God geometricizes (and so does Laban) | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Volume 10, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2051-7068
  • E-ISSN: 2051-7076

Abstract

Although Rudolf Laban is primarily identified with the analytical frameworks he developed for studying and recording human movements, he remained deeply concerned to understand the complex synthesis of body, effort and space that occurs, seemingly spontaneously, in normal as well as skilled actions. Laban perceived a deeper meaning in this miraculous synthesis, noting that ‘every gesture and action of our body is a deeply rooted mystery’. This article traces how Laban used the metaphors of geometry and harmony to penetrate the physical reality of human movement as well as its metaphysical significance. Discussion centres on two Platonic Solids – the icosahedron and the cube – illustrating how Laban used each respectively to model spatial and dynamic patterns, to examine these elemental patterns in relation to each other and finally to place the human body at the centre of a universe of universal movements, linking microcosm and macrocosm.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/dmas_00047_1
2023-10-10
2024-04-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bodmer, Sylvia (1974), ‘Harmonics in space’, Main Currents in Modern Thought, 31:1, pp. 2731.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bronowski, Jacob (1973), The Ascent of Man, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Laban, Rudolf (2011a), Choreutics (annotated and ed. L. Ullmann), Hampshire: Dance Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Laban, Rudolf (2011b), The Mastery of Movement, 4th ed. (rev. and enlarged L. Ullmann), Hampshire: Dance Books.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Laban, Rudolf (n.d.), unpublished manuscript E(L)8/15, Laban Archive, Surrey: National Resource Centre for Dance.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Lao Tzu (1955), The Way of Life (trans. R. D. Blakney), New York: The New American Library.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Lawlor, Robert (1982), Sacred Geometry, London: Thames and Hudson.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Moore, Carol-Lynne (2009), The Harmonic Structure of Movement, Music, and Dance According to Rudolf Laban, Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Schneider, Michael (1995), A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science, New York: Harper Collins.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/dmas_00047_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/dmas_00047_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): dynamosphere; harmony; kinesphere; pattern; Platonic Solids; sacred geometry
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error