement?
In pursuit of his goal, he taught his students long classes. Sometimes the whole day was devoted to one movement: to understand what happens to a person when he performs it. This is research. For example, think about moving down and up. How does your body feel? Or something more complex: how does the body open and close? And if you combine it: what will you feel when you close and move down? As a result, Laban developed an entire vocabulary to talk about how the body changes and moves in space.
Architectural Thinking
Before taking up 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 a 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 mind. He thought about how the human body could 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 passing 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 upward, we can feel space differently - it will seem larger to us. I don’t separate expression and movement, it’s all one.
Laban icosahedron
Laban built his famous polyhedron precisely to show how the human body exists in 3-dimensional space. It's like Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, but in an expanded form. The icosahedron is 3 golden rectangles joined together. 12 corners. One plane is vertical (responsible for up-down movement), the other is horizontal (right-left), the third intersects it and gives the direction back and forth.
The icosahedron helps 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'm not using some of them at all. But why not? Why limit your body instead of expanding its capabilities?
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 discovered. 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 happens differently. I once built an icosahedron at an art festival and people who walked into the shape felt that it suited their bodies amazingly. They felt comfortable and very calm in it. It gave a feeling of balance and peace. One of Laban's former students still practices meditation according to this model, performing the most basic movements: up-down, forward-backward, right-left. People use the icosahedron for various purposes.
Laban Schools
Despite the fact that Rudolf Laban was not interested in rules, he had schools in all major cities in Germany. The students even received diplomas. But the schools taught the principles of movement, proportions, thinking, and not things that need to be repeated. The Laban Method is about using expression and imagination in what you do.
Laban was great at working with large numbers of people. He created large events so that people from different cities could get together, share ideas and work. The group movement was of interest to the National Socialists at that time. The Nazi Party thought that they could use Laban's work, but as they delved deeper, they realized that this was not at all what they needed. Goebbels attended the rehearsal, and the next day the schools were closed. The Nazis got the group movement aspect wrong. They wanted a uniform, and it was about individuality.
What is the essence of the Laban system?
The Laban 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, and the mobility of our muscles. The third is about the body itself: how is it structured? This system is often used in physical therapy. Movement Productivity: What's Happening? We can talk about our body as an amoeba that is constantly changing its shape. And then, we can combine these systems in any order. Here we are. We sit – this is the productivity of movement. We sit face to face. We are sitting on the middle level. We use the space in front of us. This is already a description of space. You can analyze how energy and dynamics change the movement itself: I slowly put telephone handset or I leave her - it makes a big difference.
The Laban system seems to me the most complex of all that developed in the 20th century. Many Western systems do not consider certain 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 findings?
His tools can be used everywhere. Both in the dance and in the way we drive the car. Choreographers can use Laban's system in so many different ways that I can't even imagine them all. Many choreographer programs in the United States require Laban to be studied. 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 is missing in it. For example: “I staged the entire piece on a down-to-earth 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 your own weight, come up with a duet in tango, using new points in space. Develop your own unique style of movement, whether in ballet or tap dancing.
People who are not associated with dance have the same bodies. They communicate with others, have at different levels expression. And the Laban system is not about dance, but about movement. For example, I know a woman in Seattle who makes a lot of money working with golfers using the Laban system. She bills herself as a movement coach and teaches them how to swing a club correctly. Consider space, tension, body grounding, foot placement, connection to the center in the body. The system helps you move efficiently.
For example, I used this practice with office workers. Most of the time, people sit at a desk and don't use their legs. And they get injured. 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 out 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 was taking on extra stress. You can't just hit with a hammer, you need to take into account its weight. In short, any movement can be viewed through the Laban system. For example, I myself, with its help, cured several chronic injuries.
Permission to move
I get the most satisfaction when I know 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. That's why some people go to the gym, others go for walks at a certain time.
Laban's system may seem strange only if you think about it that way. Yoga 40 years ago also seemed strange to everyone, but now what? It all depends on the context and what society decides is weird.
Analysis of Rudolf Laban's movements
Our whole life occurs in movement, while we move, we exist. Every person throughout his life strives to understand all its foundations and facets. But if life is movement, then human life must be known through movement. Knowledge of the processes that govern the work of the body is fundamental to understanding the process of movement, because with the body a person knows texture and time. By analyzing the levels, processes and goals of movement, we thereby understand the world around us in all its colors. Thanks to the analysis of movements, a person is able to comprehend the nature of his own existence, relationships with other people, reach agreement with himself, with his needs and desires, and understand his place in this world.
