Labanotation: The System of Analyzing and Recording Movement

500 Pages·2005·7.27 MB·English

by  Ann Hutchinson Guest

Labanotation
Labanotation
The System of Analyzing and Recording Movement
Fourth Edition
Ann Hutchinson Guest
Illustrated by Doug Anderson
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N~YORKANOlONOON
Revisedf ourth edition publishedi n 2005 by Routledge
This edition published2 011 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue,N ew York, NY 10017,U SA
2 Park Square,M ilton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OXl4 4RN
Routledgei s an imprint of the Taylor & FrancisG roup, an informa business
Copyright © 2005 by Ann HutchinsonG uest
All rights reservedN. o part of this book mayb e reprintedo r reproducedo r utilized in any form or by any
electronic,m echanicalo, r otherm eans,n ow known or hereafterin vented,i ncluding photocopyinga nd
recording,o r in any informations torageo r retrievals ystemw ithout permissioni n writing from the author.
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Guest,A nn Hutchinson.
Labanotation: the systemo f analyzinga ndr ecordingm ovement/ Ann Hutchinson
Guest;i llustratedb y Doug Anderson- Rev. and expanded.
p.cm.
Includesi ndex.
ISBN 0-415-96561-6( hb : alk. paper)- ISBN 0-415-96562-4( pb : alk. paper)
1. Labanotation. I. Title: Labanotation. II. Title: KinetographyL aban. III.
Title.
GV1587.L844 2004
792.8'2-dc22
The principal centerso f Labanotation( KinetographyL aban):
DanceN otation Bureau
151 West 30th Street,S uite 202, New York, NY 10001
www.dancenotation.org
DanceN otation BureauE xtension
The Ohio StateU niversity Departmento f Dance,S ullivant Hall, 1813 N. High St, Columbus,O H 43210
www.dance.ohio-state.edu
Languageo f DanceC entre
17 Holland Park,L ondonW ll 3TD
www.1odc.org
LabanotationI nstitute
University of Surrey,G uildford, SurreyG U2 5XH
www.surrey.ac.uk/Dance
Centref or DanceS tudies
Les Bois St. Peter,J erseyC hannelI slands,G reatB ritain
CentreN ational d'Ecritured u Mouvement
PlaceS t. Arnoult, 6080000C repy-en-Valois, France
KinetographischeIn stitute
43 Essen-WerdenF, olkwangH ochschule,G ermany
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
AUTHOR'S NOTE TO THE NEW EDITION XI
PREFACEB Y STEPHANIE JORDAN XIII
CHAPTER
1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF DANCE NOTATION 1
2 INTRODUCTION TO LABANOTATION 5
3 THE ApPROACH TO MOVEMENT NOTATION 9
4 FUNDAMENTALS OF LABANOTATION 17
5 VARIATIONS IN STEPS 39
6 POSITIONSO F THE FEET 52
7 AERIAL STEPS( SPRINGING) 65
8 TURNS 78
9 ARM GESTURES 98
10 LEG GESTURES 120
11 SPACE MEASUREMENT; FLEXION, EXTENSION 138
12 FLOOR PATTERNS,P ATHS 158
13 TOUCH AND SLIDE FOR THE LEGS 179
14 PARTS OF THE LIMBS 196
15 PARTS OF THE TORSO; INCLUSIONS 218
16 TILTING (INCLINING) 228
17 TURNING (ROTATION) OF THE LIMBS 240
18 ROTATION OF THE TORSO AND HEAD 259
19 SPECIFICF LEXION AND EXTENSION; CONTRACTING, BENDING 277
20 RELATIONSHIP 293
21 REPEAT AND ANALOGY SIGNS 303
22 SCORING 319
23 SUPPORTINGO N VARIOUS PARTS OF THE BODY 339
24 EQUILIBRIUM, Loss OF BALANCE 354
25 SYSTEMS OF REFERENCE 368
26 VARIATIONS IN POSITIONS,P ATHS, AND STEPS 386
27 SPECIFICP ARTS OF THE LIMBS; MOVEMENTS OF HANDS; 403
MANNER OF PERFORMINGG ESTURES
VI TABLE OF CONTENTS
28 TYPES OF REVOLUTIONS; 417
DYNAMICS; MISCELLANEOUS
ApPENDICES
A ALTERNATE VERSIONS 432
B OLD VERSIONS 434
C ORTHOGRAPHYA ND AUTOGRAPHY 440
D UPPERB ODY MOVEMENT 442
E TERMINOLOGY 446
GLOSSARY OF SYMBOLS 450
INDEX 461
Dedication
This book is dedicatedt o the peoplew ho in the early days gave me much needed
encouragemenatn ds upport,i n particularM arthaH ill and JohnM artin.
I dedicatei t also to the manyp eoplew ho, throughL abanotationd, iscoveredt he
enrichmenti n movementu nderstandinga ndt he joy of dancel iteracy- my many
colleaguesa roundt he world who havea lso contributedt o the danceh eritage,
andh encet o the future of dance.
Most importantlyt his book is dedicatedt o that non-dancern, on-notationp ractitioner,
my husbandIv or Guest,w hosel iteracy in danceh istory hase nrichedg enerationso f dance
studentsa ndt eachersc oncernedw ith danceo f the past.
Acknowledgments
To the manyp eoplew ho have contributedt o this revision of the basicL abanotation
textbook,f inding time in their busy schedulesa ndg iving careful thoughtt o eachc hapter,
basedo n their knowledgeo f the systemg ainedo ver manyy ears of practicale xperienceI,
extendm y heartfeltt hanks.I n particularI am grateful to the readers,R ay Cook, Ilene Fox,
