Laban Movement Analysis and Sport: A Collaborative Workshop

Workshop Presentation
Annie Kloppenberg  

This three-part workshop first introduces basic elements of the Laban system of movement analysis. Participants will then collaboratively apply this method of analysis to movement from athletics. This method of breaking down movement can be useful in sports education and training, but we will also discuss what categorizing movement according this system tells us about how specific movements might contribute to particular sporting cultures and performances. What can we learn about how movement shapes cultures? In the final part of this workshop, participants will be coached through the repurposing of athletic movement in the creation of an original embodied performance based on the sporting elements of their choice. By taking athletic movement out of its home context, and reframing it, we can understand differently how that movement becomes meaningful, and what additional meanings might lurk beneath the surface of a given sport. This workshop will be active and interactive!