Wednesday, April 2, 2014

The db Icosahedron

The Laban icosahedron is perhaps one of the most renown physical structures in dance. The name is from his creator Rudolf Laban (1879-1958), who applied the five regular polyhedra to movement sequences, he defined as "scale".

The icosahedron comprises twenty faces, thirty edges and twelve vertices. My icosahedron is made of PVC pipe connected by 3D printed vertices/joints I designed. It fits my height and the movement sequence I perform inside is based on a vinyasa sequence which includes sirsasana (headstand). It is interesting how the geometry of the solids is linked to structural strength and balance. The most stable configuration is achieved when the solid is placed with one face (and its three enclosing edges) in contact with the ground; when there is only one edge in contact with the ground support is needed.