Laban Efforts

In order to experiment with ways in which lines can be said and characters can be physicalised, we spent two hours developing our understanding of the Laban efforts. When all of the efforts are put together they “together make up the complete human potential of ways in which we function”.

Method

Stand in a space and use your body to trace out the edges of a three-dimensional rectangular box, in which you are, supposedly, standing.

Keep exploring this box and as each force is altered, adapt your movements accordingly.

Here are the eight main forces that should be explored, the main ideas being weight, space and time:

Light/Flexible/Sustained: FLOATING

Light/Flexible/Broken: FLICKING

Light/Direct/Sustained: GLIDING

Light/Direct/Broken: DABBING

Strong/Flexbile/Sustained: WRINGING

Strong/Flexible/Broken: SLASHING

Strong/Direct/Sustained: PRESSING

Strong/Direct/Broken: THRUSTING/PUNCHING

 

Break down of the efforts
Weight
When an actor is moving in a light way they move effortlessly, without any obstacles, as if they were being lifted lightly through the air. Positive imagery often helps with this effort.
Strong implies a larger amount of intensity, useful imagery perhaps being something like moving through syrup.

Space

Moving directly means that a character has complete focus and attention on achieving a goal. They make things happen, they deliver.

On the other hand, being flexible may suggest a lack of purpose and yet also the presence of being accessible and vulnerable. The character is easily distracted or moved by impulses around them.

Time

It is implied by sustained that the character moves in a smooth, consistent way which is unbroken. The movements are usually rounded and soft, and often slower than broken ones.

When an actor is playing broken their character’s energy is constantly renewed with a sharper, more angular quality to sustained movement.

Text

After exploring all of the efforts, we applied them to dialogue when working through monologues and scenes together. Trying to say the same line in so many different ways is a real challenge, and sometimes I found it easy to spot and at other times I had problems identifying which efforts worked best. We evaluated and analysed each other’s work, indentifying the efforts we sensed and making suggestions about qualities actors might want to incorporate. This was useful because it allowed me to pick up on elements of my voice and body that I had never before noticed.

 

For me, the Laban efforts are most useful when applying them to the general force of a character. For example, my character in 13, Ruby, may be a Dab with the occasional Punch. However, using the efforts line by line is less helpful, in my opinion, because I do not believe it lets actors ride on instinct and innate response to a moment or a piece of text. It is handy but also limiting, as you are always trying to categorize a character, instead of letting them live and breathe.