A motion analysis system was created Rudolf Laban
, a Czechoslovakian dancer, choreographer and teacher who mentored many of the great stars of modern dance. R. Laban studied the processes of movement both in modern and folk dances, and in everyday life.
Biography of R. Laban. Rudolf Laban was born on December 15, 1879 in Bratislava, Slovakia. R. Laban's real name is Varalyas. 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. Studies various dances and cultures became the foundation further work R. Labana.
In 1900, Rudolph went to 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 Varaldzha”, and was also a dancer in ballet troupes of famous opera houses.
The period of study in Paris was eventful in the life of the young dancer, because it was there that he began studying the rituals and traditions associated with movement, and also organized experiments with dance recordings. In addition, Rudolf Laban did the decorations and theatrical costumes, worked on architecture.
In 1910, in Munich, Germany, he founded the school “ free dance”, where Laban was the leader. A few years later he was already the director of dance schools in Hamburg, Zurich and Nuremberg. During the First World War, R. Laban was the director of the Lago Maggiore festival, held in the village of Ascona, located in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Maggiore (where the name of the festival comes from). It was during the festival that he came up with the idea of a natural dance that would be accessible to everyone, as well as the idea of creating moving choirs. At the same time, he began conducting his own research in the field of form of harmony and space. To implement these ideas, Laban decided to build a theater.
Laban succeeded in building his own theater, but the theater was soon 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 his own dance school.
The conduct of hostilities did not interfere with the research natural nature dance, harmony of space and rhythm and harmony of space. Laban could rightfully be called a great dance reformer, who brought new colors to classical ballet. In 1920, Laban gathered like-minded people around him 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’s Theatre”, other names - “Theater of Authentic Gesture”, “Theater of Expressive Dance”).
In the period 1919-1923, Rudolf Laban founded dance schools in Prague, Rome, Hamburg, Vienna, Basel and other large cities in Europe. All schools were united by one common name - “Laban School”, which in itself already aroused interest in studying there. Since the creator of the motion analysis system was physically unable to manage schools located in different cities and countries, each of the schools was run by the best of his students. Subsequently, Laban brought to life the idea of creating moving choirs, and also created the performances “Prometheus” and “Faust”, and staged dance performances with and without musical accompaniment (“The Death of Agamemnon” (1924), “Titan” (1927), “ Night” (1927), as well as classical music (“Don Juan”, 1925).
In 1928, Laban discovered and proposed a unique universal method for recording dance movements (see Fig. 1). Using special symbols, the duration (size of the symbol), amplitude (using shading) and direction of movement (shape of the symbol) were recorded. The symbols were read from bottom to top and positioned vertically. Despite the fact that since its inception this method Quite a lot of time has passed, it has not lost its relevance today and is still used by many choreographers in their work.
Rice. 1. - Method of recording dance movements
R. Laban's system of movement analysis was officially recognized by the Dance Congress in Essen in 1928 after the publication of the best-selling book “Dance Recording”. In the same year, Laban created the Dance Recording Society.
However, after Adolf Hitler came to power, the choreographer’s teachings began to be oppressed in every possible way. Thus, in 1936, R. Laban organized an open-air performance unprecedented throughout Germany, which was to take place simultaneously throughout Germany in different cities of the country. But this submission was not destined to happen due to the arrival of the Chancellor of the Third Reich, Joseph Goebbels, at one of the rehearsals, who announced the existence in Germany of only one movement, which is the Nazi salute, and therefore the performance 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 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 movement analysis system was convinced that modern industrial society is under the influence of meaningless physical restrictions, and dance, as an element of dance movement therapy, can remove these restrictions. Differentiating aspects of movement promotes deeper observation and shapes human perception.
Movement can give a person strength and fearlessness. R. Laban was convinced of this by observing the warlike dances of the tribes, when, with the help of dances, wars entered into ecstasy and increased their level of aggression. As a result, wars fell into a deep hypnotic state and were able to withstand any kind of pain without serious consequences.
Laban concluded that movement has a direct impact on a person's internal state, and the way a person moves reflects his current internal state. For example, if a person moves slowly and carelessly, it means he is experiencing a feeling of fear. However, there is also feedback - a person’s internal state can be changed by changing movements. If an insecure person straightens his shoulders, straightens his posture and begins to move with long strides, he will gain confidence in his own abilities.
