Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) was created by Rudolf Laban, a dancer, choreographer and movement theoretician, who observed bodies in motion and developed a language and framework for describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting all varieties of human movement. LMA uses the lenses of Body, Effort, Shape and Space to document how individuals and groups of people move. Laban’s work forms the technical basis for expressive movement training and movement and dance therapy.

Exploring LMA’s eight efforts of Time, Weight, Space and Flow can be a playful and dynamic way to recognize our normal movement signatures and then shift them into new creative realms. Habitual movement qualities can change so you can communicate physically with the same expressive skill that a master painter brings to their canvas.

Bartenieff Fundamentals℠ is a developmentally based re-patterning system that was developed by physiotherapist Irmgard Bartenieff in applying Rudolf Laban’s movement theories to the physical/kinesiological functioning of the human body. The simple movements were designed to experience the body in motion through functional, expressive and efficient means.

Fundamentals mirror the stages of development of the brain and the motor skills that babies and toddlers progress through on their way to mastering mature movement patterns. Over time, practicing the Fundamentals re-wires the neuromuscular patterning in the body to support everyday and highly skilled movement.

Athletes, dancers, actors, musicians and those rehabilitating from injuries or chronic physical conditions are often able to move with more awareness, clarity, expression, ease, fluidity and fuller range of motion.

 

Body-Mind Centering® (BMC) is an integrated and embodied approach to movement, the body and consciousness. Developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, it is an experiential study based on the embodiment and application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical and developmental principles, utilizing movement, touch, voice and mind.

Much of the BMC work is focused on the changes in perception and consciousness of the basic neurocellular patterns of development and how to correct them in the body at any age. BMC covers all the body systems using an experiential anatomy approach. The muscle, skeletal, organ, fluid, and nervous systems can all be sensed and felt through a dynamic process of embodiment.

Using BMC is a framework of perceiving change deep within the body and helps bring mindfulness into all aspects of movement. The practices are designed for any age and physical ability.