December 15: Today in Dance

Born Today: Rudolf von Laban

Movement theorist Rudolf von Laban (1879–1958) created Labanotation, a symbolic language that helps document dances, and he also created a language framework for categorizing movement that is studied at Laban centers around the world. Amidst these remarkable accomplishments, Laban also choreographed “movement choirs,” which were often performed outside. The performers consisted of both trained and untrained dancers moving together as a group. There are tantalizingly few photos of the events and scant film resources. Do you think they looked anything like today’s flash mobs?

Also Born Today: British ballerina Mary Skeaping (1902–1984) who was the ballet master for the Royal Swedish Ballet in the 1950s and Canadian contemporary choreographer Crystal Pite (1970-), who danced with American William Forsythe (1949-) at Ballet Frankfurt before founding her own company, Kidd Pivot, in 2002.

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Open Mind, Insert Dance