Sheila Marion, Allan Miles and Lucy Venable,a ll experiencedc olleagueso f long standing,
whoseq uestionsa lertedm e to manya reasn eedingi mprovement.T hesei ncludedu pdating
languageu saget o meett he needso f new generationso f studentsin comprehendinge stab-
lished technicalt erms,m ovementa nalysisa nds ymbol usage.
Thanksm usta lso go to tap dances pecialistB illie Mahoney,f or contributingr eadinge x-
ampleso n Time stepsa ndB reaksa s well as "The Old Soft Shoe"a nd" Waltz Clog" to illus-
trate footwork in Chapter l3. Spanish dancer, Felisa Victoria, generouslyc ontributed
exampleso f RegionalS panishs tepsa s well as Zapateadofo otwork for the sameC hapter.
Modern technologyh as decreedt hat preparationo f this book for publicationr equired
very different handlingf rom the past.T he serifs on the typefaceu sedp reviouslyc onfused
the computers canner;t hus productiono f this book demandeda completer etyping of the
text. Lack of sharpd efinition in scanningt he notatione xamplesd ictateda redrawingo f all
the notation examples,t his being accomplishedw ith the Calaban( ComputerA ided La-
banotation)p rogram.T his taskw as undertakenfi rst by Cheryl Hutton andl ater by Shelly
Saint-Smitha nd Lynda O'Reilly whosep ainstakingw ork is gratefully acknowledgedF. or
many monthsH elen Elkin was on handt o take on the importantr ole of coordinatingt he
project, a task later takeno ver by Shelly, who, togetherw ith Lynda andt he additionalh elp
of Lauren Turner and Laura JoanneW eston,e nabledt he project to race to the finishing
line before the set deadline.T o thesem emberso f the Languageo f Dance Centre staff I
muste xpressm y very greata ppreciation.
In updatingt his book, referenceh asb eenm adet o the reportso f the many conferences
held by the InternationalC ouncil of KinetographyL aban (ICKL), to Albrecht Knust's
valuableb ook, Handbooko f KinetographyL aban, and to Maria Szentpal'sE nglish transla-
tion of her Hungarianp ublicationso n the system.
X ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our thanksm usta lso be extendedt o Andy Adamson,w ho developedt he Calabans oft-
ware for Labanotationg raphicsa t the University of Birmingham,a ndw ho graciouslyc on-
tinuest o updatet he programt o serveo ur growing needs.
The patiencea nd understandingo f my husbandIv or deservea speciale xpressiono f ap-
preciation.A s an authorh imselfh e recognizedt he needt o finish a particulars ectionw hile
the ideasw ere clear and the wording was flowing. Waiting quietly, even thoughh ousehold
dutiesw ere beingn eglectedw, as his importantc ontributiont o this book.
Author's Note to the New Edition
In the nearly 35 yearst hat have elapseds ince the publicationo f the 1970 edition of
the textbook Labanotation,f ewer changesh ave taken place than those requiredb etween
the 1954 first edition and that of 1970. Rather,f ocus has beeno n a refinemento f move-
ment analysisi n certain areasa nd on how these are expressedth rough symbology.T he
needf or greaters pecificity has resultedf rom the more widespreadu se of the systema nd
demandsb y practitionersf rom diverseb ackgroundsw orking not only in danceb ut with
otherf orms of movementa ndi n different disciplines.
The spreado f Laban'st eachings,p articularlyh is valuableS paceH armonyt heories,h as
broughtt o the fore the questiono f whethert he samed irectionalm odel is usedi n Labano-
tation. To be universallya pplicable,i t was necessaryto separateL abanotationfr om Laban's
'tailor-made's patialm odelsa ndt o use an anatomicala s well as a scientific basisf or direc-
tions, levels andt he line of gravity.
With advancesin useo f Motif Notation,s pecials ymposian ow bring togethert he grow-
ing body of practitioners,m any of whom are also Labanotatorst,o discusst o mutual ad-
vantaget he different points of view, needsa nd usagesT. he further developmenot f Motif
has also requiredt houghtr egardingt he smootht ransitionf rom advancedle vel Motif into
the structuredt hree-lines taff of Labanotation.
The biennial conferenceso f the InternationalC ouncil of KinetographyL aban (rCKL)
continuet o provide a forum for further developmentsin use of Labanotation.H ere ideas,
needsa nd experiencess temmingf rom the growing numbero f different practicala pplica-
tions of the systemi n teachinga ndr ecordinga re shared.
While somea dditional detail at a higher level has beeni ncludedi n this basic book on
Labanotation,t he readers hould be aware of the serieso f books on AdvancedL abanota-
tion, eacho f which focuseso n a particulara reao f movementin vestigation.T hey are: