| Abstract: | This article hypothesises that the binary framework of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) can be correlated with Jung's descriptions of ‘anima’ and ‘animus’, with the intention to demonstrate polarities in movement quality operating as expressions of power. Jung's theory of contrasexuality is also considered within psychoanalytic and feminist theories of embodiment, with the caveat that movement behaviours have had little examination within them. Like Jung's descriptions of Anima and Animus theory, LMA is a binary model which relies on qualitatively oppositional descriptions to indicate functional and expressive aspects of the lived body, lived world phenomenon. Laban also referred to some movement as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, although LMA's fluctuating, interdependent binary system can (and should) serve as a movement palette for either gender. Jung's original theories of anima/animus were purportedly living in the unconscious of psychological men and women, respectively. They are here further transported to a Laban-based movement duality that can be expressed by either sex. |
