Tag: laban bartenieff movement system

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Time

image of Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory from Wikipedia

In the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS) the phenomenon of time is not explicated and is not identified as a discrete component of movement in the system.

Time is addressed implicitly, but it is not identified (generally speaking) as a separate entity. Tangentially, it is interesting to note that in the models of contemporary Physics the concepts of time and three-dimensional space are regarded as fused in a four-dimensional continuum identified as “spacetime”. 

Aspects of time are present however in several parts of the Laban/Bartenieff system. Time is concretely and specifically addressed in phrasing patterns. In a phrase time is expressed as sequence. So, in a phrase the order of actions through time is indicated. There are multiple examples of this temporal aspect of movement expressed through sequence and identified as “phrasing” in the theory and practice of LBMS.

From the perspective of the Body Component for example, we might identify  a phrase in which the progression of action through the body is initiated in the core and progresses to the limbs. Or in an Effort Component example, we might see a phrase which  begins with a Strong/Free/Quick action and then changes as it resolves into an action that is Bound/Direct , i.e. Passion Drive becoming Remote State. Or from the Space Component we can look to the practice of Steeple and Volute Phrasing in the transverse A and B movement scales. These two patterns of spatial phrasing are  practiced as a technique to gain insight into larger patterns of Space Harmony,  where change over time is experienced as either abrupt or gradual. And for an example coming from the Shape Component, we can identify the Modes of Shape Change in their developmental progression (over a much longer duration of time and a more macro perspective than the previous examples).  Starting from the infant’s Shape Flow actions and continuing to the child’s developing Directional Movement capacity and then finally to being able to articulate the action of Shaping. This is  an example of a sequence of time seen through the progression of psycho-motor development starting in infancy.

Time is also addressed in LBMS through relative duration. This allows us to identify how long an action is – i.e.  how much time an action takes.  Time duration can also link to rhythm  (although it should be noted that rhythms can be focused on emphasis and/or proportion separate from the consideration of time).

There is, of course, one aspect of time that the system does explicate. This is time as a qualitative part of the dynamics of movement. This is addressed in the system as the Time  Effort Factor which identifies the experience of time and expressed through the process of acceleration or deceleration in action. In the Time Effort Factor, Time is characterized as either being indulging – as expressed in the lingering affect of deceleration, or condensing by the intent of actions revealing the intention of acceleration process. Thus, Time Effort addresses the process, observed or experienced, in moments of slowing down or speeding up.

Tempos of time are not specifically addressed in LBMS, and this is a point that could bear more consideration because clearly how fast or how slow change occurs can be a significant aspect of revealing the meaning and intent of the movement process and also tempo can impact the functional efficiency of action and can also be significant in the expressive aspect of movement.  Remember, movement is the process of change and how long and how fast or slow is the process clearly is a part of what is discernable in movement.

Time as an aspect of Space Harmony

Space Harmony, which is a foundational concept of LBMS views the Space Harmony of human movement as part of the larger Space Harmony of the patterns of nature, of the world or even of the universe . This after all was why Laban used the Platonic Solids as the models to map the movement of the human Kinesphere.  In looking to the Space Harmony patterns of space and time of the natural world, we can gain insight about our own movement.  For example, in looking at the pattern of a river’s meandering pathway we see both the ongoing change in the present through the tempo of the flow of the river’s water, but we see as well, in the shape of the banks of the river,  the change that occurs at a much slower pace and over a much longer time period that creates the river’s patterns of its lateral meanders. So perhaps this needs to be viewed as Spacetime Harmony!

The duration and tempo of time’s passing  are revealed through the structures of the world including the structures of our bodies. We see and experience growth, development, healing and aging through the process and tempos of the time of our bodies.  We see the passage of time over the structures we humans create – – our cities,  our architecture.  We see the passage of time too in the layers of rocks and this geologic time has a different tempo than the tempo of our daily experience.

Our bodies too express multiple rhythms and many tempos of time – building muscle, healing the tissues of a wound, the flow of blood or lymph or cerebral spinal fluid – all of these have their own tempos. The Rhythms and tempo of breathing and of digestion are each a unique part of what we experience in our body time . Likewise, the tempos of moving from the bones vs moving from a sense of the body’s fluids can change the tempo and experience of time for the mover.

Perhaps the time has come (pun intended)  we should  consider in the ongoing evolution of LBMS continues, to adding  the Component of Time to the taxonomy allowing for such concepts as:

  • sequencing
  • duration (relative)
  • rhythm and emphasis
  • cycles

So, BESS could be BESST perhaps!

Undeniably time contributes to patterns that we observe and experience and making the aspect of Time more explicit could further assist with the process of analysis and synthesis.

I believe also that time (not Time Effort) is often important when we identify the Dynamosphere of the environment. In this regard time can be a significant and linking the micro of the present to a more macro perspective connecting to the past. For example, when we see in the natural environment geologic forms expressed in the layers of rock formations,  part of our appreciation is connected to space/time harmony as we connect to the dynamics of change in the environment through the passage of time . And our Dynamospheric experience is linked to our perspective of time that extends beyond our personal present time.   Likewise, when we enter a space such as the Parthenon, we connect energetically to the passage of time) that is not limited to the time of present day of our own Kinesphere but in the sense of time/space of past movers i.e. Dynamospheric space/time.

I believe that Space Harmony illuminates the Part/Whole duality and connection through time as a crucial part of the process of change through time.

K.Studd 2021

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Seeing a Pattern/Choosing a Change

My favorite thing about LBMS is that it helps me look for patterns, in myself, my interactions, my environment, and my life.  Finding the pattern makes it possible to choose what, if any, change(s) to make.

Patterns of Movement / Changing to Heal

Years ago, when I first immersed myself in LBMS studies, I developed a knee injury that sidelined me from dancing, performing, even walking. Physical therapy exercises to strengthen the surrounding muscles helped only temporarily; the injury kept recurring.  Finally, I realized that the LBMS training was changing an old pattern of mine.  Decades of dance technique – mostly Graham and other early Modern forms – had strengthened me through Binding.  Now the multifaceted world of LBMS exploration was encouraging me to let go.  Which I did, into Passive Weight, dropping all the holding and dumping the stress into my knees.  Once I noticed that pattern, I could begin to think in terms of “what else is possible” rather than just “either/or”.  I discovered that, instead of releasing from holding into collapse, I could release into activation.  As I practiced this new movement pattern, my injury gradually healed.

