Rudolph Laban

9.1

A Hungarian person who created dances and developed Labanotation to write movement

proper noun

: Rudolph Laban

Rudolph Laban's work revolutionized the way dancers and choreographers think about movement.

Examples

The famous choreographer Rudolph Laban revolutionized dance in the 20th century.
Many universities teach Rudolph Laban's theories in their dance programs.
Researchers often reference Rudolph Laban when discussing the evolution of modern choreography.
Have you heard of Rudolph Laban and his work on movement?
Rudolph Laban's innovative techniques in dance have inspired countless performers around the world.
In his writings, Rudolph Laban emphasized the importance of movement analysis in choreography.
Many contemporary choreographers credit Rudolph Laban for laying the foundation of modern dance theory.

Surface Forms

Rudolph Laban main

Morphology

Rudolph + Laban

This is a personal name (proper noun) whose constituents are not lexical items with compositional meanings; knowing the parts 'Rudolph' and 'Laban' does not allow a learner to infer the biographical sense 'Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation.' Proper names are arbitrary referents rather than compositional phrases, so the meaning is not derivable from the constituents and would be unknown without prior exposure.

Etymology

Rudolph Laban was a dance teacher and thinker who watched people move and tried to 'write' those movements down. He made a set of signs called Labanotation so dancers could 'record' steps like music notes, and that is why his name now stands for the study and writing of movement.