Researched and presented by dance practitioners Anna Carlisle and Valerie Preston-Dunlop, and directed by Becky Edmunds, Living Architecture includes dance material and discussion and excerpts from interviews with sacred geometry specialist Professor Keith Critchlow and Rosicrucian author Christopher Mclntosh.
Rudolf Laban (1879-1958), revolutionary pioneer and prime mover in the rise of Central European Modern Dance, is known today for his innovative work in Dance Theatre, Movement Analysis and his system of Dance Notation. Little known are aspects of the spiritual philosophy embedded in the architecture of his Space Harmony practice. Working in Munich and Monte Verita (1910-1914) Laban forged his praxis of Space Harmony - a range of spatial exercises analogous to musical scales, which flowed in and around the structures of such geometric forms as the cube and the octahedron.
Inspired by the spiritual philosophies of Plato and Pythagoras and influenced by his study of Architecture at the Academy des Beaux Arts, Laban's construction of Space Harmony - his mapping of the dancer's space in flowing dance forms - resonates with the principles of Sacred Geometry and Sacred Architecture.The turn of the 20th century saw Paris and Munich awash with a ferment of artistic experimentation. The cultural climate was alive to a powerful renaissance of interest in esoteric themes and ideas: Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and Anthroposophy were the subjects of fascination, debate and controversy. Laban was not alone is his quest to embody the spiritual in art. Such themes and traces also appear in the works of Kandinsky, Debussy, Schoenberg, Mondrian, Duchamps and many others.
This film will be of interest to Movement and Dance Practitioners, Dance Departments, Architects, Artists, Theatre Practitioners, Philosophers and those with an interest in Sacred Geometry.
[Coded for world-wide use on PAL compatible equipment.]