Patterns in Interaction/Changing to Get Along

While administrator at a large yoga center, I heard complaints from two employees in conflict.  “She’s pressuring me, she’s pressuring me! If she would just slow down!” cried T, a careful, methodical worker.  “She won’t get moving; she’s not getting anything done! She needs to hurry up!” declared B, whose Quick Impulses kept her flying through her day. 

I spoke to each of them:
“T, I’ll bet, when you are cooking, you read the recipe, then line up all the ingredients, then read the recipe again before you follow the steps one by one.”  “Yes! How did you know?!”

“B, when you cook, I imagine you might have glanced at a recipe for ideas, and are assembling and chopping stuff while you’re throwing things in the pot, and keeping it stirred, right?”  “Of course!” she exclaimed.

“Well, here, you are both cooking the same stew; you just have different ways of going at it.  Let’s see how you can get the thing done together.”

We looked at what changes to choose: which tasks were best assigned to whom; how to sequence their assignments, align their goals and adapt their expectations.  Perhaps B should swoop in to open and unpack all the boxes and get the props on the shelves, then have T focus time on comparing the inventory to the packing slip and logging everything in to the online system.  The idea was to allow each to use their own preferred patterns in support of each other and the job at hand.

Patterns in the Environment/Changing its Functioning

“Why are they all just running in circles and yelling? There are plenty of things for them to play with. They’re going to crash into each other!”  The day care director and I were watching as the children emerged from their small classrooms into a large open gym, strewn with a few small climbers, some tricycles, jump ropes, balls and miscellaneous building toys.  Clearly, they experienced that Phrase – from enclosed space to open area, from quiet activities to recess, from stillness to motion – as a Becoming: now I can get big and go fast and be loud.  Given the pattern inherent in the space, the timing and the children’s bodies, the director needed to choose an intent for their gym time.  Running in circles might be just right for that moment in the day’s rhythm.  But, if she saw it as dangerous, or “unproductive” (that’s a different article), she could reorganize the space for a different result.  

We talked about setting up “landing” areas around the periphery, with a section for building, one for jump rope games, etc.  Still leaving running space, but perhaps taping lanes or a large circle on the floor for the trikes, to safely separate the riders from the runners.  The next time I visited, there was still lots of high energy, but a little less scary chaos.

Pattern as Metaphor/Change as a Choice

In the middle of downward facing dog pose, C exclaimed “It’s my life!  Dog pose is my life and it’s staring me in the face!”  The class paused and he explained.  “I want to get strong, so I decided to practice holding dog pose for five minutes.  I built up gradually, minute by minute.  One day, I held the pose for five minutes!  I’m so pleased with myself, the next day I took off and didn’t practice at all.  It’s my life – staring me in the face!  I have a girlfriend, we work on our relationship, it gets pretty solid.  Then I leave.  Dog pose is my life, staring me in the face!”

C had discovered a Phrasing pattern that he’d applied unconsciously, in yoga practice, in life. Now that he sees the pattern, he has options for changing – or not.

What I love most about LBMS is that, by helping me find patterns, it gives me choices about change.

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Our Dynamic Alignment

Our human bodies are designed for our alignment to be dynamic. This means when we move a part the whole adjusts and/or when the  whole of us moves,  the relationships among the parts adjust accordingly. We are designed synergistically to optimize our efficiency. This is fundamental to the harmony of human movement. Of course, due to behavioral patterns, such as sitting for long durations at a computer or in a car,  this dynamic capacity is frequently diminished.  But reconnecting to our inherent embodied dynamism is possible and can support self-care and well-being. The Laban/Bartenieff Movement System facilitates this process.

In the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS) a large part of the explication of the body’s actions is from the perspective and framework of Bartenieff Fundamentals (BF), named for Irmgard Bartenieff. This perspective promotes awareness of movement to optimize function and expression. Bartenieff Fundamental Principles (BFPs)  are  specific concepts that support awareness to enhance and enrich our movement. BFPs  are not movement themselves but rather motifs to focus attention on the process of moving or to explore the experience of moving in order to gain and deepen awareness of movements possibilities. What follows is an explanation of the Bartenieff Fundamental Principle of Dynamic Alignment

Defining the terms:

What is a Principle?

  • A principle is a foundational idea that serves as the foundation for a system (in this case the BF part of LBMS)
  • A principle is a concept that is a guide for action

What is Dynamic ?

  • characterized by constant change, activity, or progress
  • relating to forces producing motion

What is Alignment ?

  • arrangement in appropriate relative positions
  • a position of agreement or alliance

In LBMS the BFP of Dynamic Alignment focuses on the synergy of the part/whole relationship of the form and function of our body.  Dynamic Alignment supports fulfilling the intent of our action.  This principle  recognizes that a change in a part creates a change in the whole.

All the BFPs support movement awareness,  and through awareness expanded movement possibility.

The science of human physiology reveals how the body is an interconnected system. And like the body itself, the Laban/Bartenieff system for movement analysis is also structed around the interconnectedness of its parts. Therefore, the BF Principle of Dynamic Alignment links to many other parts of the whole of LBMS including the Theme of Mobility/Stability. And in turn this major movement theme can be linked to other BF Principles such as Active Weight Support and Shift and this implies how in different Patterns of Body Organization the neuromuscular patterns of kinetic chains involved in our Body Level Phrasing occur.  Links can be made also to the BF Rhythms and to activation through BF Connections. All these other aspects of BF  – Connections, Rhythms and Patterns of Body Organization,  are all more specific concepts linked to specificity of action.  These other parts of the BF framework can also be addressed individually – perhaps in a later blog post!

Dynamic Alignment recognizes the Space Harmony of human design. This is primary addressed in looking to the skeletal structure of our bony architecture. From this perspective it is often useful to look at the triangles and arches in understanding the Mobile/Stable relationships of parts.

