May 19 to August 10, 2025

Professor: Dr. Thomas Hagood

Tuition: $550 member / $625 non-member

12 Weeks; 3 NDEO-Endorsed PDCs

Register Here

Those who practice and teach dance are aware of the stylistic (‘individual’) differences that exist among us as we move both expressively and as we go about the daily business of life. Among our primary charges in educating in and through dance is to develop our skills in communicating how and why we move as we do, and how we assess student progress, both clearly and effectively. Movement Behavior Analysis and Profiling (MBA/P) is a model for action in addressing those differences; it is a highly useful tool for the dance educator as they work to qualitatively and quantitatively address how and why individuals move in unison and with difference.

Developed by Drs. Valerie Hunt and Sally Fitt at the University of California-Los Angeles, MBA/P addresses categorizations that will be familiar to the student of Rudolf Laban’s work in movement analysis and expands on how we move through space, in time, and with effort by incorporating neuro-muscular and biological considerations of how humans are organized to move, from their earliest development in utero.

This twelve-week course will expose OPDI students to the content, organization, and use of MBA/P. The materials are presented, and a series of exercises and learning experiences that include reflection papers, self-analyses, field observation experiences, and observations of dancers in studio and videotaped sessions are assigned to encourage your consideration of the information and its potential in organizing and communicating observed, individual differences in human movement. A comprehensive course manual developed by the instructor is supplied; supplemental readings and resources are cited.

Book required: None

Questions about this Course?  Email opdi@ndeo.org

This is a NEW course.

Thomas K. Hagood, B.S. (SUNY Brockport), M.A. (University of Utah), Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison), is widely recognized for his writings on the history and policy for dance in American higher education. He served on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin, Wichita State University, Mills College, and Florida International University and is the author/editor of four texts on dance. He was introduced to Movement Behavior Analysis and Profiling through introductory studies with Dr. Susan L. Foster at SUNY Brockport, and graduate studies with Dr. Sally S. Fitt at the University of Utah. At the University of Wisconsin, he delved into frameworks developed for the analysis of movement by Margaret H’Doubler and Rudolf Laban. Following Dr. Fitt’s passing in 2010, he has continued developing Movement Behavior Analysis and Profiling as a vital resource for the contemporary dance educator.

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