What is Laban Movement?

Laban then combined these parts together to

create The Eight Efforts:
For a long time Laban movement was
primarily used for dancers and dance  Wring
choreography to discover new ways to  Press
move. In the 80s and 90s, it began being  Flick
used to help actors and improve  Dab
performances. I first encountered Laban  Glide
work while I was training at the Dell’Arte  Float
International School of Physical Theatre.  Punch
The Eight Efforts became a cornerstone of
 Slash
my work as an actor. They help an actor
both physically and emotionally identify and For each effort, Laban identified which
play characters who are different from component parts were to be used. For
themselves. This embodied work helps the example:
actor in understanding internal impulse and
in developing an expressive body that can
make clean, precise choices. For WRING
The Direction is Indirect
Who is Laban?  The Weight is Heavy
Laban is named after Rudolf Laban, who  The Speed is Sustained
was a movement theorist, a choreographer  The Flow is Bound
and a dancer. He is considered a pioneer of
modern dance. Laban categorized human
movement into four component parts: How can you use Laban in the drama
classroom?
 Direction
 Weight Student actors have a hard time moving
 Speed outside their own body. Every character they
play, moves like they do. Introduce a
 Flow
process to students that gets them thinking
about different ways to move.
Each of those parts has two elements: There are many different ways an actor
can begin to employ these efforts into
 Direction is either direct or indirect.
their work:
 Weight is either heavy or light.
 Speed is either quick or sustained.  Observational work
 Flow is either bound or free.  Text work

Submitted by: Mark Vince F. Agacite

BSECE-01