Analysis of human movements presupposes knowledge of the specific purpose of the movement. To do this, you need to understand why a person moves in principle. So the person moves:
To perform any action (possessing specific purpose);
For expression (in order to manifest forms of feeling);
For understanding (through experience and thoughts);
In dance (to express previously unexpressed emotions).
A person is capable of moving not only consciously, but also unconsciously. Unconscious movements (called “shadow” by Laban) mean the performance of gestures of which a person is not aware, performed without the use of conscious will, but at the same time expressing a person’s internal attitude towards an object.
While 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 supports when a person correctly performs 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 provides balance to the human body.
Laban divided the human body into 3 main parts:
1. Head - the area where the sense organs are located, responsible for psychological and mental activity;
2. The torso is an important part of the body in which all processes associated with digestion, cleansing, and reproductive activity occur.
3. Limbs (legs and arms) - part of the body mainly responsible for movements and gestures. However, movement is not the only function of the limbs.
So, the legs turn the body, jump, maintain balance, and transfer weight. Hands wave, show, hold, etc.
The motion analysis process begins with identifying the following key points:
1. Where the movement occurs;
2. Why does movement occur;
3. How does movement occur;
4. What are the movement restrictions?
Based on this, we can conclude that there are four motor parameters by which 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 a place of change.
Orientation. The body is capable of operating within a three-dimensional space, called the “kinesphere” by Laban, denoting the part of space that can be accessible to a person. Within the kinephere, the body can occupy either a small space or expand up to the periphery of the kinesphere. These changes determine the range of modified forms, and Laban identified the main factors characterizing the changes in these forms:
1. Dimension - depth, width and height make it possible to determine the movement occurring 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 in accordance with 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. Considered in relation to the center - either movement occurs towards the body or away from the body.
5. Orientation of space. There are two options - either directed movement (produced along the shortest path) or undirected (flexibility is allowed and an indirect path is chosen).
R. Laban's movement 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. To correctly represent the kinesphere, Laban suggests imagining a cube that covers the entire human body (see Fig. 2). This space will be a person’s personal zone, as if an extension of his body. Within this space, a person makes all movements with his limbs, head and torso. If someone tries to invade a person’s personal space, this will instantly cause him discomfort. Depending on the size, there are three main types of kinespheres - small kinesphere (represents a circle around the body, with a diameter of an elbow), medium kinesphere (with a diameter of an outstretched human arm) and 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 finds himself. The main goal of the movement analysis method when working with kinespheres is to teach a person to use each of the kinesphere diameters depending on the current situation.
Rice. 2. - Kinesphere
System of “efforts - forms”. In Laban's movement analysis system, the concept of “effort” does not necessarily mean the presence of tension. It rather 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, while another can raise his hand slowly and with tension.
Thus, movement in the Laban system means the dynamic properties of the movement process and the relationship between the four main physical characteristics energy: freedom of flow, flow strength, flow time and flow direction. With every choice a person makes in favor of one action or another, 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 lead to a slowdown in the flow of flow; if a person is overly self-confident, this will affect the strength of the flow in the direction of its increase. Even the simplest movements, such as walking, consist of dynamic combinations of connected and free flow.
One of the goals of movement analysis is to understand the peculiarities of these movement characteristics and enrich the vocabulary of “human dance.” 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 feelings and the relationships between them.
For the analysis of movements, each of the categories of movement (weight, time, flow, space) is unique life theme personality. Space means how significant a 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 does a person feel more confident, how can he influence the existing rhythm of life. Weight - how well a person feels his own weight, how it relates to his 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 performing movement analysis:
1. The relationship between various parameters and the presence of repeating qualities. For example, the movement of the arms almost always begins with the movement of the hands.
2. Unused areas, ratio and quality. The movement only rarely passes between the shoulders.
3. Special movements of the average static context, the ratio of parameters.
Having identified these points, the therapist can work with them through the development of movement history and associations, while continuing to work on differentiating the movement analysis.
Our whole life occurs in movement, while we move, we exist. Every person throughout his life strives to understand all its foundations and facets. But if life is movement, then human life must be known through movement. Knowledge of the processes that govern the work of the body is fundamental to understanding the process of movement, because with the body a person knows texture and time. By analyzing the levels, processes and goals of movement, we thereby understand the world around us in all its colors. Thanks to the analysis of movements, a person is able to comprehend the nature of his own existence, relationships with other people, reach agreement with himself, with his needs and desires, and understand his place in this world.
