In an effort to help directors and actors select and describe effective stage movement, this study developed an approach to human movement, based on selected facts and principles from several related disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, and mechanical physics. The theories of expressive movement discussed and the method recommended for the analysis and description of human movement emerged from the writings of Rudolf Laban. The method formulated for analyzing movement tasks involves describing what the body does during the tasks, where the body moves, and how the body moves. The study revealed many commonalities of human movement. All movement tasks involve holding, receiving, or moving weight by combining five basic movement patterns, which were found to be combinations of three basic actions: flexion, extension, and rotation. The investigator concluded that an understanding of the principles that underlie efficient and expressive movement is valuable to the theater director and actor in developing movement sequences for the stage, in selecting vocabulary for analyzing and describing movement, and in teaching and rehearsing actors. (Author/GW)