Laban's Views And Ideas Of Effort

Rudolf Laban (1879-1953) was born in Austro-Hungary. Laban became interested in the relationship between the moving human form and the space which surrounds it. He was a dancer, a choreographer and a dance / movement scholar. Laban was the first person to develop community dance and he set out to reform the role of dance education, emphasizing his belief that dance should be made available to everyone.

Laban believed that movement enables a man to recognize his physical potential and that movement also describes man. The expression and quality used in ones movement was acknowledged by Laban as Effort. The closest translation of Effort in German is "Antrieb." The definition of Effort is the outer manifestation of an inner impulse to move. Effort is also described as movement dynamic. Effort is divided into four different effort factors. Laban used these four factors to depict the way that individuals applied Effort. The four Effort factors are Space, Time, Weight, and Flow. Each of these Effort factors has two extremes which are called the Effort elements.

The first of these Effort factors is Space. The factor of Space shows how a person's movement is focused. The two elements of Space are direct and indirect. When using direct movement your focus is on a single point in space. Some examples of direct movement are trying to put your keys into a door to unlock it and how birds of prey get there food. It would be impossible to unlock your door if your hand was shaking everywhere. Also if the bird of prey wasn't direct about finding and obtaining their food they would go hungry. Indirect space has a multi-focused. I find it difficult sometimes to be truly indirect with some of my movements. Some examples of indirect movement are scattering chicken feed for chickens and leaves in the wind. The way you would scatter the food to many chickens and the way the leaves would glide and be blown around in the wind would be indirect movement.

The second Effort factor is Time. The two elements of Time are quick and sustained. Depending on the movement, quick and sustained can be easy or very difficult. An example of quick movement would be if someone was surprised from the front or behind and reacted very suddenly. For an image of sustained movement imagine floating and being suspended in water or trying to attain a balance. Quick movement must be of course fast but also have an ignition or spark of energy behind it and sustained movement must have very slow and continuous prolonged movement that is nonstop.

The third Effort factor is Weight. The two elements of Weight are strong and light. Everyone is different on how they use Weight in there movements. Some have a core of strong weight while others have a core of light weight. An example of strong movement is trying to move a very heavy object. If you don't use strong weight the object won't budge an inch. Examples of light movement are snowflakes falling in the sky and the fairies or creatures in classical and romantic ballets like the willies in Giselle or the swans in Swan Lake.

The last but not least Effort factor is Flow. The two elements of Flow are bound and free. The Effort factor flow shows how much tension is in a person's movement. Some examples of bound movement are being in a straight jacket trying to break free and also when I get nervous or stressed I tend to have a more bound flow. Examples of free movement is being carefree and letting go or feeling mellow and not stressed. I think that I am more inclined to move with free flow. Free flow also consists of having very little tension underlying in your movements.

Laban and his colleagues created certain symbols to show all the aspects of Effort. The motif for Effort is a diagonal line starting from the left going up to the right ( ). All of the Effort factors and elements have the Effort motif within them. Here is how the Effort factors and elements are written in Laban's language. The motif of Space shows a vertical and horizontal line coming off the top of the Effort motif ( ). The Effort elements of direct and indirect divide up the Effort factor of Space like so: direct ( ) and indirect ( ). The Effort factor of Time is shown with a horizontal line that is not connected to the Effort symbol and is split in half ( ). The Effort element of quick is to the right ( ) while the element of sustained is to the left ( ). The Effort factor of Weight shows a vertical line connected to the bottom of the Effort motif like this ( ). The Effort element of light is shown with the vertical line up ( ) while the element of strong is shown with the vertical line down ( ). The Effort factor of Flow is shown with a horizontal line connected to the base of the effort symbol ( ). The Effort element of bound is toward the right ( ) while the element of free is toward the left ( ). All of these motifs are part of a larger image called the Effort graph. The Effort graph is a combination of all the Effort factors, elements, and the Effort symbol but together. If a diagonal line is drawn from the left to the right cutting right through the Effort graph (with the Effort motif being part of the diagonal line) it would divide all of the elements into two groups. To the right of the line would be the fighting or condensing elements. The fighting or condensing elements include bound ( ), strong ( ), quick ( ), and direct ( ). To the left of the line would be the indulging elements. This would include free ( ), light ( ), sustained ( ), and indirect ( ). So with all of this in mind the Effort graph would look like this.

These Effort factors and elements can be merged together. When combining two Effort elements it is referred to as an Effort state. Some examples of Effort states are strong and bound ( ) or light and indirect ( ). Three Effort elements together are called an Effort drive. An example of an Effort drive is light, free and quick ( ). When three Effort elements are combined and express the Efforts as a certain task it is called an Action drive. There are eight Action drives. The first Action drive is a Float which contains the Effort elements light, sustained and indirect ( ). An example of Float is whipping butter. A Punch is the second Action drive and contains strong, direct, and quick ( ).An example of a Punch is hitting a punching bag. The third Action drive is a Glide which includes light, direct, and sustained ( ). An example of a Glide is trying to balance. A Slash is the fourth Action drive and has the elements of strong, indirect, and quick ( ). An example of a Slash is cutting through a thick jungle hacking the wild vegetation. The fifth Action