The motion analysis system was created by Rudolf Laban, Czechoslovakian dancer, choreographer and teacher who mentored many of the great stars of modern dance. R. Laban studied the processes of movement both in modern and folk dances, and in everyday life.
Biography of R. Laban.
Rudolf Laban was born on December 15, 1879 in Bratislava, Slovakia. R. Laban's real name is Varalyas. In his 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 duty station. These trips became the basis for the study of Eastern and Slavic culture. The study of various dances and cultures became the foundation for R. Laban’s further work.
In 1900, Rudolph went to 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 Varaldzha”, and was also a dancer in ballet troupes of famous opera houses.
The period of study in Paris was eventful in the life of the young dancer, because it was there that he began studying the rituals and traditions associated with movement, and also organized experiments with dance recordings. In addition, Rudolf Laban designed scenery and theatrical costumes, and worked on architecture.
In 1910, in Munich, Germany, he created a “free dance” school, where Laban was the director. A few years later he was already the director of dance schools in Hamburg, Zurich and Nuremberg. During the First World War, R. Laban was the director of the Lago Maggiore festival, held in the village of Ascona, located in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Maggiore (where the name of the festival comes from). It was during the festival that he came up with the idea of a natural dance that would be accessible to everyone, as well as the idea of creating moving choirs. At the same time, he began conducting his own research in the field of form of harmony and space. To implement these ideas, Laban decided to build a theater.
Laban succeeded in building his own theater, but the theater was soon 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 his own dance school.
The conduct of hostilities did not interfere with research into the natural nature of dance, the harmony of space and rhythm, and the harmony of space. Laban could rightfully be called a great dance reformer, who brought new colors to classical ballet. In 1920, Laban gathered like-minded people around him 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’s Theatre”, other names - “Theater of Authentic Gesture”, “Theater of Expressive Dance”).
In the period 1919-1923, Rudolf Laban founded dance schools in Prague, Rome, Hamburg, Vienna, Basel and other major European cities. All schools were united by one common name - “Laban School”, which in itself already aroused interest in studying there. Since the creator of the motion analysis system was physically unable to manage schools located in different cities and countries, each school was managed by the best of his students. Subsequently, Laban brought to life the idea of creating moving choirs, and also created the performances “Prometheus” and “Faust”, and staged dance performances with and without musical accompaniment (“The Death of Agamemnon” (1924), “Titan” (1927), “ Night” (1927), as well as classical music (“Don Juan”, 1925).
In 1928, Laban discovered and proposed a unique universal method for recording dance movements (see Fig. 1). Using special symbols, the duration (size of the symbol), amplitude (using shading) and direction of movement (shape of the symbol) were recorded. The symbols were read from bottom to top and positioned vertically. Despite the fact that quite 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
R. Laban's system of movement analysis was officially recognized by the Dance Congress in Essen in 1928 after the publication of the best-selling book “Dance Recording”. In the same year, Laban created the Dance Recording Society.
However, after Adolf Hitler came to power, the choreographer’s teachings began to be oppressed in every possible way. Thus, in 1936, R. Laban organized an open-air performance unprecedented throughout Germany, which was to take place simultaneously throughout Germany in different cities of the country. But this performance was not destined to happen due to the arrival of the Chancellor of the Third Reich, Joseph Goebbels, at one of the rehearsals, who announced the existence of only one movement in Germany, which is the Nazi salute, and therefore the performance 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 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 movement analysis system was convinced that modern industrial society is under the influence of meaningless physical restrictions, and dance, as an element of dance movement therapy, can remove these restrictions. Differentiating aspects of movement promotes deeper observation and shapes human perception.
Movement can give a person strength and fearlessness. R. Laban was convinced of this by observing the warlike dances of the tribes, when, with the help of dances, wars entered into ecstasy and increased their level of aggression. As a result, wars fell into a deep hypnotic state and were able to withstand any kind of pain without serious consequences.
Laban concluded that movement has a direct impact on a person's internal state, and the way a person moves reflects his current internal state. For example, if a person moves slowly and carelessly, it means he is experiencing a feeling of fear. However, there is also feedback - a person’s internal state can be changed by changing movements. If an insecure person straightens his shoulders, straightens his posture and begins to move with long strides, he will gain confidence in his own abilities.
