All these shapes have been observed in the early work of young children; they can be detected in several of the ape drawings; and they occur in the work of adults of primitive cultures. They begin in movement, and these movements form the basis of dance gestures also. So fundamental are they that Laban (1966) names them ‘universal trace forms’. He writes:
‘…Form is produced by the limbs of the body and is governed by their anatomical structure which permits only certain movements to be made arising from the functions of bending, stretching, twisting, and combinations of these. This influences all writing and drawing activity of our hands and seems to restrict it to the use of the aforementioned four formal elements as a basis for shaping from which innumerable combinations can be made.’
Elisabeth Watts, Towards Dance and Art, 1977