Some examples that illustrate the relationships of the architecture of our bony landmarks to explore in movement:

  • The diamond that can be envisioned from the bony landmarks of pubic symphysis, coccyx and greater trochanters of the femurs.
  • The triangle created from the landmarks of the calcaneus (heel bone)  and 1st and 5th meta-tarsal bones of the foot on medial and lateral (big toe/little toe ) sides
  • The connection between sternum and occipital portion of skull (back of head to breastbone ) – –  as an oblique line useful in accessing the depth of the Center of Levity of our upper body core and experiencing the head/upper spine as a limb and also linked to the Spinal Pattern of Body Organization.

Accessing our body parts and envisioning them as we move supports awareness of the Inner/Outer connection  we have as movers in our environment. And this Theme of Inner/Outer is another major movement theme recognized in the system. This awareness of the Inner/Outer continuum provides a way to map the body experience. And as we know maps create a context to situate our experience by providing references.  In LBMS Rudolf Laban famously mapped the personal space of our movement. Likewise, his protégé Irmgard Bartenieff provided ways to map the body’s organization. Together their work provides movers access to a comprehensive reference map for the observation and experience of human movement. This is the basis of the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System.

There are countless examples that can be used to explore the dynamism of our body’s part/whole synergy to awaken sensations and gain new awareness of our movement potential through the content and container of our moving form.  It should also be noted that while the focus in this post is on the Body Component of LBMS,  the other movement components – Effort, Space and Shape  also contribute to the experience of our human dynamism  – – this perhaps can be food for a future blog post…

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Basic Body Action of Connecting

K. Studd Summer 2020

Connecting  is defined as:   The action and intent of linking or joining 2 or more things – literally or figuratively.

The Laban/Bartenieff Movement System is a way to model or map the phenomenon of human movement. Models and maps are useful, but they are NOT the phenomenon themselves. Models and maps are tools. Over time, the models and maps we use are updated, and tools are refined. This process of change is part of the large pattern of human evolution and development and includes the process of continuing differentiation of the parts from the whole.

Always bear in mind that –

Movement is contextual

Movement is complex

Movement has intent (although not always about our conscious, or even unconscious intent, as a sneeze of course does serve a functional intent, but is not the same kind of intent as that of our actions of volition that movement analysis addresses.

The addition of Connecting to the list of Basic Body Actions under the LBMS Body Component is indicative of the ongoing development and evolution of the System. Part of this evolution is connected (!) to the recognition of parts that are not identified in the model (i.e. the LBMS taxonomy) or in making explicit what has been often implicit in how we frame what we observe through the lens of movement analysis. The addition of the Basic Body Action of Vocalizing is another example of this development. But in this blog post, I want only to address the action of Connecting.

It needs to be noted that, in the complex phenomenon of movement, many times there are simultaneous actions – such as rolling (Rotation) and Traveling. But in the case of a scenario in which these actions occur simultaneously, one (or the other) of these actions maybe the primary intent of the mover and that the other is rather a modifier of the main action. So, for example, I might be (1) engaged in the Basic Body Action of Rotation through rolling and this might result in my traveling through space. Or (2) it might be that Traveling (locomoting from one place to another) might be my primary intent and my action of rolling was simply one way of doing it. Or (3) that these two actions simultaneously might be fused and equally significant. Movement Analysis allows us to differentiate these 3 possibilities.

How do we connect? We connect through:

  • touch
  • gesture
  • sound
  • eye contact
  • proximity and facing

The Connecting Basic Body Action is often correlated with the Directional Movement and Shaping Modes of Shape Change because, like all Basic Body Actions, there is at some level a Body/Space Relationship. However, keep in mind that Connecting falls under the Body Component and that is what is being discussed here.

Let’s look at this action of Connecting from some examples:  

I might, in some context, come into contact with a group of people and go through the motion of shaking hands. However, Connecting may not be what is foregrounded in my experience and may not be my primary intent, but rather something that is peripherally occurring. I might be, in this situation, also facing these persons but not really making eye contact, although I can see them. Yet in another situation, I might have an active intent to connect as I engage in the actions of handshaking and making eye contact, and these can then be understood as actions of Connecting. The terms core and periphery can serve us metaphorically in this understanding. In addition, we can look to the process and intent of the practice of Motif as we seek to address intent. Motif asks – what is the essence, what is significant? What is the primary action? In this way Motif allows us to better understand how actions convey or support the intent.

In another example of how we express the Basic Body Action of Connecting, I might want to show my support for someone and so shift in space to be positioned next to them. I might not, in this example, make eye contact or touch the person, but could have the intent of Connecting through the change in spatial relationship. In this example and the prior examples of handshaking and making eye contact, the addition of the Basic Body Action of Connecting is linked also, to expanding the system to look not only at actions, but also to address the concept of interactions.

In another example, I might connect to the handrail of a staircase. This example comes from my personal experience with stairs, due to having had a serious fall down a flight of stairs. I now always seek to connect to the rail for support before traveling down a staircase. Someone else might not need this action of connecting to the rail at all. But in my phrase of this sequence of action, I begin with the action of Connecting before the action of Traveling. Remember that Phrasing is how all movement occurs in creating meaningful sequences of actions. So, it is not a coincidence that the Phrasing Bow and the Basic Body Action of Connecting share the same form of the Bow arc shape of Motif. Phrases are, after all, based in connecting the parts into containers of action of a shared idea/intent.

Like many, many aspects of movement analysis there are both macro and micro perspectives and macro and micro patterns involved in the actions of connecting. LBMS continues to develop and evolve at both of these macro and micro levels. The users of the system are the refiners of this tool, as both pattern perceivers and pattern makers in the ongoing process of the development of our knowledge and understanding of human movement.

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Let’s Be Honest: The Online Environment in the Context of the Movement Experience

KStudd May 8, 2020

Teaching online – specifically offering somatic experiences for students that are intended primarily as somatic practice, is problematic on multiple levels. This needs further discussion I believe.

