Walter Terry wrote, "No paints nor brushes, marbles nor chisels, pianos or violins are needed to make this art, for we are the stuff that dance is made of. It is born in our body, exists in our body and dies in our body. Dance, then, is the most personal of all the arts . . . it springs from the very breath of life."

Effort is a word introduced by Rudolph Laban. According to him, it is a mental impulse from which movement originates. There are four motion factors that constitute it: space (direct or indirect), weight (strong or light), time (sudden or sustained) and flow (bound and free).

An element of dance that refers to the immediate spherical space surrounding the body in all directions. Use of space includes shape, direction, path, range, and level of movement. Space is also the location of a performed dance.

A position of the body in space, such as curved, straight, angular, twisted, symmetrical, asymmetrical, etc

An element of dance involving rhythm, phrasing, tempo, accent, and duration. Time can be metered, as in music, or it can be based on body rhythms, such as breath, emotions, and heartbeat.