FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

LABAN/BARTENIEFF MOVEMENT ANALYSIS (LBMA)

LABAN/BARTENIEFF MOVEMENT STUDIES (LBMS)

Quick Bite: What is LBMS in one Paragraph? 

LBMS is a detailed framework that breaks down movement into four categories; Body, Effort, Shape, & Space. Learn and experience this 3-dimensional vocabulary that brings greater specificity to how you perceive, look at, talk about, explain, execute, and experience movement. LBMS brings fluidity, ease, healthy alignment, safety, awareness, and a lived experience of your body's functional and expressive movement range. Additionally, LBMS returns to motor development patterns to build the foundation for complex movement sequences. Train in foundational movement exercises, body mapping, spatial mapping, and exertive expression to experience embodiment. Receive clear and concise feedback from instructor Nathalie Wutkee, Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, Registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator. 

Ok, could you give me the Details? 

LABAN/BARTENIEFF MOVEMENT STUDIES (LBMS) is a framework that aims to observe, describe, notate, and increase awareness of the experiences of somatic (body) movement. One learns how to experience movement fully in their body with fluidity, ease, healthy alignment, awareness, range, and acceptance. Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysts (CLMAs) give clear and concise feedback because they train to observe, coach, notate, describe, evoke, motivate, and experience movement with specificity and aliveness. The system acknowledges that movement is tied inextricably to one’s environment; touch, sound, smell, sight, desire, taste, texture, and ideas motivate movement. That is why Movement Analysts are trained to work with humans’ ALIVENESS. You will often hear students making all kinds of sounds during their movement practice to support their movement, intention, execution, and expression.

LBMS includes exercises and vocabulary and brings attention to movement details. LBMS divides movement into Body, Effort, Shape, and Space. All four categories provide clarity of one's experience of movement. Below are summaries of what each category offers. 

BODY

I teach the fundamental movement patterns from developmental progression, bony landmarks, kinetic chains, basic exercises, the basics of weight shift and level change, and how to develop an awareness of alignment and body.

When an individual struggles with a movement skill, it is often changed by returning to a previous developmental pattern. After experiencing the previous pattern, they have the foundation to support the skill. Students will gradually learn to identify what developmental patterns underpin their complex movement sequences, return to those patterns with specific movement exercises, and have the understanding to bring their attention to subtle details. 

EFFORT

I teach the difference in the quality of movement. There is a difference between a sustained press and a quick burst, a pinpointed direct movement and letting your body shake all over the place. I bring precise vocabulary to those differences and teach students how to experience them fully. Individuals will learn to determine specific types of Effort to use in their movement performance.

SHAPE

This category is where we get very subtle and specific. Students will learn to feel and see the difference in their alignment and body shapes and how to transition from one shape to another easily and efficiently. Also, specific attention is given to how one physically relates to their environment (such as a ball, club, teammate, floor, opponent, camera, scene partner, loved one, cooking spoon, doorknob, ground, and so forth).

SPACE

I teach a 3D spatial map outside of the body. These are 27 points in Space that Rudolf Von Laban chose to bring attention to. The more familiar and practiced one is with this map, the more clarity one will have in their 3D movements in Space. Once they have a map foundation, I teach movement scales - like piano scales - to get them moving in specific patterns in Space. Students will more clearly execute and understand where they are in Space.

What are the positive impacts of studying LBMS?

There are many ways LBMS positively impacts movement performance. Individuals can clarify their movement to be more precise, efficient, safe, aligned, expressive, and full. Additionally, they increase their ability to move as they intend to. Also, I have repeatedly seen dancers heal their psychological relationships with dance through this work. Often dancers equate their worth with their movement. LBMS offers individuals to see movement as it is rather than as "good" or "bad," encouraging them to accept how they move, which can help them accept themselves. Athletes have expressed having completely different physical experiences of their exercises after applying LBMS. As individuals clarify their movement with LBMS, they also gain a sense of satisfaction and joy in their performance. I am a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (CLMA) and a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator (RSMT/E), which means I am certified to teach this material and have completed the necessary hours of training to do so.

What is a one-on-one session like?

Receive personalized one-on-one movement attention. This includes movement observation, analysis, coaching, guided movement, movement repatterning, and touch repatterning. Guided movement repatterning can be facilitated with hands-on or hands-off instruction to your comfort level. As a CLMA, I am trained in specific ways to use touch to support your movement experience. These sessions are applicable to anyone with a body. That’s you. Helpful for anyone wanting to be more in tune with and aware of their body. LBMS is applicable to both functional and performative needs including but not limited to: walking, sitting, reaching, standing, running, theater, dance, athletics, moms, construction workers, and desk jockeys.