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Laban and two women by a tree

Laban detail from Titan floorplan
Rudolf Laban's life as told through archives in Leeds University Special Collections.
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Laban Der Freie Tanz
Laban moves to Ticino. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban and two women in a tree
Laban moves to Ticino. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Labankurse Zurich programme
Laban over winters in Zurich. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban exhibition - schools 1927
Laban develops dancing schools in Germany. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban exhibition - floor plan for Titan
Laban's notation for 'Titan'. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban's Schriftanz
Laban develops dancing schools in Germany. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban figure drawing from 1920s
Laban develops dancing schools in Germany. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban Dornroschen programme
Laban develops dancing schools in Germany. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban Berlin Olympics 1936
Laban develops dancing schools in Germany. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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Laban Art of Movement Studio
Laban develops dancing schools in Germany. Part of an interactive resource at Leeds Special Collections about the life and career of Rudolf Laban.
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From around 1912, Laban moved to Monté Verità in Switzerland, which was the site of a co-operative experiment in which residents worked the land, made their own clothes, and ate vegetarian meals communally.

This black and white photograph (see image) from the period shows Laban and two women laughing and reflects his light-hearted side.

At Monté Verità, Laban began to experiment in movement scales with Mary Wigman. Here he also created a site-specific performance of the word and dance play Sieg des Opfers (Victory of Sacrifice) by Hans Brandenburg.

The archive contains a handwritten description of this event, along with letters between Brandenburg and Laban. In a letter dated 9th May 1914, Laban explains his plan:

"You know of course what my own plans for the summer are. Headquarters at Mte. Verità. Initially I shall be very busy with 'politics' down there. The reorganization of the 'individualistic co-operative' will take up a lot of my time to begin with. Besides, I [am] giving chiefly beginners' courses in dance, music and the spoken word. Apart from minor performances and celebrations every week there'll be nothing on a larger scale till the end of August. Then and in September, at the start of the autumn tourist season on the Italian lakes, I hope to organise a number of larger festivals. But more important than all these matters is the formation of our school, which as you may know, may possibly be somewhere other than Mte. Verità."

You can find a wealth of material about Monté Verità in the John Hodgson archive, which Hodgson gathered along with some notes on rhythm.

Dick McCaw