In 2013, an icosahedron, a geometric form composed of 20 equilateral triangle surfaces, was erected on Monte Verità near Ascona in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Visitors can enter this icosahedron made of metal bars and try out postures or movements inside or dance them. Just as Rudolf von Laban once did, the man to whom this unusual monument is dedicated. Laban analysed and investigated movements, not only in the icosahedron, but often in reference to specific spaces and surroundings. In 1913, he held his first summer school session on Monte Verità, and in the coming years many more Laban schools would follow, not only in Switzerland but also in Germany and elsewhere. Today, Laban is still considered the most influential movement analyst and theoretician. His ideas and teachings are still important foundations for work in dance education and therapy.
In addition to his studies in architecture and fine art, the native Hungarian devoted himself passionately to the examination of dance and its historical roots. In his works, he described the connection between people’s dances and the respective working and living conditions of the time. In addition, Laban examined how the people of his own era moved. He observed the often repetitive and rote movement patterns of many work processes and recognized that people’s leisure time was also characterised by a lack of exercise, causing body and mind to atrophy. Rudolf von Laban sought to counter these developments: it was his conviction that dancing brings human beings in harmony with themselves and enables them to experience and shape their relationships consciously. Laban, who for a time also joined the life reform movement with its ideals for a life close to nature, believed for his part that humankind’s coexistence could become more peaceful and cooperative through a greater embracing of dance and movement in general.
Starting with the area of child development, in his movement studies Laban describes how movements arise and which components exert an influence upon them. When the body or individual body parts move in a space, as in the icosahedron for instance, the movements can be performed with various energetic qualities. In the process, the body changes its form and, at the same time, its relationship to the space. In addition, it enters into relation with other people or objects. Movement phrases arise from various individual movements. On the basis of these components, Laban developed exercises that increase awareness for the body and its possibilities and are as such intended to have a positive effect on the inner condition of the person doing the exercise.
Laban’s ideas, which he recorded in several books, are applicable both for professional dancers and laypeople, and for adults as well as children. Dancing and its significance for an individual’s health as well as for cooperation within society were more important to Laban than the realisation of a celebrated performance. And yet Rudolf von Laban was also an influential choreographer in his day. Atop Monte Verità, he created impressive open-air performances which included the participation of large “movement choirs” made up of dancing amateurs. This festival culture that instilled a sense of community caught the attention of the National-Socialist Party leadership, whose members were eager to co-opt it to their own ends. They commissioned Rudolf von Laban to create a mass choreography for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. This represented a fundamental misunderstanding of his philosophy – as Laban’s works surely showed humans to be free individuals, who are capable of evolving personally through art. His choreographies, which can be categorized as modern expressive dance, were based on inner movement impulses and assumed various different forms and dynamics. Thus, his work stood not only in opposition to the highly artificial set of rules predominant in the ballet tradition – above all it explicitly contradicted the Nazis’ uniform and militaristic conception of humanity as well. Laban’s choreography for the Olympic Games displeased his employers and the piece was dropped following the dress rehearsal. Rudolf von Laban subsequently went into exile in England, where he remained from 1938 until his death. In England, he continued to work on his theoretical writings, while also teaching the ideas contained therein in practical settings.