Rudolf von Laban

Rudolf von Laban (15 December 1879 to 1 July 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian dance artist, choreographer and movement theorist, considered a founding father of expressionist dance and a pioneer of modern dance. His theoretical innovations include Laban movement analysis, a way of documenting human movement, and Labanotation, a movement notation system, and he initiated one of the main approaches to dance therapy. He also tried to apply his ideas to architecture, education, industry and management. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After Joseph Goebbels cancelled his last choral work in 1936 he fell out of favour with the German government, left for England in 1937, and with Lisa Ullmann founded the Laban Art of Movement Guild in London and the Art of Movement Studio in Manchester.