In this discussion I am not addressing classes that are not primarily focused on creating a somatic awareness and experience. For example, a dance class that has a different foregrounded intent (although clearly of course, can be framed as a somatic experience.) I also acknowledge that there are classes and courses that are very well suited to online education.

It is rather the plethora of online movement offerings and the trend to switching from the embodied classroom experience to the virtual environment due to the current situation that I want us to address more deeply and reflect on. This is the purpose of this missive.

The somatic educational experience is generally focused on awareness of an individual’s sensations and this in turn can often be a trigger for feelings and thoughts. This process involves awakening or deepening conscious awareness of emotions or thinking patterns. Indeed, this can be a fundamental goal of the experience – i.e. a deeper access to one’s Inner experience and bringing it into conscious awareness in order to better understand it or to find other possibilities etc.

In a real time /real space educational environment – what I will call the embodied classroom – vs the virtual classroom, the teacher or facilitator of the experience can, and should, and generally does monitor the situation. In other words, they “read the room”, or in LBMS parlance – read the Dynamosphere. The teacher can go back and forth between Direct attention and Indirect attention in the environment of the embodied classroom. This facilitates the Rhythm of Individual and Group and Self and Other that is dynamically in play. The teacher also has ways that they are self-monitoring (more about this later). In this way they monitor the whole – the group as well as individuals within the group and themselves.

This brings me to what has become (at least for me) a huge concern regarding the efficacy and responsibility – and do I dare mention it – the ethics – of online teaching that need more attention than I have generally seen deeply discussed.

I will address this from a story of my own experience – so a bit of heuristic research if you will in this subject matter.

I recently was a participant in an online somatic education type of class. The instructor was working from the embodied metaphors of our organs to engage the participants inner experience (NB this was not a BMC class as the experience was framed as a Fundamental Principle of Core Support). Engaging through an embodiment of metaphor was how I understood the essence of the experience of what was being suggested that we participants explore. We were directed to explore activating our movement from the heart. As soon as I began to engage with this experience, I immediately realized that my heart was frozen – immobile and I felt that I was a “heartless” person. I felt that the only movement available to mobilize from this place was in the action of Retreating and Enclosing. A sadness overwhelmed me, and tears streamed down my face… I hope you can appreciate the vulnerability that I choose to reveal here and why I think this is important to do here.

Now I am not a newbie in experiencing how my own activation of the movement of self can be very revealing and take one to a very deep place. So, I had experience and understanding of this somatic emotional release/response. But what if I did not? What about those with a history of depression that such an experience triggers? Just as I am often disturbed when I see that someone leads a breathing exercise without any real recognition of what it can potentially trigger (yet another topic for further discussion) I find myself questioning what do we teachers need to articulate when we engage in leading these experiences. Particularly when we cannot actually be fully present, but only can be partially present such as in the context of online somatic experience classes.

The teacher of this class had no way to actually observe that this was my response. And this reality made me reflect upon my own teaching experiences in the classroom when I have observed that a student was “being moved” in this way or had shut down or walked away or given some other sign that I observed – such as leaving the room, stopping participation or crying, etc.

In such situations I make a decision about how or if to connect to the individual. I may choose to simply be a witness and hold the space, or I may inquire if they need some support or assistance. Or I might ask someone else to check in with them. Or I may wait until a break and take them aside or, or, or … The point is that I am in a much better place to make a decision as to what could be supportive of their experience and supportive of the goals of the class that I am leading.

Now just take a moment to reflect on the practice of “muting” the participants in Zoom sessions – a necessary evil? Hmmmm

So, let us be honest – this ability to adequately respond is VERY LIMITED in the virtual classroom setting. Now I am not suggesting that we not have virtual online classes. We should. These they offer many possibilities for helping to connect us and to bridge our alone experience with others.

But let us also REALLY acknowledge the problems and limitations in the online medium in somatic educational interaction. In addition to the somatic emotional response aspect that I illustrated through the example of my personal experience, there are many other aspects of this virtual learning that also need to be addressed. This includes the lack of touch. Those of us who teach embodied practices often facilitate action and connect through intentional touch. This is NOT possible in the virtual classroom. Much more can and needs to be said about this. I am also very distressed at all the articles that I have recently seen as part of the practice of social distancing suggesting that we “do away with the handshake” and instead adopt the bow. Those writing these articles are well meaning but generally, in my estimation, have no real understanding of movement, including the action of touch and so they should not be opining about the significance of actions when they are not experts. We are – and we should make this clear – another topic for long discussion …

Then there is the interrupted phrasing that seems too often happen in the virtual environment of interaction. Sometimes this is due to the technology, but also it is due to a much more impaired ability of the participants to read the signals of interaction through the screen.

There are the aspects of technology that can be frustrating of course – the tech itself can be problematic in poor connections impairing seeing and hearing and the glitchy and unnerving aspects of time when there is a lag or a freeze. These can be minor irritants, or they can be quite more and contribute to stress and stress as we know, is often a process of accumulation. Tech stress is something that cannot be simply dismissed – as it is another “straw” on the proverbial back of the camel.

Many have spoken about Zoom fatigue and how exhausted this type of teaching is. We need to have a much more robust conversation about this phenomenon. Clearly the Exertion/Recuperation is out of balance – let’s use our considerable skills to name why and to share this with the world. I believe that in interacting through the screen there is much less ability to self-regulate by looking away, attending to self, shifting attention from group to individual – all this becomes “out of whack”. – This can be ameliorated perhaps to some extent by better practices. However, the medium itself is NOT conducive to the balance that is much more readily available in the environment of the embodied classroom. And this needs to be emphatically made clear.

I recognize the need and reality of online teaching, but I do think we need a more thoughtful and measured response and approach as I fear that this can become a panacea. Particularly when it is put into practice as an economic response to crisis and not foregrounding the intent of the educational training in somatic practice. There is certainly a great deal of – jumping on the band wagon of accessing band width in promoting education going on I see – and this bears reflection from this community.

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A Fundamental Movement Principle: Utilizing Rotation

by Karen Studd, updated Spring 2020

Rotation is both a body action and a larger meta concept (meta in the sense of beyond) constructed from the physical sensorial experience of rotation.

