Space harmony: a knot theory perspective on the work of Rudolf Laban

ABSTRACT Space Harmony is a theory and practice that explores universal patterns of movement in nature and of man. It is studied by artists who are interested in understanding patterns of harmony and balance. Rudolf Laban created this theory and is credited with Laban Scales; these are series of movements in space that increase spatial awareness and a sense of balance in the body. Knot Theory is a branch of Topology that studies mathematical knots. In this paper, we explore the relationship between these two seemingly unrelated fields and demonstrate some of the contributions that they make to one another. More specifically, we introduce the notion of Harmonic Embeddings as a generalization of Laban scales. This gives us an interesting mathematical context to study scales and Space Harmony in general. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT