Rudolf Laban and Lisa Ullmann describe how they observe the cardinal planes to be in a process of deflection, constantly changing their orientation and shape.

Ullmann gives detailed descriptions of each plane and its most typical deflections: “In order to break the monotony” of dimensionally oriented planes, “transformed a stable condition into a labile one”

The account of deflecting planes by Ullmann (1955, pp. 31-33, rev. 1971, pp. 22-25) are given here in Motif Notations.