ABSTRACT
The genesis of Modern Educational Dance and Rudolf Laban’s role as founding father of dance in the English state education system are little known today. The story is embedded in extraordinary circumstances; its recognition as a school subject established during the turbulence of the Second World War. In 1940, Laban was evacuated to the isolation of Newtown in rural Wales. With ‘alien’ status, no work permit and a negligible command of the English language, the situation appeared bleak. Several aspects of fortune rapidly converged, however, to effect major changes and to reignite Laban’s international reputation as the prime mover in the evolution and development of Central European Modern Dance and to offer up an opportunity to realise his dream of dance for all children in the general education system.