There is something inherently beautiful about rotation – spinning, twirling, spiraling twisting, turning, rolling – Ferris Wheels, the Wheel of Fortune – The mind-boggling discovery of the wheel!

Universal Pattern/Individual Experience

Rotation gives us access to the entire world around us. Rotation allows us to change perspectives and supports access to alternative possibilities. Rotation is a universal pattern of movement. The earth rotates on its axis and in its orbit, it revolves around the sun. Children love to spin turning around and around till dizzy. The ballerina, in pirouetting, sublimely expresses the wholeness of the theme of Mobility/Stability through her rotary action. The spatial Vertical Dimension aligned with the pull of gravity and the dancer’s vertical thoroughness are the stable center around which the mobile turning action is performed. This graceful action reflects both the celestial rotation of the heavenly bodies but also how humans indulge in this experience – the same action that the child relishes. And too, this same connection – that of the unique individual human experience to the universal pattern is also reflected in the Sufis whirling dance of devotion.

Rotation creates a circular pathway and the circle is an eternal form; it is endless, having no beginning or ending. The circle is harmonious, the circle creates a safe-haven. On the inside its center is stabile, creating a harmonious balance of inner and outer. In a circle, all points are equal. This is the idea of the Knights of the Round Table. The circle’s center can focus us by becoming the “center of attention”. Rotation connects us both to ourselves as well as to our environment. We “circle our wagons” or we get lost “running in circles” or we get stuck in place and simply “spin our wheels”.

The Shape of Space

To experience rotation is to experience space taking shape. One fundamental shape revealed through rotation is the screw shape form. You may recall that the screw along with the lever, pulley and inclined plane, is one of the basic “simple machines” (and keep in mind that the pulley relies on the wheel shape).

The circle in 3D becomes the sphere, the coil becomes the 3D vortex. A spiral or a twist can change everything or bring us round again. A “twister”, that is a tornado, can bring chaos and destruction. The “windup” can be a powerful preparation before the baseball pitcher releases the ball. The spiral twist of upper body against lower is the key to perfecting the golfers swing.

The Movement of Rotation

With our first full body rotation – when in infancy we turn over- the whole world changes, not only for ourselves providing a new perspective, but also for our caretakers as we are now mobile and will no longer stay put!

Rotation enables us to accommodate by allowing us to wrap ourselves or parts of ourselves around things. It is the cornerstone of our ability to move 3 dimensionally. It allows our form, our body’s shape to accommodate to our environment as we master wrapping our hands around tools or ourselves around another in an embrace.

Rotation is key to our survival as it allows us to scan the full view of our environment. And while we do not have the ability to twist our heads like an owl, we are able to, with access to our entire spine and joints of the pelvis and legs scan 360 degrees.

Our spines rotate, our proximal joints rotate, and embracing the fully rotary action we are endowed with through all our parts, liberates our movement potential. The elderly loose this function if they do not stay in touch with their joints mobility and such tasks as backing up a car where you must rotate head and spine to see become limited. Rotary actions often appear more fluid because they involve a harmonious phrasing of multiple joints, rather than the simpler single joint actions of flexion and extension and of abduction and adduction.

Rotation is connected to fluidity of motion. This link goes to the essence of the nature of fluids – a drop of water adopts a spherical shape. Water, in its fluid form, also adapts to the shape of a container. Shaping expresses a mutual relationship. So while water can take on the shape of a vessel containing it – it can also shapes its containers – think about how rivers shape the canyons through which they run, expressing a mutual relationship of the elements of earth and water, a merging of contents and container.

Experience Understanding Metaphor

Our experience of the body’s action(s) of rotation leads to the conceptual understanding of this phenomenon leading to metaphors based in the experience. An abundance of metaphors grow out of this movement experience.

Some images/ideas/metaphors to think of in relation to rotation:  

Play – balls of all sorts in all manner of sports!

Planets – the sun the moon as eternal ongoing cyclic images

Cycles of all sorts from the cycle of life, and the daily and monthly cycles associated with the sun and the moon, to the traditional clock face with the “hands” cycling its “face”.

More Metaphors and the languaging based in the foundational experience of this concept

“Roll with the punches” to address the larger idea of accommodation. Or descriptions of chaotic situations described as “spinning out of control”.

Rotating an image to get a different perspective or rotating around something to see it from differing points of view are common images. We say that we “turn” things over in our minds. The metaphor of “turning something over” conveys a means of smooth transition to the next phase or next person and provides continuity and continuation. Rotation therefore can be seen as an action in support of development and evolution.

We ask students to “turn in” their papers or assignments.

We say that there was a good “turn out” for an event.

We encourage children to “take turns”

The expression, “One good turn deserves another”

We talk about an unexpected “turn of events”

We express confusion as becoming “all turned around”

Use the expression, “Leave no stone unturned”

Refer to a new start as, “Turning things around”

The Laban/Bartenieff Movement System links to the action and concept of  Rotation – a few of the links to the BESS components  (Body, Effort, Space and Shape)  

Now let’s address the LBMS of Rotation – thinking about the connection between rotation in Bartenieff Fundamentals and to the notion of Space Harmony – the body as spatially harmonic in form and function and a part of the Whole!

The concept of rotation from the perspective of the Body includes the anatomical action of joint rotation as well as the more macro construct of, in LBMS terms, the Basic Body Action of Rotation as well as the BFP – the Bartenieff Fundamental Principle of Rotary Support.

Rotation allows us to take in information from the environment (Body and Space) and then to engage, accommodate and to adapt as wanted or needed (Shape). This, in LBMS terms, is the way in which the action of rotation (both anatomical action as well as the more generalized Basic Body Action) supports the Mode of Shaping (Shape). And this connection of rotation to interaction in the environment also links this action to the Space Factor (Effort). Rotation allows us to get a new perspective, specific perspective and/or access a wide perspective. In this way, rotation relates to the senses and Body Action that support Indirect and Direct Space Effort, allowing us to scan our environment or to swivel to hone-in on something. Access to rotary motion also supports finding the full 3Dimensional volume and access to all zones and Directions of the Kinesphere (Space).