Analysis of human movements presupposes knowledge of the specific purpose of the movement. To do this, you need to understand why a person moves in principle. So the person moves:
– To perform any action (having a specific goal);
– For expression (in order to manifest forms of feeling);
– For understanding (through experience and thoughts);
– In dance (to express previously unexpressed emotions).
A person is capable of moving not only consciously, but also unconsciously. Unconscious movements (called “shadow” by Laban) mean the performance of gestures of which a person is not aware, performed without the use of conscious will, but at the same time expressing a person’s internal attitude towards an object.
While 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 supports when a person correctly performs 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 provides balance to the human body.
Laban divided the human body into 3 main parts:
1. The head is the area where the sense organs are located, responsible for psychological and mental activity;
2. The torso is an important part of the body in which all processes associated with digestion, cleansing, and reproductive activity occur.
3. Limbs (legs and arms) - the 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, and transfer weight. Hands wave, show, hold, etc.
The motion analysis process begins with identifying the following key points:
1. Where the movement occurs;
2. Why does movement occur;
3. How does movement occur;
4. What are the movement restrictions?
Based on this, we can conclude that there are four motor parameters by which 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 a place of change.
Orientation. The body is capable of operating within a three-dimensional space, called the “kinesphere” by Laban, denoting the part of space that can be accessible to a person. Within the kinephere, the body can occupy either a small space or expand up to the periphery of the kinesphere. These changes determine the range of modified forms, and Laban identified the main factors characterizing the changes in these forms:
1. Dimension - depth, width and height make it possible to determine the movement occurring up and down, right and left or back and forth.
2. Proximity is a factor indicating the place where movement occurs in relation to the body (close or far).
3. Planes. Laban identified three main planes in accordance with 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. Considered in relation to the center - either movement occurs towards the body, or away from the body.
5. Orientation of space. There are two options - either directed movement (produced along the shortest path) or undirected (flexibility is allowed and an indirect path is chosen).
R. Laban's movement 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. To correctly represent the kinesphere, Laban suggests imagining a cube that covers the entire human body (see Fig. 2). This space will be a person’s personal zone, as if an extension of his body. Within this space, a person makes all movements with his limbs, head and torso. If someone tries to invade a person’s personal space, this will instantly cause him discomfort. Depending on the size, there are three main types of kinespheres - small kinesphere (represents a circle around the body, with a diameter of an elbow), medium kinesphere (with a diameter of an outstretched human arm) and 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 finds himself. The main goal of the movement analysis method when working with kinespheres is to teach a person to use each of the kinesphere diameters depending on the current situation.
Rice. 2. – Kinesphere
System of “efforts - forms”. In Laban's movement analysis system, the concept of “effort” does not necessarily mean the presence of tension. It rather 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, while another can raise his hand slowly and with tension.
Thus, movement in the Laban system means the dynamic properties of the movement process and the relationship between the four main physical characteristics of energy: freedom of flow, flow strength, flow time and flow direction. With every choice a person makes in favor of one action or another, 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 lead to a slowdown in the flow of flow; if a person is overly self-confident, this will affect the strength of the flow in the direction of its increase. Even the simplest movements, such as walking, consist of dynamic combinations of connected and free flow.
One of the goals of movement analysis is to understand the peculiarities of these movement characteristics and enrich the vocabulary of “human dance.” 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 feelings and the relationships between them.
For the analysis of movements, each of the categories of movement (weight, time, flow, space) is a unique life theme of the individual. Space means how significant a 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 does a person feel more confident, how can he influence the existing rhythm of life. Weight - how well a person feels his own weight, how it relates to his 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 performing movement analysis:
1. The relationship between various parameters and the presence of repeating qualities. For example, the movement of the arms almost always begins with the movement of the hands.
2. Unused areas, ratio and quality. The movement only rarely passes between the shoulders.
3. Special movements of the average static context, the ratio of parameters.
Having identified these points, the therapist can work with them through the development of movement history and associations, while continuing to work on differentiating the movement analysis.
Unlike many dance reformers who spontaneously rebelled against classical canon, he theoretically justified his opposition - but in the end, classical ballet should be grateful to him for the world-famous system of recording movements, called labannotation in his honor.
Rudolf Laban was born on December 15, 1879 in Bratislava. His real name is Varalyas. In his youth, he traveled to North America and the Middle East with his father, who was a military man and often changed duty stations. Thanks to these trips, Laban studied Slavic and oriental culture. His observations different cultures and dances created the basis for his further works.
