History of Rudolf Laban

Practical theatre is all about using your body to tell a story or convey an action. When you are communicating with the audience, you use your body and your voice to do so. In this instance your body should remain relaxed and energised. There should be no unnecessary tension which limits your movement and capability of communicating with the audience whether it is through your body or voice. There were three theories developed by movement practitioners to improve one's practical performance.

One of Rudolf Laban's main interests was movement and how our body speaks to the world around us through body attitudes; he saw life as a dynamic movement of experience. He looked upon movement as a two way language process to which the body could communicate by giving and receiving messages. Laban worked along the lines of, that one's body attitude expresses without words your inner feelings and changing thoughts to the outside world. There are two major components Laban refers to in movement and those are effort and shape. Laban described movement in terms of four qualities and observed how these qualities worked amongst humans. The four qualities of effort are known as flow, weight, time and space. Flow is linked to feeling which can be free or bound, weight is linked to intention by it being light or strong, time is linked to decision making which could be sudden or sustained and space is linked to thinking or attention which could be direct or indirect. We become more aware of our bodies and the space around us by keeping these four qualities in mind, effort allows us to reflect on the amount of energy and dynamics that goes towards each of these qualities. Laban described four body attitudes in space; which are known as the pin, ball, wall and screw. Laban described four body attitudes in space; which are known as the pin, ball, wall and screw. When regarding the shape of an object, you ask yourself numerous questions; when you think of the shape, what image it evokes within yourself, how your body will behave in a similar manner to this shape and how does the base define the shape this meaning the amount of space it occupies.

Frederick Matthias Alexander was an Australian actor who began to experience chronic laryngitis whenever he performed. He basically experienced an inflammation of the larynx, which would cause him to have a hoarse voice or his voice to disappear completely. He found out the doctors could not help him at that time and started to develop his own solutions. This is what had lead him to become aware of the fact that excess tension in one's body and neck affects the spine. Not only does it begin with affecting ones spine, but it affects and limits our movement and creates bad habits. Alexander developed what many called the ‘'Alexander Technique ‘'. It's a technique that was developed