Rotation as expressed in both form and function is an aspect Space Harmony. This is well illustrated in the spiral shapes illustrating the Fibonacci sequence as can be found in the spiraled shape of a Nautilus shell. Rotary forms such as the spiral and the helix are also about an efficiency of Space. The form of chromosomes containing our genetic code in the DNA molecules are in the shape of double helixes, a form that allows a lot of information to be contained in a small space – expressing the efficiency of this rotational form.

Like the endless circle there is always more that can be expressed about the phenomena of rotation. And when in doubt one can always rotate!

** this document was initially written at the request of students in a movement analysis training program and was based on a class I taught in 2009 to that group. Most of these ideas /musings have subsequently been included in the text, EveryBody is a Body written by me with my WholeMovement collaborator Laura Cox.

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More about BF “Heel Rocks”

Class notes for Karen Studd’s WholeMovement Class Session April 17th 2020

A WholeMovement approach to Bartenieff Fundamental’s traditional “Heel Rock”(s) – starting from the basics and clarifying the intent of this action. Then continuing to explore possible variations and linking the action to BF Connections, BF Rhythms and BF Principles and the Basic 6.

What is the “Heel Rock”?

I am (in this document and representing the WholeMovement approach), defining this BF action as:

A repetitive, rhythmic, successive phrase of movement that is generally done through a lower to upper, successive, sequencing linked to the foundational aspects of the human form. The action is standardly performed from a lying supine position. Heel Rocks are based on, and stimulate, our foundational kinetic chains of action.

In other words, the BF Heel Rock (generally speaking), is a phrase of action that is initiated in the lower body and follows through the upper body, synergistically connecting parts to whole. Heel Rocks support and bring awareness to the efficient and harmonic patterns of our whole body’s innate postural actions (through limb/core differentiation and integration). It is linked to our design – i.e. to stand and walk upright. (I stress “generally” as Heel Rocks can, and from my perspective should be, explored in many ways)

What is the idea of Heel Rock?

Why do it?

Why is it significant in the practice of BF?

The “Heel Rock” is used to explore and experience whole body connectivity in order to:

  • prepare
  • recuperate
  • mobilize (activate through directing the internal paths of our flow through our kinetic chains)
  • diagnose (through observation, awareness and/or sensation)
  • intervene (to support change or a shift in emphasis)

How and why it works

The Heel Rock is based in the Vertical Throughness of our Axis of Length –

In the Space Harmony of our human design our length is dominate. We are of course 3-Dimensional, but we have mostly length. We are taller than wide or deep. And our length (in our vertical upright stance) is a foundational part of the pattern of our species design in relation to gravity and to the environment. We are defined by our bilateral upright stance to interact with, and to locomote through, the world. The BF Heel Rock action is both based on, as well as supportive of the function and expression of our essential design.

To reiterate: The action of the Heel Rock supports Whole Body Connectivity through the Axis of Length. And awareness of our Axis of Length is a Bartenieff Fundamental Principle.

The human Axis of Length is linked to our spinal column, and as vertebrates the spine defines our midline. In addition, our spine is foundational to the Patterns of Body Organization, starting from the Spinal Pattern and linked to what BF identifies as the Head /Tail Connection. The spine, with its 2 ends (head end and tail end) is also the foundation of our Upper/ Lower aspects of Body and the Upper/Lower Pattern of Organization. And then subsequently the basis of the Body Half (Side/Side) Organization, because the spine as our postural midline, provides the structure to frame how the 2 sides are organized – toward /away from midline through the anatomical actions of adduction and abduction. Furthermore, the spine (and Axis of our Postural Length) is a significant aspect of Cross Lateral Patterning, where the midline (as demarcated by the spine) is crossed. And this culminating contralateral developmental pattern is linked to our walking pattern (and thus back to the essential function and form of our design: our upright stance and bipedal locomotion). This Cross Lateral Pattern is also linked to other ‘crossing the midline activities’ such as the corpus collosum bisecting the right and left sides of our brain…

Spinal design

There is a synergistic relationship of the spines parts which we can experience in several ways.

One way is accessing the Rhythmic interplay between Skull and Sacrum. This is what WholeMovement identifies as the Occipital/Sacral Rhythm. WholeMovement’s perspective of LBMS includes the Occipital/Sacral Rhythm as one of the 3 identified BF Rhythms – the other 2 are the Gleno-Humeral Rhythm and the Ilio-Femoral. ( I can talk about these in another context!) This is NOT the same rhythm as addressed in the Craniosacral Therapy – although of course may be linked to this work. In the Heel Rock action the spinal curves of the lumbar and cervical sections have a reciprocal, inverse response as the wave like action travels through the torso along the Axis of Length.

WM defines Rhythms as: foundational actions expressing the Mobile/Stable, limb-core proportional relationships. (NB The spine in humans serves as both “limb” and “core” – core as the central midline and the container of the spinal cord content, but also because of the two ends, head and tail, considered in another sense as limbs (2 of the 6 limbs we identify in core limb relationships.)

So in LBMS and more specifically the Bartenieff Fundamental aspect of the system, “Heel Rock” is directly linked to these concepts of BF:

  • Principle – Axis of Length (one of the BF Principles as explicated by WholeMovement)
  • Rhythm – Occipital/Sacral (one of 3 BF Rhythms that WM identifies)
  • Connection – Head-Tail
  • Pattern of Body Organization – Spinal

In LBMS all the BESS Components are connected so now let’s considering Heel Rocks in relation to all BESS Components

Heel Rock Link to Shape Component

Shape in Heel Rock can be addressed through the Convex/Concave relationship of the spinal curves and foundational spinal actions of our developmental progression and foundational postural actions. The Convex/Concave aspect of Shape, is a foundation of the Body Space intersection. It can also be viewed as the basis of our patterns of Basic Body Actions in postural Condensing and Expanding (Body Component) and the explication of the 3 dimensions of Space (Space Component). The length of our spine creating up-down, while dividing us bilaterally and creating side-sidedness and in the action of spinal flexion/extension exposing or protecting our “front” and “back” (anterior/posterior) surfaces, is the foundation of our relationship to the world. Remember that the Shape Component is, in essence, the Body Space relationship. So the 3 dimensions of Space as we define them come from the experience of relationship of our form’s design – in its function and expression in the environment.

