1. Laban Movement Analysis: Translating Our Emotions Into Movement
Lana Sommers
Rebecca Macy-Moore
Expressive Movement
5/04/15

2. LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS: TRANSLATING OUR EMOTIONS INTO MOVEMENT 2
Movement is a unique, individualized form of human expression. We move functionally
everyday when go about our daily lives but rarely think about how our movement is portraying
our internal thoughts and emotions. How our internal state is presented in our movement was the
focus of Rudolf Laban, a Hungarian artist, dancer, choreographer, intellectual and theorist. His
interest in the decoding of human movement led to what is now called Laban Movement
Analysis (LMA). He was deeply passionate about discovering and understanding the
motivational core of movement and its subsequent expression. In our present society, his
notational system, Labanotation, and theoretical concepts about movement have begun to be of
interest to psychologists studying the connection between movement patterns and the emotional
evocation. For individuals such as myself, Laban provides insights into personal movement
patterns and their implications. His deconstruction of movement allows me to discover what my
personal patterns are and what their possible meaning may be as well as how I can change my
patterns to elicit or express a different quality of emotion.
Laban’s personal journey influenced many of the ideas central to his movement
philosophy and practice. Beyond Dance: Laban’s Legacy of Movement Analysis by Eden Davies
describes Laban’s personal life and exploration of movement that later grew into Laban
Movement Analysis and Labanotation. Laban began focusing on improvisational dance theory
around 1913 in Germany after studying visual arts extensively (Davies 2006 p.2). His
personality was central to the development of his theory. He was an energetic creative force who
was capable of bouts of innovative genius (Davies 2006 p.3). His organizational skills however,
were nonexistent and he had difficulty with consistency in his life and working habits. A lengthy
depressive episode or ill health usually followed his creative outbursts, thus, he had difficulty
retaining relationships with other professionals (2006 p.4). His students, mainly Irmgard

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Bartenieff were responsible for many of the organizational aspects of his work. His main body
of work, Labanotation (then called Schrifttanz), solidified in 1927 (Davies 2006, p.6). This
system utilized a vertical staff to represent time and symbols based on the body, shape, effort,
and space to show movements.
Laban determined that the body, effort, shape and space were the four categories of
motion expressed by human beings during movement experiences. Each of these categories can
be broken down to further understand the qualities and types of movements associated with
them. Shape, as defined by Robin Konie, a certified LMA, is “The bridge between body and
space. Shape is about form and forming,” (Konie 2011, p. 2). Laban’s idea concerning this
concept was to describe the physical shape the body formed such as a pin, a ball, or a pyramid
(Konie 2011, p. 2). He paid attention to external and internal shape, which is related to the
breathing of the mover. His descriptive words were growing/shrinking, Lengthening/shortening,
widening/narrowing, and bulging/hallowing (Konie 2011 p.2). His student, Irmgard Bartenieff
describes this concept of shape. “Movement goes out into space and creates shapes. But also
there is inner space, and breath is an inner shaping experience,”(Bartenieff as cited in Konie
2011 p.2). Effort is perhaps the most widely known and understood category created by Laban.
Bartenieff described this concept in an interview with Ilana Rubenfeld in Bone, Breath &
Gesture as, “The central motivation in movement, the use of energy,”(Edited by Johnson 1995,
p. 229). This is the where we can see and analyze the expressive qualities of movement. The
flow or the control of the movement can be loose and ongoing or controlled and ridged (Konie
2011 p.3). The weight or physical presence can be light, lifted up and gentle or strong and
immovable. The time of the movement can be sustained, lingering and prolonged or quick with
staccato hurried movements (2011 p.3). Finally the movements can be described in relation to

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space by displaying indirect, expansive movements or direct action with movements that are
focused and laser-like (2011 p. 3). The last two categories are simpler. The first is the Body
which is described by Bartenieff as, “the medium though which all human movement occurs,”
(Bartenieff cited by Konie 2011 p. 4). It can be broken up into segments including head, upper
limbs, lower limbs and torso (2011 p.4). Space refers to the movement in relation to the body.
Laban termed these dimensions horizontal, vertical, and sagittal which resulted in six shaping
words: widening, narrowing, rising, shrinking, advancing, and retreating (Konie 2011 p. 5).
These concepts of movement were critical in the development of a regulated system of recording
and analyzing movement and expression.
In its simplest form, Labanotation is a wonderful tool to decode movements and analyze
their connections to emotional expression. According to Melissa Gross, Elizabeth Crane and
Barbara Fredrickson, authors of “Methodology for Assessing Bodily Expression of Emotion” in
the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, certain emotions elicit universal patterns. They analyzed
actors channeling certain emotions simply knocking on a door. They placed motion sensors on
the actors so that they could track their arm, upper body, and torso (Crane et al. 2010 p.238).
Strong emotions such as anger were associated with increased elbow velocity, strong energy, and
expanded limb strength. Anxiety was correlated with a bound, tense, controlled flow. Sadness
was associated with a decreased and slow movement time. These universal emotions have been
shown to have universal movement patterns. Movement is an inherent part of being a human
and now we are finding that it is intrinsically linked to our emotional state. We can
communicate our emotional states with our bodies when we cannot do so with our words simply
by altering the qualities of our movements.

