Methods in Motion: Laban/Bartenieff for Dance Improvisation

A yearlong workshop program for dance educators – live via Zoom

March 2026 – February 2027

Methods in Motion is a twice-monthly, live online program for current and future facilitators of dance improvisation. Grounded in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies (LBMS) and built from tried-and-true teaching notes, the series translates foundational ideas into accessible, teachable scores for diverse groups.

 

The program provides

  • Guided bodywork based on Bartenieff Fundamentals
  • LBMS overview + deep dives into selected themes
  • Ready-to-transfer movement ideas & dance motives, with functional–expressive rationale
  • homework / research assignment between sessions
  • in-dept exchange and progression within a consistent peer group

Why Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) for educators

LMA gives dance pedagogues a clear language to see, name, and shape what’s happening in improvisation. It helps you differentiate movement experience, understand bodily preferences, expand habitual patterns, and multiply expressive options. In practice, LMA offers clear parameters for movement creation, and supports facilitation ("choose one variable at a time"), scaffolding from solo to group work. With LMA, you can adapt tasks to different levels while keeping the learning aim concrete and observable.

Why Bartenieff Fundamentals (BF) for warm-ups and technique
BF offers a practical base for tuning in—breath, core-distal, head–tail, upper–lower, body-half, and cross-lateral connectivity—so movers arrive organised, grounded, and responsive. These patterns translate directly into efficient phrasing, clear initiation, and healthier load-sharing in joints. BF scales easily (floor or standing) and helps you design warm-ups, improving students’ coordination, stability, and ease before they explore.

Intentions behind the dance motives we'll explore in the program
1) The dance motives are designed to keep sensing and dancing inseparable: instead of lingering in long, internal process, I turn somatic and functional goals into interactive tasks and dance ideas on music, so perception and expression evolve together. 
2) Most tasks are floor-optional—great for movers who prefer to stay standing—while still offering many ways to vary and deepen expression (initiation, effort, phrasing, flow fluctuation, focus and more). 
3) The approach equips educators to teach from the body–mind state in the room—selecting variables that meet students where they are—rather than from a pre-set semantic theme. That means students understand the material through physical and emotional experience first, with words used to support what the body already knows.


FORMAT & SCHEDULE

Total: 17 sessions via Zoom · 2.5 hours each (incl. 10-minute break) · in English


 

Choose Wednesday or Sunday at registration. If you have a schedule conflict, you may attend the other group in the same week, as the contents will be identical. Alternatively you can make up the sessions you miss in the next program cycle (2027-2028).

 

WEDNESDAY GROUP — 16:00–18:30 (Central European Time)
2026: Mar 4, 18 · Apr 22 · May 6, 20 · Jun 3, 17 · Jul 1 · Oct 14, 28 · Nov 11, 25 · Dec 9

2027: Jan 6, 20 · Feb 3, 17

SUNDAY GROUP — 10:30–13:00 (Central European Time)
2026: Mar 8, 22 · Apr 26 · May 10, 24 · Jun 7, 21 · Jul 5 · Oct 18 · Nov 1, 15, 29 · Dec 13

2027: Jan 10, 24 · Feb 7, 21


The work is centred on praxis: movement experiences and related reflections. Theory inputs are crisp and compact, supported by handouts. Dancing will be as three-dimensional and interactive as possible —even on Zoom— through shifting methods, partner/group tasks, and intentional use of space. A music list will be shared after each session.

The program is explicitly for professionals and semiprofessionals who teach —or plan to teach— dance improvisation, with prior experience in dance and/or somatic practice.

Please note:
– This program aims to make dance improvisation broadly accessible, but it is not designed for mixed-abled groups.
– LBMS content provides an overview and selected detail; it does not replace multi-year studio-based LBMS certification programs.

– This is not a comprehensive pedagogy or occupational training. We focus on movement/dance itself and its transfer. That said, each session’s duration allows time for “burning topics” that call for eye-level support.


FEE

850€ for the full year (17 sessions)
Payment in 5 installments of 170€ each is possible.

If you miss a session for any reason, you may make it up in the next program cycle (2027-2028).

One can withdraw the registration after the first two sessions (See "CONDITIONS").