Movement artist and
theorist Rudolf
Laban described
human movement as containing
eight basic qualities, which he described as The Eight Efforts. Each effort has a direction (direct or indirect), a weight (heavy or light), a speed (quick or sustained), and a flow (bound or free). They are:
wring--indirect, heavy, sustained, bound
press--direct, heavy, sustained, bound
float--indirect, light, sustained, free
glide--direct, light, sustained, free
dab--direct, light, quick, bound
flick--indirect, light, quick, free
punch--direct, heavy, quick, bound
slash--indirect, heavy, quick, free
These qualities are used in the teaching of
acting to allow
actors to both expand their personal physical ranges and help them to add specific physical qualities to the
characters they play.