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 Agredano, Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (CLMA) and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator (RSMT/E). 

Can you give me the Details? 

LABAN/BARTENIEFF MOVEMENT STUDIES (LBMS) is a framework that aims to observe, describe, notate, and increase awareness of the individual’s experiences of somatic (body) movement. One learns how to experience movement fully in one’s 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 environmental experience; touch, sound, smell, sight, desire, taste, texture, and ideas motivate movement. That is why Movement Analysts are trained to work with humans’ ALIVENESS. You 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 your attention to movement details. It divides movement into Body, Effort, Shape, and Space. All four categories provide clarity about your 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, weight shifts, and level changes, as well as how to develop an awareness of one's 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 differences 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 movers. 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. 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 the opportunity 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. Post-rehabilitation patients have increased body awareness, reduced pain, and returned to daily activity. As individuals clarify their movement with LBMS, they gain a sense of satisfaction and joy in their performance.

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 apply to anyone with a body. That’s you. Helpful for anyone wanting to be more in tune with and aware of their body. LBMS applies to functional and performative needs, including but not limited to walking, sitting, reaching, standing, running, theater, dance, athletics, moms, construction workers, and desk jockeys.

When I see you 1:1, we will discuss your movement goals, past injuries, & current state to determine what movement education will help you feel great in your body. Sessions vary widely based on your goals and could include breathing clarification, observing your movement, returning to foundational motor pathways, spatial awareness (proprioception), internal body awareness (interoception), shape awareness, sequencing of movement, eye tracking, releasing tension, Effort education (e.g. the difference between a glide and a press), weight shift, presence, tracing and engaging Kinetic Chains (also called Myofascial Meridians & Anatomy Trains), owning your Space with confidence, relaxation, vocal exercises, clarification of your directional pathways in Space, and so forth. I can also lead you through movement explorations of your thoughts/beliefs/decisions/ideas to use with your psychotherapist.

There is a focus on experiencing the concepts on a felt level rather than allowing them to remain as “ideas.” We want to embody concepts. I always do my best to meet you where you are by continually asking your permission to proceed, asking questions to determine your comfort, and giving you options so that you are in charge of your experience.

What is a CLMA?

I am a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst (CLMA), meaning I am certified to teach this material to groups and individuals and have completed the necessary hours of training. I attended Integrated Movement Studies (IMS) school and studied under the extraordinary direction of Colleen Wahl, Cadence Whittier, Janice Meaden, Peggy Hackney, Brenton Cheng, Daniella Wancier, and Sarah Donahue. As a CLMA, I offer you new ways of moving, and I invite you to use your WHOLE self: your voice, your ideas, your experiences, your beliefs, your body, your mind, and your spirit, and I acknowledge YOU as the expert of your body.

What is a RSMTE?

Description Coming Soon

What is Labanotation & Motif Notation?
Description Coming Soon