WHAT IS LFA™?

When I animate, Laban Movement Analysis is simply part of how I create. 

It informs both my analytical thinking and my intuitive creative process, helping me feel into the expressive qualities of movement as I work. Because LMA grew out of the embodied exploration of human movement, it provides a bridge between my own lived physical experience and the process of constructing movement frame by frame, allowing me to craft character performances that feel genuinely embodied.

Laban for Animators™ is a way of applying Laban Movement Analysis to the art and craft of animation. While the Animation Principles remain valuable, they don't address the relationship between movement and a character's intent. LMA completes the Animation Principles. It provides a rich way of observing the functional structure of movement and how it expresses meaning. LMA helps animators understand how movement communicates, leading to more intentional creative choices and more believable character performances.

At its core, LMA is grounded in embodied experience. We all understand movement because we live in moving bodies. A core principle of LMA is: movement is layered. Because we experience movement as an integrated whole, we don't naturally perceive the layers that give rise to it. Through LMA, animators build an understanding of those layers, informing the creation of believable physical structure that supports expressive action. By working with movement knowledge that emerged from direct physical experience, LMA develops an animator's ability to see, analyze, design and create expressive movement with greater clarity. The goal isn't simply to learn new terminology, but to explore the domain of movement through a personal and creative approach that unlocks a world of potential for you as an animator.

LMA is described as a framework, but it isn't a formula. It provides a language for observing, describing and understanding movement that, when applied to the creative process of animation, leaves room for interpretation, experimentation, and artistic style. Whether designing a key pose, crafting a scene, developing a character’s movement style, communicating with directors, analyzing reference footage, or refining a character performance, LMA gives animators a robust movement vocabulary that can make creative decisions clearer, collaboration more effective, and the revision process more focused.