Motor Behaviour and Physical Capacities Analysis From the Laban Movement Analysis: The Crossover Between Laban Movement Analysis and Pitta Taxonomy

Introduction

The movement is the dancers' occupational instrument for communication. In the artistic domain, the expressive and communicative aspects are the principal components that guide the dance language field; this means that to the dancer, the intention of movement will be defined for the emotion that the dancer wants to transmit. To achieve a high standard artistic performance, dancers expose themselves to hours of repetitions until exhaustion. Unconsciously as a practice consequence, the body of a dancer is moulded to the aesthetic standard and developed a pool of abilities empirically through repetition-dependent movements, rather than the focus on dance motor skill acquisition it is based due to motor challenges and capacities training (Shaw Bronner & Ojofeitimi, 2011; Hass et al., 2000). Currently, the method still is based on the high number of repetitions is used to acquire proficiency.

As a result, a high rate of occurrence/prevalence of injury is present in the dancers, professional, and amateurs' daily lives. Due to the artistic competition and the schedule of presentations, most dancers are still dancing under fatigue and injuries because their training and performances are too long and demanding, which does not allow for proper injury rehabilitation. Even though the importance of treatment and adequate recovery time from injury or physiological rest is known, these factors are still ignored because of the risk of losing a spot in choreography or dance company. With that, the physical and clinical condition is aggravated and may cause absences longer than previously predicted or early retirement (Anderson & Hanrahan, 2008; Baptista et al., n.d.; Bowling, 1989; Bronner & Brownstein, 1997; Hass et al., 2000; Liederbach, 2010; Shah et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2015; Tuffery, 1989).

The dancer must express emotions without difficulty or physical impediments, which means that the dancer's body must be available concerning freedom of movement, and the repertoire of movement must be as varied as possible. The purpose of movement analysis is to understand these requirements so that preventive protocols or even collaboration for the teaching-learning process and the treatment of injuries can be developed.

From this perspective, Rudolf Laban's study is the main system for movement analysis in dance. Laban identified three factors of movement: weight, time and space. Furthermore, he observed that these three factors relate to each other in different ways, resulting in a combination of eight efforts. He defined effort as the means of movement quality identification during the action: intention proposed by the emotion that the dancer intends to express. The eight efforts were ranked and called 'Direct Action Efforts': Floating, Dabbing, Twisting, Boosting, Pressing, Shaking, Cutting and Sliding (Laban, 1980).

These are the main types of effort that are expressed when one is motivated to act and are present in all actions and, therefore, “form the substance of man's movements” (domain of movement) (Laban, 1975, 1980, 1947). The efforts give the movement a specific quality. The dancer can work with one or more efforts simultaneously and in different combinations to physically communicate in the creative process (Laban & Lawrence, 1947).

Laban developed conceptualised paradigms in the directions that the body can occupy, based on the anatomical planes and axis; characteristics of movements concerning their intentionality based on the types of efforts and quality of movements. Considering Rudolf Laban movement analysis, the Taxonomy of Pitta's Dance was envisioned (Pitta, 2019).