Laban and Wigman Contributions

              Laban Von Rudolf was a theorist and teacher that had a great impact on the development of modern dance starting in central Europe.  He contributed a movement analysis known as choreutics. This method involved 12 primary directions of movement all of which derived from complex geometric figures. He also answered a question of movement quality in his theorectical system of eiukinetics. This design was made to increase the range of control and expressional movement a dancer may possess. Laban was also the first to begin writing dance in a notation known as Labanotation.

                    

Icosahedron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=819szgQ7ycA
                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh364qz66yw

                Mary Wigman was one of Laban Von Rudolf’s students who were greatly influenced by his approach to space. She began choreographing dance with a relationship between individual and space which was closely related to Laban’s choreutics. In her early years of creating she developed a unique expressionist style of dance she called “absolute dance,” which has the definition of independent of any literary devices. As a scholar and teacher she was received in Germany and became known as “Ausduckstanz,” or Expressionist Dance. After years of experimenting with music she took a new approach and started to have her music composed to enhance her individual dances. Her influence was spread amongst all who saw her dance and her students which can be traced all around central Europe and the United States.

Biography of Mary Wigman

Mary Wigman lived from 1886 to 1973, and was the leading force of the German Modern Dance Movement for over 50 years. Wigman first studied under Delcroze, and then with Rudolf van Laban when she was almost 24 years old.  Mary became Laban’s assistant in developing his dance notation system. In 1920, her school in Dresden first opened. Eventually the school grew and developed branches all over Germany, including one in New York headed by her student, Hanya HolmWigman taught her technique, which was based on structured improvisations in her school. She also excelled at solo choreography. Her two most famous works,  “Witch Dance” and “Monotony Whirl” were both created in 1926. Mary Wigman considered herself an expressionist, and was heavily influenced by expressionist painter Emil Nolde. Wigman believed that Art grows out of the basic cause of existence. She is responsible for the development of the Absolute Dance form. Her German Heritage, training, and personality influenced her work as well as the atmosphere of Pre-Nazi Germany. After World War II, Wigman re-established her school in West Berlin and continued teaching until she retired in the late 1960s. With the rise of Tanztheater, a style associated with Pina Bausch, Mary Wigman’s work was revived in the 1970s.

Rudolf Von Laban's Biography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EjarjewWnw

The son of a Hungarian diplomat, Rudolf Von Laban was born in Austria-Hungary in 1879.  At a young age, Laban was very involved in the arts and took the opposite path of what his military involved father had hoped for his son.  After getting kicked out of any secondary schools because of problems with his youth group, Laban solidified his interest for the arts and years later went to Paris to attend Ecole des Beaux Arts School.  There, he became fascinated with stage design, drama, and dancing.  During his time there, he performed with a troupe in Montmartre, at the Moulin Rouge.

When Laban began his own research while studying, he began to investigate different ancient dances, rituals, and movement habits.  As a child, he witnessed many different cultures first hand because of his father's different relocations to different countries.  This research along with his studies of architecture became the basis for his future work.

Years after studying in Paris, Laban became the director of a summer festival in Switzerland.  There, he began to focus on how forms from nature were assembled from abstract elements.  He also began his exploration into space patterns.

When the war interrupted his studies, Laban went to Zurich where he established his own school and taught for a few years.  He later began to open schools in various cities and started to go to many different places, including the United States of America, to spread his own teachings.  After all his tours had commenced, Laban was asked to choreograph for the Berlin Olympics.  After showing his choreography, he was fired from the job and was not allowed to perform his work for the Olympics because he had too many "mixed" ideas that were against many people's beliefs and morals at the time.  He fled the country to avoid havoc and ended up in Paris.

Many years after fleeing the country and focusing on his art work, Laban established the Art Movement Studio in Manchester with Lisa Ullman.  There, he taught many dancers and continued his research until his death in 1958.  Throughout Laban's life, he wrote many books and articles that were based on his studies including, The Mastery of Movement, A Vision of Dynamic Space, and Modern Dance Education.  Laban had many ideas and concepts that can still be seen today in the world of dance and art.