This work celebrates the 50th anniversary of this dancing academy, founded by Rudolf Laban in 1946. Laban fled from the Nazi regime and in 1938 joined his former pupils, Kurt Jooss and Lisa Ullman, who had been working at Dartington Hall since 1934. In 1946 Laban and Ullman launched the Laban Centre, at first called the Art of Movement Studio, in Manchester. It moved to Addlestone in Surrey in 1953 and to New Cross in 1976. This text describes the problems, the efforts of the founders, the directors, and the small group of trustees and others who have had ultimate responsibility for the Centre. From 1972 until 1989, when it became independent, the Centre was closely associated with Goldsmiths' College. By then, the decline of teacher training and the growing appeal of modern dance forced a change of direction. Under the leadership of Marion North, degree work was introduced and preparation for performance and choreography steadily replaced the training of teachers; while over the years there has been a notable development of post-graduate study and of training and research in dance therapy. The Centre is now one of the largest schools of dance in Europe.