Heel Rock Link to Basic 6

The link to the Basic 6 is in that it supports each of these actions as the Axis of Length is a support for all these actions. In addition, these actions can be also experienced by adding the “rock” into the Basic 6 actions themselves, and by bringing the foundational spinal action more dramatically into the awareness of the mover and supporting an emphasis on mobilization.

Heel Rock Link to Effort

The Heel Rock sets the stage for Effort to emerge as it activates foundational Flowsensing and Weightsensing as precursors to Effort. The Heel Rock actions also sets the stage for time expression, due to its rhythmic nature.

Heel Rock Link to the Space Component

Access to Space starts from the expression of the Inner Space of the Body and directing the internal flow through the Innersphere. This then can be the beginning in defining our access to the Space of our Kinesphere in preparation to engage with the world around us.  OF interest perhaps for some of you if we analyze the Space of the Heel Rock action it can be best understood as the Space of the Dodecahedral Sagittal Plan and not the Sagittal Plan that we associate with the Icosahedron. There is, as you may know, a dual relationship between the 2 forms – Dodecahedron and the Icosahedron. This relationship is something that in the WM approach we are beginning to explicate more fully in addressing the Body Space relationship of Space Harmony and the human form.

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3 Things We Need to Sustain Us, Now More Than Ever

Why Flowsensing, Weightsensing and Breath Support (a Bartenieff Fundamental Principle ) are the key.

By K. Studd (2020)

Recently, in connecting to the students of an LBMS international training program, I encouraged the group to really continue to find how movement can help sustain them in these very challenging times. I said, in closing an email, “to keep moving and, in particular, to draw upon Flowsensing, Weightsensing and Breath Support.” One of the group’s members (P) asked why I singled out these 3 specific LBMS concepts in particular. Here is my reply:

In answer to your question, P – Well, several reasons –

First, because these 3 things are the baseline of all our movement, so the most basic foundational place to get in touch with ourselves. They can give us access to find our grounding, to find the capacity for both Mobility and Stability, and often also for active Exertion as well as passive Recuperation – NB we do not have to always activate to exert, of course, or become passive to recuperate, but these often go together and are built into the waking/active vs. sleeping/passive pattern of all animals. So, again, these activities are a baseline of Exertion and Recuperation balance.

Second, also remember that Flow is associated with empathy and with a universal life force that contains and connects us all. Whereas Weight is our own experience of ourselves in the world – self agency. So, finding this universal/individual aspect, too, is essential I think in such times.

Third, Breath helps us on so many levels. It links directly to Flowsensing and all manifestations of Flow, and it also allows us (through active awareness and sensation) to experience the ongoing connection between Inner and Outer. Breath is vital and has become such a sensitive image symptomatic of this pandemic. Our breath is something we take for granted. Generally, we experience that we will breathe with or without our awareness. But we can also modify how we breathe. We can choose how to breathe and use this capacity to actively breathe more fully or change its rhythm and phrasing. This makes breath a very unique part of the human movement equation.

So all of the 3, Flowsensing, Weightsensing and Breath Support can serve us and do not require us to “do” too much, but rather connect us to a balance between our “being” and “doing” selves.  Connecting to the thematic dualities and continuum of Inner/Outer, Exertion/Recuperation, Mobility/Stability, Universal/Individual, Being/Doing are an essential ingredient in continually finding balance and Wholeness.

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About “Body Language”

Debunking the Myths

by K. Studd (2020)

Body language is a trendy term that is used frequently without discretion.  We need to be wary of using this term too generally or using it inappropriately. By inappropriately I mean in ways which oversimplify the complex and interwoven multiple layers of non-verbal communication.

The non-verbal components of communication have a long history of interest and study. These nonverbal aspects have been proven in some studies to convey more than 60% of the information delivered. This means that the verbal content – the words by themselves – in some contexts, convey less than 1/2 of what is being communicated. In addition, when there is perceived inconsistency between the verbal and nonverbal message, the non-verbal aspects are what the observer/interpreter often relies upon and uses in deciphering the “real” message being conveyed.

Non-verbal communication is much more than specific gestures. It runs the gamut from tone of voice, tempo and phrasing, eye contact, weight shifts, facial expressions, use of space in both postural and gestural actions and much, much more. Non-verbal cues have many layers and include universal components, culturally specific components and individually unique aspects. This is why the non-verbal is so significant – it connects the personal to the cultural and to the universal and it is why we call upon the information it conveys in making judgments about others.

Think for a moment about overhearing a conversation in a “foreign” spoken language. For example, if I get on an elevator with others who are speaking in a language that I am not familiar with I have a limited ability to understand what is being communicated. In fact, I can, in this one-time observational context, only know minimal things about the nature of the communication. I can observe that words/language are being used to express, or to communicate, or interact. I might be able to discern some of the intent. If for example there is laughter, or loud voices or whispering this might lead me to some partial and limited conclusions – however much of this understanding is coming not from the words but the vocal tone, eye contact, and spatial proximity in the relationships of those engaged in the conversation. But any “translation” (interpretation) is very limited. I might intuit many things but to have any real access to true understanding I would have to observe-listen-see much, much more.

What is identified as “Body Language” too often assigns specific intent to discrete actions. The idea, for example, that an action of crossing the arms across the chest can be assigned a specific meaning is very misleading. It might, depending on the context, be that I cross my arms across my chest to hide a stain on my shirt, or because I am chilly, or as a way to connect to and sense myself to help me focus my thinking before replying in a situation, or it might be that I am creating a boundary, as an expression of either power or vulnerability. But it would be very dangerous and misleading to assign some fixed definition to this action such as “self-protection” without much more information about the person performing the action and in what context it is occurring. Repetition is necessary for pattern to emerge and context matters. The language of the body has universal aspects but also has significant cultural components and also has personally unique aspects. All are important in assigning meaning to the actions and interactions referred to as Body Language. Misunderstandings can and do occur as easily from a lack of understanding the language of the body as from a lack of understanding the words used when express ourselves and when we communicate with others.