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Laban derived his theory in order to understand how energy is initiated and expressed in
people. His goal was to discover how the body related to the space around it and how it moved
in response to an internal initiation (Bartenieff as cited in Johnson, 1995 p.229-230). These core
concepts have allowed researchers, dance therapists, psychologists and dancers to understand the
root of their movements and analyze how they are expressed to an audience or observer. LMA is
used to decode movement and discover its patterns and consistencies. Its accepted validity
allows us to use it to analyze movement and make connections to internal emotions.
Psychologists studying nonverbal communication at Emory University determined that
spontaneous, authentic movement patterns are correlated to specific emotional states. Jacqlyn
Levy and Marshall Duke focused on the relationship between a participant’s kinetics and their
assessed levels of achievement, affiliation, dominance and exhibition (2003 p.51). They also
assessed the relationship between anxiety and movement as well as and depression and
movement (2003 p.49). They analyzed 13 movement variables created by Laban including flow
of movement, weight, space usage, quick vs. slow time, effort change, enclosing movement,
spreading movement, shape emphasis, horizontal movement, vertical movement, sagittal
movement, and space emphasis (Duke and Levy 2003 p.51).
Their findings indicated that particular movements were correlated with recorded and
assessed emotional states. Those male participants that scored high on depression displayed an
affinity for indirect space, use of sagittal movement, and a discomfort with projecting awareness
and moving confidently with a focused motion (2003 p.52). Females scoring high on depression
tended to change the inflections of their movement, stayed in one place, and projected less
energy variability (p.52). This could indicate that in their everyday lives they were sluggish and
unlikely to display much effort in their movements as well as have little motivation for activity.

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Females with high anxiety displayed similar movement patterns to those with high levels of
depressive symptoms (p.54). When analyzing movement correlations with the personality traits
of achievement, dominance, affiliation and exhibition there were expected patterns. Males and
females with strong affinity used space directly and controlled their energy (p.57). They were
more likely to approach others and explore the environment (p.57). The authors speculated that
their personal attitudes would be friendly and confident in their environment. They also used
strongly weighted movements and emphasized effort (p.57). Dominant males were less likely to
display enclosing movements while dominant females were less likely to display spreading
movements (p.57). Achievement had similar movement patterns to affiliation and exhibition had
similar patterns to dominance (p.58). These results reveal an incredible amount of insight into
the core motivation of human movement.
Our movements are rooted in our internal perceptions and emotions. Duke and Levy
determined that there is a statistical correlation between our emotions and our movement.
Emotion is the internal source or starting point for movement. Movement can be purely
functional, used as a necessity to perform a task, but dancers have shown us that our bodies can
tell stories. Instead of focusing on the end product of a movement such as getting from one place
to another, dancers show us that the process of moving is what is beautiful and emotional. The
processes of our movements are where we tell the outer world our inner state. Our fast paced
society is focused on goals and the most efficient way to get from one place to another. We do
not stop to watch how someone walks and the way their shoulders are held and how their arms
are held. We simply focus on achieving our movement goals. The process of moving is where
we can find emotional information. Laban gave psychologists, dancers, and normal people a
way to analyze their movements and connect them to their emotional states. Clearly, based on

7. LABAN MOVEMENT ANALYSIS: TRANSLATING OUR EMOTIONS INTO MOVEMENT 7
Duke and Levy’s research LMA can be used to decode movements and gain insight into
someone’s emotional state and personality.
Since reading about Labanotation I have been able to reflect on my personal movement
practices. I am an emotional person. I have extremely intense emotions and I have always
found them to be connected to my movement. When moving authentically, moving based on an
internal initiation rather than an external pressure or expectation, I always begin my checking in
emotionally. My current emotion is always the starting point for my movement. It was
completely automatic to me. That is what we, as human beings, do. We express our inner state
with our bodies so that our emotions can have an outlet instead of being confined. Laban has
given that expression a name and language. Before Laban it was simply what happened
naturally and it was not questioned. Laban has created a way for us to look at our own
movements and understand our inner state. Through our movements we can see what our mind
might be protecting us from. We may be showing anxiety by changing our direction many times
or shifting our weight. I personally have a tendency to hunch my shoulders and hallow body,
meaning I curl into myself. When looking at that pattern with Laban’s analysis in mind I can see
that I am uncomfortable and withdrawn. At the time, I do not consciously make that assessment
of myself. That is the importance of LMA. We can bring those protected, hidden emotional
states to the surface of our consciousness and become more aware of how our personal
movement patterns reflect our inner condition.
Laban Movement Analysis began as way to analyze and write and record movement. It
has grown into so much more than that. Laban wanted to discover, through his analysis of
movement, where movement was initiated internally and how our bodies could effectively
convey our message. Decades after his creation of LMA, psychologists, dancers, and people like

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me can use his verbal descriptions to better understand their expression of their internal
emotional state. This process allows us to become consciously connected with our emotional
core and intuition. As human beings we derive meaning from the world around us and look to
our environment to give us information. We neglect the most important resource we have: our
bodies. If we pay attention and learn we can understand ourselves and live more fulfilling lives.

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References
Davies, E. (2001). Laban in Europe. In Beyond dance: Laban's legacy of movement analysis (pp.
1-14). London: Brechin Books.
Gross, M., Crane, E., & Fredrickson, B. (2010). Methodology for Assessing Bodily Expression
of Emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 34, 223-248.
Irmgard Bartenieff. (1995). In D. Johnson (Ed.), Bone, breath & gesture: Practices of
embodiment (pp. 221-237). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books ;.
Konie, R. (2011). A Brief Overview of Laban Movement Analysis. Retrieved April 28, 2015,
from http://movementhasmeaning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/LMA-Workshop-
Sheet.pdf
Levy, J., & Duke, M. (2003). The Use of Laban Movement Analysis in the Study of
Personality, Emotional State and Movement Style: An Exploratory Investigation of the
Veridicality of "Body Language" Individual Differences Research, 1(1), 39- 63.