Texts and Software:
Further Study:
Background information:
andreas maag, tango, http://www.maagical.ch/andreasmaagprivat_laban.html
ballroom dances, notated by Don Herbison-Evans:
(there are more, see Australian New Vogue Dancing on the Web, http://linus.socs.uts.edu.au/~don/pubs/vogue.html )
The Notation Library, http://www.bham.ac.uk/calaban/Labanotation_library.htm
The Alliance of Dance Notation Educators http://www.smu.edu/dancenotation/
The Ohio-Minneapolis Dancer Exchange Preparation , http://www.dancepartners.org/interactive/dancerexch.htm
for a fun introduction to Labanotation, see NotationMan's Page,http://www.mindspring.com/~note8r/labanotation.html
http://notation.free.fr/ a website for learning the basics of Labanotation, in French, illustrated with LifeForms animations
Notation Basics, on the Dance Notation Bureau’s website, http://www.dancenotation.org/lnbasics/index.html
An introduction to Labanotation, http://www.particles.de/paradocs/bbb/laban/www/griesbec/labane.html or http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~griesbec/LABANE.HTML (in English), or (in German) http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~griesbec/LABAN.HTML
Theory discussions, on the Dance Notation Bureau webpage, http://dancenotation.org/DNB/theorybb/index.html
"The recording of the time element in the Laban system of notation," by Placida Staro, http://www.particles.de/paradocs/bbb/laban/www/item/articles/staro.htm, or http://www.muspe.unibo.it/period/ictm/articles/staro.htm
The Dance Notation Bureau, http://www.dancenotation.org/
The Dance Notation Bureau Extension at The Ohio State University, http://www.dance.ohio-state.edu/dnbext/
The Language of Dance Centre, London, http://www.lodc.org/
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, http://www.hkapa.edu/
The Laban Centre London, http://www.laban.co.uk/index.php
Labanotation Institute at the University of Surrey, http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Dance/General/Laban.html
Labanotation study group in Japan, http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~monako/laban/
Centre National “D’Ecriture du Movement, http://cnem.free.fr/index2.html
Conservatoire de Paris, http://www.cnsmdp.fr/enseign/danse/f_set.htm
Volumes 3 and 4 of the bibliographies published by the International Council of Kinetography Laban, http://www.ickl.org/Pages/biblio.html
Notated Theatrical Dances from the Dance Notation Bureau, http://dancenotation.org/DNB/library/index.html
Princeton Book Company carries a number of books on Labanotation and dance scores in Labanotation, http://www.dancehorizons.com/nota.html
You can download LabanWriter, free software for creating your own Labanotation scores on the Macintosh computer, at http://www.dance.ohio-state.edu/labanwriter/ If you have a pc, go to http://www.bham.ac.uk/calaban/frame.htm
Labanotation: The system of Analyzing and Recording Movement, by Ann Hutchinson (3rd ed., revised, Routledge/Theatre Arts Books, 1987 http://www.routledge-ny.com/books.cfm?isbn=0878305270&CFID=579139&CFTOKEN=96789601 ), and
the two volume Dictionary of Kinetography Laban (Labanotation), by Albrecht Knust (1979; recently reissued). Vol. I (text) is available in German, French and English. Volume II (examples) is the notation.
The two texts listed above are encyclopedic, and will tell you everything you want to know.
in English:
Elementary Labanotation, A Study Guide, by Muriel Topaz (1996, Princeton Books, http://www.dancehorizons.com/nota.html )
Study Guide for Intermediate Labanotation, by Jane Marriett and Muriel Topaz (1986, Princeton Books, http://www.dancehorizons.com/nota.html )
An Introduction to Kinetography Laban, by Christine Eckerle (1997, Semperstrasse 24 D-45138 Essen, Germany). Probably also available in German.
in French:
Cinetographie Laban, premier volume (1981) and deuxième volume (1986), par Jacqueline Challet-Haas, Centre National d’Écriture du Mouvement, Place St. Arnoult, 60800 Crepy-en-Valois, France.
In Hungarian:
Lábán-kinetográfia balett-táncosoknak - Alapfok by János Fügedi. Planétás: Magyar Táncmüvészeti Föiskola, 1998. Beginner level explanation of Laban System of movement notation for ballet students.
Néptáncolvasókönyv (Folk Dance Reading Book) by Ágoston Lányi. Labanotation textbook based on Hungarian folk dances. Budapest, Zenemükiadó, 1980.
Ann Hutchinson Guest and Rob Van Haarst have published three volumes on the following topics:
Canon Forms; Shape, Design, Trace Patterns; Kneeling, Sitting, Lying, available
from Routledge, online at http://www.routledge-ny.com/
(search by title of each volume).
