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Introducing the taxonomy of L/BMA

This is an excerpt from Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies-2nd Edition by Colleen Wahl.

A taxonomy is a system for naming, describing, and classifying groups of information, usually biologic in nature, that have similar characteristics. In L/BMA, our taxonomy is a system of classifying the ele­ments of ­human movement such that we can name them, describe them, and classify the ele­ments with other ele­ments of like characteristic. The elemental nature of movement is differentiated into four categories for perceiving movement: Body, Effort, Shape, and Space (BESS). Each one of the categories of BESS attunes perceptive pro­cesses to a specific aspect of ­human movement with shared characteristics. What we can observe and know through one category is unique to that category.

BESS Tetrahedron

The tetrahedron as a three-­dimensional form is a useful model for L/BMA. As you turn this polyhedral, you rotate what is in the center. This offers a ­metaphor for how we continuously shift our lens when we look at movement through L/BMA, with each turn shifting our focus to explore dif­fer­ent elements pre­sent in movement. The BESS tetrahedron (figure 2.4) highlights the concept that a multitude of approaches are valuable, and depending on how we choose to look at movement we see an interconnected web of information and insights.

Each BESS category is composed of subcategories representing further elemental differentiation and refinement of the basic possibilities in ­human movement. ­Human movement is made up of many interrelated but individual ele­ments. When we address movement through the Laban/Bartenieff perspective, we connect the ele­ments of BESS into phrases of movement. Movement phrasing allows us to look at how movement ele­ments are linking together. All of this happens within a context—­a person, place, and meaningful setting—­allowing us to form connections between mover, movement, context, and meaning.

As Janice Meaden says, “We are all a physical BODY, SHAPING in SPACE with Dynamic EFFORT and . . . ​Phrasing is the HOW this all gets linked together that makes for uniqueness with varying contexts. This is where the meaning comes in” (Janice Meaden, email correspondence with the author, February 14, 2024).

For example, when Shape is at the center of the polyhedral, we are focusing on what is happening with how the form of the body is morph­ing and shifting. Other aspects are pre­sent and connected to what we notice, but they are meant to be in the background. Then, as we seek information from another category, say Effort, we shift the tetrahedron such that Effort is in the center and we are attuning our perceptive pro­cesses to the Effort life of the movement event, but we are aware of the interconnectedness of every­thing ­else pre­sent.

What follows is a categorical outline of each BESS category and its primary subcategories. This gives you a sense of the elemental nature of the system and the multifaceted nature of movement as individual ele­ments come together.

Body

The Body category focuses on how movement is ­organizing through the body, including

Postures and gestures

Body-­part phrasing

• Simultaneous
• Successive
• Sequential
• Unitary

Patterns of total body connectivity

• Breath
• Core–­distal
• Head–­tail
• Upper–­lower
• Body-­half
• Cross-­lateral

The Basic Six

• Femoral joint flexion and extension
• Sagittal pelvic shift
• Lateral pelvic shift
• Body-­half
• Diagonal knee reach
• Arm circle

Effort

The Effort category focuses on the dynamism of movement or the energetic quality of expression through movement. The ele­ments of the Effort category include

Flow: ­free and bound

Weight: light and strong (active)

• Heavy and limp (passive)
• Weight sensing (fluctuating between active and passive)

Space: indirect and direct

Time: sustained and quick

Shape

The Shape category focuses on the form of the body and how the form is morph­ing and shifting and includes

Opening and closing

Shape forms

• Pin
• Wall
• Ball
• Screw
• Tetrahedron

Shape flow support

• Lengthening
• Shortening
• Narrowing
• Widening
• Bulging
• Hollowing

Shape qualities

• Rising
• Sinking
• Enclosing
• Spreading
• Retreating
• Advancing

Modes of Shape change

• Shape flow
• Directional: arcing and spoking
• Carving

Space

The Space category focuses on where to and how the body moves through the space immediately around it.

Spatial Concepts

• Spatial pull
• Spatial tensions and countertensions
• Spatial intent
• Trace forms

Kinesphere

• Psychological kinesphere
• Reach space/size of the kinesphere
• Levels of the kinesphere
• Zones of the kinesphere
• Approach to kinesphere

Spatial matrix

Dynamosphere

Scales

• Dimensional scale
• Diagonal scale
• A scale
• B scale

Phrasing

Phrasing is the link in which movement ele­ments come together in sequences through time and over time to form complex and layered expressions.

Phases of a Phrase

• Preparation
• Initiation
• Main action
• Follow-­through
• Transition

Phrase length

Phrase patterning

Effort phrasing

Phrase emphasis

Context, Relationship, and Meaning-­Making

The BESS tetrahedron and the outline of what is pre­sent within each BESS category reminds us that movement is both elemental and multifaceted. As discussed in part I, L/BMA allows us to identify movement’s most elemental parts such that we can then synthesize and integrate the ele­ments in movement to form a comprehensive sense of what is happening and why it ­matters in a given context. When we address movement through L/BMA, we see what is pre­sent and what is significantly absent. We see repeating patterns and moments of crystallizing import. We also see that movement is meaningful and deeply relevant to many aspects of our lives.

The multifaceted nature of ­human movement includes the larger context in which movement takes place, and the inter-­relationships formed between the movement, the mover(s), and the context in which it happens. You as observer/experiencer/meaning-­maker are always making meaning from your unique perceptual lens with the specific context in which the movement is happening.

Whenever you see movement, you ­will see certain ele­ments of BESS, and you ­will see ­those ele­ments of BESS in relationship to a much larger context. Say, for instance, you observe a boxing class. In Laban/Bartenieff language you ­will likely see the ele­ments of “weight sensing, with strong, quick, direct punches, in central approach to kinesphere, accompanied by core–­distal patterning, and spoking and hollowing and retreating.” All ­these ele­ments combine to make up the movement of boxing. And they take on another layer of meaning when you ask questions about where this boxing is happening, who is punching, and why. A young ­woman boxing in Iran could feel very dif­fer­ent than young boys boxing in a major U.S. city, which would also feel dif­fer­ent from el­derly ­people boxing in a nursing home in Croatia, yet the cluster of movement ele­ments would stay relatively consistent.

The guiding concepts and ­organizing themes discussed in chapter 2 serve as larger structures to frame and guide a deeper understanding. Extending the boxing example above to include the organizing theme of Function and Expression may bring up new questions about the expression of strength and aggression and the experience of pleasure. A trainer or coach may approach this same scene looking at the functional needs required for advanced training, and how he would phrase subtle/simple/complex to deepen the athlete’s functional skills.

The taxonomy of the Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies provides a dynamic structure from which we can see what is pre­sent in movement and explore the interrelationships between the movement and its presence in the world around us—­thus, movement comes alive as an essential inroad to knowing.

More Excerpts From Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies-2nd Edition

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