From 1900 to 1907 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. While there, he became interested in design, drama and dance. He performed with his troupe in Montmartre and at the Moulin Rouge under the stage name "Attila de Varaldja" (derived from the Hungarian name).
From 1905 to 1910, Laban studied historical dances, rituals and traditions associated with movement. Laban's first experiments with dance recording also occurred during his life in Paris. He also worked on architecture, sets and costumes for the theatre. In addition, Laban performed as a dancer in the ballet troupes of the opera houses of Leipzig, Vienna, and Dresden. In 1910, he organized and directed a “free dance” school in Munich, and then dance schools in Zurich, Nuremberg, Mannheim, Hamburg and other cities.
Three years before the First World War, Laban became director summer festival“Lago Maggiore” in the Swiss village of Ascona, where he headed an independent art commune. Here he developed the idea of natural dance, accessible to all, and began to ponder the idea of moving choirs. He explored dance drama in contrast to traditional pantomime and classical ballet. Here he also began his studies in the field of space form and harmony. He also started building a theater to realize his ideas.
But the theater was destroyed by the war. Laban left Ascona and Munich, where he was also involved in the winter art festival, and went to Zurich, where he founded his own school. The war was going on - and he, a true theorist, plunged deeper and deeper into the study of the natural nature of the rhythm and harmony of space. He was a dance reformer - but what he has in common with Duncan or the Nijinsky brothers and sisters is that he, like them, was not a danger to classical ballet. He created something that could coexist more or less peacefully with ballet.
In the 1920s, no less than brave experimenters– Kurt Joss, Mary Wigman, Suzanne Perote, Dusya Berezka. They worked together in large summer schools in Munich, Vienna and Ascona until the first international troupe Tanzbuehne Laban (1923–1926) was founded – a “theater of authentic gesture” or “expressive dance”.
From 1919 to 1923, Laban founded schools in Basel, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Rome, Vienna, Paris and other European centers. Each was called the Laban School and each was run by an experienced choreographer's student. In subsequent years, he founded many moving choirs, experimented with speech choirs and created plays such as Faust and Prometheus.
At the same time, Laban staged dance performances, often without musical accompaniment or with only percussion instruments - “The Death of Agamemnon” (1924), “Night” (1927), “Titan” (1927); sometimes to classical music - for example, from Gluck's opera Don Giovanni (1925).
In 1926, Laban toured the United States and Mexico, giving lectures in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. In 1927, he founded an organization for dancers who had nothing like it before. It was an independent union that provided a center that set standards and in which artistic and educational issues could be discussed. The Union also dealt with copyright issues in the field of choreography. And then he headed the Institute of Choreography in Berlin.
In 1928, Rudolf Laban proposed a universal way to record dance movements. Using simple icons, the direction of movement (icon shape), its amplitude (shading) and duration (icon size) were recorded. The icons are arranged vertically and read from bottom to top. This system, labanotation, is still used by some choreographers today.
At the end of 1928, Laban's book "Dance Recording" was published, after which his system was officially recognized at the Dance Congress in Essen, and soon after this the "Dance Recording Society" was created. This society published its own magazine in Vienna, which was published for about four years.
In 1929, Laban staged a huge Parade of Crafts and Guilds, in which 10,000 artists took part, including 2,500 dancers. By this time he had also created a 500-person moving choir for the Mannheim festival and was making his first experiments with sound tracks for dance films. In 1930 Laban moved to Berlin and became a film director. stage movement for the United Theater Union of Germany.
Following Hitler's rise to power, Laban's teaching fell out of favor because it was too universal and not purely nationalistic. In 1936, Laban prepared an open-air performance, parts of which were pre-recorded and sent to 60 participating choirs in different cities so that it could be performed simultaneously throughout the country. Goebbels attended the dress rehearsal and said: “In Germany there is only a need for one movement - Nazi salute" As a result, the performance was banned and Laban's work in Germany came to an end.
He went to Paris, lectured at the Sorbonne and at the International Congress of Aesthetics.
At the beginning of 1938, Laban came to England and organized the Art of Movement Studio and the Center for the Art of Dance there. In England, he continued to quietly pursue his research, concentrating on the physiological aspect of movement, and lectured on the art of movement and the history of dance. During the break caused by the Second World War, Laban moved to Wales to continue his research.
After the war his interests changed and he began to study educational dance. Laban lectured at the University of Leeds and also directed plays for children's theater in Bradford.
In 1946, the Laban Movement Art Guild was created to perpetuate his work.
D. Truskinovskaya