Four volumes of the Advanced Labanotation textbook, by Ann Hutchinson Guest
and Joukje Kolff, are available from Dance Books, http://www.dancebooks.co.uk/
(search by title Advanced Labanotation): Hands, Fingers; Floorwork, Basic
Acrobatics; Handling of Objects, Props; Spatial Variations.
Three additional volumes are forthcoming: Sequential Movements; Center of
Weight; Body Variations.
The Dance Notation Bureau (DNB) in New York City can tell you if there is a certified teacher in your area, or a college or university where Labanotation is taught. The DNB also offers a correspondence course, http://www.dancenotation.org/studying/index.html Visit their website, http://www.dancenotation.org/ or email dnbinfo@mindspring.com
LabanLab was created at the Dance Notation Bureau Extension for Education and Research, at The Ohio State University (OSU) Department of Dance. We offer courses in beginning, intermediate and advanced Labanotation and Directing from Score at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Visit the Department of Dance home page at http://www.dance.ohio-state.edu/ or email the director of the DNB Extension, marion.8@osu.edu
Take Note , a half-hour television documentary on notation courses and projects at The OSU Dance Department, was produced for WOSU (Public Broadcast System), http://www.wosu.org/ns/inside_wosu/note.html
Labanotation is listed in Dance Spirit's "College 101, The Ultimate Curriculum: An inside look at the top 20 courses you should take," http://dancespirit.com/backissues/sep00/college101.shtml
http://www.whc.net/bhsdance/html/labanotation.html
Florida State University, http://www.fsu.edu/~svad/dance_pages/laban.html
Southern Methodist University, http://www.smu.edu/catalogs/graduate/meadows/dance.asp
Goucher College, http://www.goucher.edu/
Texas Woman’s University, http://www.twu.edu/o-grad/gradcat/dance.html
Laban Centre, Laurie Grove, New Cross, London SE 14 6NH , U.K.
Tel: 44 (181) 6924070
Fax: 44 (181) 694 87 49
The dance department offers Labanotation and Laban theory in their curriculum. The library contains many Laban related documents.
Labanotation Institute, Dept of Dance Studies, University of Surrey,
GU2 5XH Guilford, Surrey , U.K.
Tel: 44 (1483) 259351
Fax: 44 (1483) 300803
The Labanotation Institute offers several courses in Labanotation. Also located in Surrey University is the Laban Archives collection.
Folkwang-Hochschule Essen, Kinetographiestudio
Klemensborn 39, D-45239 Essen, Germany
Tel: 49 (201) 49030
Fax: 49 (201) 4903288
The Folkwang-Hochschule offers Kinetography Laban/Labanotation studies in the dance curriculum.
Conservatoire de Paris, Dept des Etudes Choregraphiques, 209 avenue
Jean-Jaurès
75019 Paris, France
Tel: 33 (1) 40 40 46 19
Fax: 33 (1) 40 40 46 02
The Conservatoire offers professional training in Kinetography Laban/Labanotation studies.
The International Council of Kinetography Laban (ICKL), http://www.ickl.org/ holds conferences every two years, alternating between venues in Europe, the United States and Asia. ICKL has more than 100 members from the following countries: Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Phillipines, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Taiwan.
Labanotation (or Kinetography Laban, as the system is known in Europe) is a symbol system for representing movement of the human body in space and time. Our LabanLab webpages emphasize reading dance, but Labanotation can be applied to any type of movement.
Need a comparison to help you understand how it works? Think about Western music notation, which you are probably familiar with. Then think about Labanotation as writing a melody for your arms, another for your legs, etc. When you put the melodies together, you have the symphony that makes up the dance (or any other movement).
Movement notation allows you to analyze the structure, components and details of an action. You can study various elements that make up a movement phrase outside of the real time representation of video or film (notation works well along with visual media which gives you the overall sense of how movement details are integrated into the whole).
top
http://freespace.virgin.net/mark.thornton/abtlbn.htm
http://notation.free.fr/laban/contexte/bio1_1.html
(in French)
“Flash Report, Saving the Dance: Celebrating 60 Years of Preserving the Art, by Paul Ben-Itzak, for The Dance Insider, 5/23/2000, http://www.danceinsider.com/f523_1.html
“History of Notation,” by Victoria Watts, from Ballet Magazine, March,1998, http://www.ballet.co.uk/mar98/notation_history.htm
“Documentation,” by Allegra Fuller Snyder, for the Dance Heritage Coalition, http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub84/documentation.html
for Benesh Movement Notation, http://www.benesh.org/008.html
for Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation, http://ww2.mcgill.ca/Biology/perspage/ew_page.htm
for Dance Writing (Sutton Movement Writing and Sutton Sign Writing), http://www.dancewriting.org/
also see the Dance Notation Bureau’s list of weblinks at http://www.dancenotation.org/links/index.html