3. His concept of choreology (P.20 to 25)

• P.20 Laban found it necessary to devise new words and establish a new terminology to cover some of the concepts he was exploring. Choreology was one such word: chore, pertaining to dance from the Greek root (which has many associations including 'foot' and 'song') and -ology, a science or department of knowledge.
• P.21 Even though the word choreology is linked to dance by the idea of the foot, Laban knew that the centre of dance is not the steps but the whole body and that it was important to study the body, not from the point of view of physiology, but rather instrumentally, by examining it from the point of view of its function.
• Then it was important to examine the body in action in space and to the overall study of spatial form he gave the name 'choreutics'. In order to bring further clarity and provide a frame of reference he identified the space of the individual as special, naming it the 'kinesphere', and set about providing a kind of chart for it.
• P.22 Dance steps have an affinity with countable, metric rhythm, but gestures do not. Actions of the body involve both posture and gesture arising out of rhythmic impulses, each of which has a recognisable quality.

• The four factors which determine the quality Laban identified as space, weight, time and flow.
• The various combinations of space, weight and time he clarified as having eight peaks in all, and gave each a name related to its main characteristics, for example: dabbing (direct, sudden, light), slashing (sudden, firm, flexible), gliding (sustained, light, direct).