Laban Movement Workshops

 

Movement is recognized by many millions of people as a significant factor in their lives and their well-being.

Movement can be a tool for positive growth and change, as well as a tool in art and personal therapy. It can enable us to allow our inner, creative and expressive voice to speak. We all have a creative, expressive voice. The ability to express and create is not the sole prerogative of ‘the artist’. It is everyone’s birthright.

The universal interest in dance stems from the fact that dance is the most immediate and totally involving of the arts. Dance is of the body and the body is used to bridge the internal and external worlds. Before words and language, man experienced despair, joy, fear, wonderment, isolation and all the other emotions. Infants may not be able to name what they feel, but they do feel it and they express it through their movements.

The body has its own language - a language that we all speak well. Essentially, the language of the body and the language of dance are one and the same.

Rudolf Laban’s approach to movement enables us refine this language, to increase our movement vocabulary to express states of being in a more explicit and artistic way. He provided maps for us to follow, while giving us the confidence and ability to colour the map according to our own needs and personality. His work stems from an attempt - the most comprehensive to date - to grapple with and elucidate the language of movement.

Laban’s philosophy was based on the belief that the human body and mind are one and inseparably fused. The legacy Laban left us is immeasurable and far reaching: in dance, in theatre, in physical education, in industry, in agriculture and in therapy. Many people are influenced by his work without even realising the fact. Perhaps his greatest achievement was to prove that that we can all find pleasure in our ability to move.

Laban Sessions when Training as an Actor/Performer and in Therapy

Laban students/workshop participants have the opportunity to explore how to be creative through movement and how it serves as a means of personal expression and communication.

They experience moving without thinking, getting in touch with their body knowing which guides them into favourite, comforting rhythms. Sometimes the challenge is inspired by words of Gabrielle Roth, a dance shaman where students/workshop participants are encouraged to find their feet, give themselves up to the beat of the music and move like they have never moved before.

By the end of the course the students/workshop participants should not only have an technical understanding of Laban’s Theory of movement, but would also have been through a very personal, emotional and spiritual learning experience.

Students at drama schools will then learn how to apply their newfound Laban Theory, directly to text and when working on character.