Event Description
In the early twentieth century, human bodily movement garnered interest among researchers who were convinced that understanding and controlling it could help govern an increasingly frazzled, fragmented world. Making Movement Modern traces one movement visualization technique, Labanotation, from its origins in expressionist dance, Austro-Hungarian military discipline, and contemporary physiology to its employment in factories and offices a half-century later. Frustrated by societies that seemed plagued by regimentation and alienation, the users of Laban-inspired systems—from artists and scientists to factory owners, politicians, lawyers, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and computer scientists—hoped to provide opportunities for individual expression while simultaneously harnessing movement to serve the needs of larger communities, businesses, and states.
Event Speaker
Whitney Laemmli, Assistant Professor of Social Science and Cultural Studies at the Pratt Institute
Event Information
Free and open to the public; registration required for in-person and online attendance. For more information, please visit the event webpage. Please visit the Heyman’s Center website for directions. Please email [email protected] with any questions.
Hosted by the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
