25th Biennial Conference of ICKL
	Escuela Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea, Mexico July 29 (Arrival Day) - August 5 (Departure Day) 2007

	Home Information Sessions Schedule Participants Pre-registration Contacts For the authors	SESSIONS Paper Teaching Choreography to Untrained Dancers Using Laban Movement Analysis SHUTE, Malcolm - USA Students without a dance background are often intimidated by the study of choreography.  They initially assume that only the highly trained should contribute new work.  In teaching Dance Composition for non-majors at Towson University, the first problem I confront is this fear of the unknown.  My students need to learn how to contribute to the form without feeling discouraged by the scope of the undertaking.  I solve this problem by teaching Laban Movement Analysis.  These lessons provide a supportive framework for the students’ experience of choreography.  LMA is intuitive enough for beginners to understand.  I choose lessons that emphasize exploration of self, giving the students a sense of agency.  Also, the universality of the concepts gives each student new insight into any of various forms of dance with which he or she may be familiar, such as liturgical, hip hop, or Irish step.  Laban Movement Analysis successfully bridges the gap between dancer and non-dancer in the teaching of choreography. Malcolm Shute is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher. He holds a MFA in dance with a concentration in choreography from the University of Maryland. Shute is certified as a Movement Analyst by the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. Based in Washington DC, Shute directs Human Landscape Dance, a modern dance company specializing in public space performances. He has performed with Nancy Havlik's Dance Performance Group and Jane Franklin Dance. Shute teaches in the Dance BFA program at Towson University.