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Addressing Motif

What Motif is and What Motif is not

by K. Studd
(updated 2020)

From a quick internet search to define the term “motif” – I find the following:

“… In a literary piece, a motif is a recurrent image, idea, or symbol that develops or explains a theme, while a theme is a central idea or message.

In a literary work, a motif can be seen as an image, sound, action, or other figure that has a symbolic significance, and contributes toward the development of a theme.”

In this definition I have bolded several words that I find particularly relevant in connecting to the concept of motif in a literary sense to the LBMS usage of the term Motif. I will return to this quote in a bit.

In the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System Motif is a visual pictorial representation of movement essence. Essence is NOT the same as highlights or details although these can be meaningful and significant both as parts as well as in relation to the whole! Recording movement’s essence and/or revealing movement’s patterns is not the same as recording the specificity of actions. This is an extremely important distinction relating to the intent of Motif as distinct from the intent of Labanotation, and this critical distinction is too often lost particularly in light of many who claim to be using Motif but are actually using a modified, amended or truncated version of Labanotation. Let us return to the literary for a moment in the example of a story– The story of a vacation I take. And on this vacation:

  • It rains everyday
  • The hotel where I am staying is undergoing renovation and so is noisy and dusty
  • I loose my purse that contains all my documents including money, credit cards and my ID.
  • I get word that my house (back home) has had storm damage that will need fixing upon my return.
  • I catch a cold and am feeling sick for the majority of this vacation
  • Then the night before I leave to return home, I accidentally run into someone I haven’t seen in years and we have an amazing dinner at a delightful restaurant and “catch-up”

So the pattern of this trip (as recorded in the above list of parts of the event) is not the same as the highlight of the trip. Clearly the pattern is one of bad luck and misfortune but there is a highlight moment when I unexpectedly connect with a friend.

In LBMS Motif is used to find or express or experience movement pattern – not transcribe a sequence of a series of actions. Recording movement can be much better done through technology such as video, motion capture etc. or using Labanotation in some contexts.

Repetition is necessary for pattern to emerge. Look back at the definition at the start of this missive – recurrent was a word I bolded. Through the motif (pattern) a theme or themes are developed. In the LBMS sense this would link directly to the Duality Themes we address – such as Mobility/Stability etc – So a pattern of actions (another bolded word)create the “motif” both in the literary and movement (LBMS) sense of this term.

Motif should not be a de facto branch of Labanotation or a shorthand version of Labanotation. Although they overlap, Labanotation has a different historical development and different intent than Motif. Nor should Motif be linked specifically to another symbolic rendering of movement, the application of “Language of Dance” (LOD) as dance is only one of countless examples of the phenomenon of human movement and is much like Labanotation in its execution.

Why Motif?

The nature of Motif, by its design, shares aspects of both the verbal and non-verbal articulation we value in movement analysis training, thus it can be a valuable tool in the process.

Motif can be a bridge between movement expression/experience and the analytical process of describing/identifying movement patterns. This allows Motif to be a bridge between the analysis and synthesis ends of the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS).

When Motif works well it is used to support the movement analysis process. It can assist with finding essence, describing essence and coming to consensus in this process. Motif can both reveal and represent movement patterns. It can also be useful in challenging patterns (the process of re-patterning or expanding range).

Like the phenomenon of movement itself, Motif is gestalt-like in its ability to capture the whole of action. Thus, for example, the spatial symbol for Right/Forward/High is not seen as 3 parts (- as the 3 words needed to express this direction are), but as the whole that is this Diagonal spatial directional pull. Likewise, the Effort symbol for Passion Drive captures the fusion of the 3 Effort Factors (Weight, Flow, Time) creating a whole rather than the accumulation of 3 discrete pieces as separate parts. This is fundamentally different than the sequential (i.e. accumulating over time) rather than simultaneous (all at one moment) and discrete nature of the language of words which require a – one word after another in a specific order to work. Yet at the same time Motif is a symbolic representation of movement and not the movement itself. Motif depicts only the essence of the whole rather than all the intricate parts (details).

Motif is a tool of the LBMS which is used to:

  • Visually capture and represent movement patterns and sequences
  • Reveal essential essence of movement patterns and sequences
  • Illustrate contextual relationship – specifically, foreground/background  (i.e. what is essential and what is a modifier)
  • Depict “choice” – both of the mover as well as of the Motif-er of the movement
  • Retain the essential patterns of movement by creating a tangible, concrete artifact of the ephemeral fleeting movement phenomenon

Motif is also used to:

  • Assist with coming to consensus in the process of observation
  • In re-patterning – through finding or creating alternative options
  • Becoming aware of or finding patterns through an emergent process (what is revealed in analyzing the motif rather than the movement itself)
  • Capturing and retaining essence in recording movement
  • Connecting macro and micro patterns

Types of Motifs: Constellations, Vertical and Horizontal Motifs

In the LBMS we use Vertical, Horizontal, and Constellation Motifs.

Vertical Motifs are primarily used to indicate when relative duration (i.e. the length of time an action requires) is an essential component, as well as to add modifiers to the main action. Thus, Vertical Motif is generally more layered and specified in its capacity to visually/symbolically capture the essentials of movement patterns. Vertical Motifs are read from the bottom to the top of the page.

Horizontal Motif represents the sequence of a pattern but does not include relative duration and generally does not include modifiers (at least in how Motif is currently conceptualized and practiced – although there is discussion about having Horizontal Motifs be able to represent modifiers to main action). Horizontal Motifs are read from left to right.

Constellations contain the essential parts that make up the whole of the movement event. In Constellations the movement content is held within 4 dots : : Constellations do not show sequence, duration or relationships between and among the parts. Constellations are a Macro approach to the overall patterns of a movement event that create the meaning and expression of the event. Constellations are a way to discern (to observe or to experience) the ingredients of the movement event but not necessarily the recipe!