# Dance notation

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**Dance notation** is the [symbolic](/source/Symbol) representation of human [dance](/source/Dance) movement and form, using methods such as graphic symbols and figures, path mapping, [numerical systems](/source/Numeral_system), and letter and word [notations](/source/Writing_systems). Several dance notation systems have been invented, many of which are designed to document specific types of dance while others have been developed with capturing the broader spectrum of human movement potential. A *dance score* is a recorded dance notation that describes a particular dance.

## Usage

The primary uses of dance notation are historical dance preservation through documentation and analysis (e.g., in [ethnochoreology](/source/Ethnochoreology)) or reconstruction of [choreography](/source/Choreography), dance forms, and technical exercises. Dance notation systems also allow for dance works to be documented and therefore potentially copyrighted.

Two popular dance notation systems used in [Western culture](/source/Western_culture) are [Labanotation](/source/Labanotation) (also known as Kinetography Laban) and [Benesh Movement Notation](/source/Benesh_Movement_Notation). Others include [Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation](/source/Eshkol-Wachman_Movement_Notation) and DanceWriting.

Many dance notation systems are designed for specific types of dance. Some examples include Shorthand Dance Notation for dances from [Israel](/source/Israel), Morris Dance Notation for [Morris dance](/source/Morris_dance), and [Beauchamp–Feuillet Notation](/source/Beauchamp%E2%80%93Feuillet_notation) for [Baroque dance](/source/Baroque_dance). As a result, these systems usually cannot effectively describe other types of dance.

## History

In the 1680s, [Pierre Beauchamp](/source/Pierre_Beauchamp) invented a dance notation system for Baroque dance. His system, known as [Beauchamp–Feuillet notation](/source/Beauchamp%E2%80%93Feuillet_notation), was published in 1700 by [Raoul Auger Feuillet](/source/Raoul_Auger_Feuillet) and used to record dances throughout the eighteenth century.

A well-known collection of dance scores is the [Sergeyev Collection](/source/Sergeyev_Collection), recorded using [Vladimir Ivanovich Stepanov](/source/Vladimir_Ivanovich_Stepanov)'s notation method (1892). This collection documents the [Imperial Ballet](/source/Mariinsky_Ballet)'s (today the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet) repertoire from the turn of the 20th century, including [Marius Petipa](/source/Marius_Petipa)'s original choreographic designs for *[The Sleeping Beauty](/source/The_Sleeping_Beauty_(ballet))*, *[Giselle](/source/Giselle)*, *[Le Corsaire](/source/Le_Corsaire)*, and *[Swan Lake](/source/Swan_Lake)*, as well as *[Coppélia](/source/Copp%C3%A9lia)* and the original version of *[The Nutcracker](/source/The_Nutcracker)*. It was with this collection that many of these works were first staged outside Russia.

In 1934, the composer [Joseph Schillinger](/source/Joseph_Schillinger) created a highly accurate notation system based on the 3D bone rotation and translation of a moving dancer.[1] With [motion capture](/source/Motion_capture) technology half a century in the future, there was no way to effectively measure and record this information at the time.

In 1948, [Hanya Holm](/source/Hanya_Holm) became the first Broadway choreographer to have her dance scores copyrighted, for her work on *[Kiss Me, Kate](/source/Kiss_Me,_Kate)*.

In 1951, Stanley D. Kahn published [Kahnotation](/source/Kahnotation), a dance notation system specific to [tap dance](/source/Tap_dance).

In 1956, Rudolf and Joan Benesh first published [Benesh Movement Notation](/source/Benesh_Movement_Notation), a written system for recording human movement. It is most widely used in the recording and restaging of dance works.[2]

In 1958, Eshkol and Wachman published an exposition of [their movement notation](/source/Eshkol-Wachman_movement_notation).[3]

In 1969, Romanian choreographer Theodor Vasilescu published a dance notation system for Romanian [folk dances](/source/Folk_dance).[4]

In the 1970s, [North Korean](/source/North_Korea) choreographer U Chang-sop developed a system of dance notation for [Korean dance](/source/Korean_dance) called the Chamo System of Dance Notation, which uses pictorially based symbols.[5]

In 1975, [Ann Hutchinson Guest](/source/Ann_Hutchinson_Guest) reconstructed choreographer [Arthur Saint-Léon](/source/Arthur_Saint-L%C3%A9on)'s *Pas de Six* from his 1844 ballet *[La Vivandière](/source/La_Vivandi%C3%A8re_or_Markitenka)*, along with its original music by composer [Cesare Pugni](/source/Cesare_Pugni), for the [Joffrey Ballet](/source/Joffrey_Ballet). The piece was reconstructed from Saint-Léon's work, which was documented using his own method of dance notation, known as *[La Sténochorégraphie](/source/La_St%C3%A9nochor%C3%A9graphie)*.

In 1982, the first computerized notation system—the *DOM* (Dance on Microprocessor) dance notation system—was created by [Eddie Dombrower](/source/Eddie_Dombrower) for [Apple II](/source/Apple_II) computers.[6] The system displayed an animated figure on the screen that performed dance moves specified by the choreographer.

In 2017, Felipe Hsieh created [Tango Notation](/source/Tango_Notation), a dance notation system specific to Argentine tango.

## See also

- [Action stroke dance notation](/source/Action_stroke_dance_notation)
- [Motif description](/source/Motif_description), a subset of Labanotation

## References

1. Schedel, Margaret; Fox-Gieg, Nick; Yager, Kevin G. (April 2011). ["A Modern Instantiation of Schillinger's Dance Notation"](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07494467.2011.636204). *Contemporary Music Review*. **30** (2): 179–186. [doi:10.1080/07494467.2011.636204](https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2011.636204). [S2CID 62206676](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:62206676). Retrieved 5 August 2019.

1. ["Benesh International: Benesh Movement Notation"](https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/benesh-international-benesh-movement-notation/). *Royal Academy of Dance*. Retrieved 26 July 2021.

1. Eshkol, Noa & Wachman, Avraham (1958). *Movement notation*. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

1. ["Twentieth-century developments"](https://www.britannica.com/art/dance-notation/Twentieth-century-developments). Retrieved 6 March 2021.

1. Guest, Ann Hutchinson (2 October 2016). ["Dance notation"](https://www.britannica.com/art/dance-notation). *Encyclopedia Britannica*. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Retrieved 14 May 2019.

1. Forrest, Juliet (1986). "Field Report: A Choreographer's Assessment of the DOM Notation System". *Dance Notation Journal*. '***(Fall): 47–48.***

## Further reading

- Cage, J. and Knowles, A. (1973) *Notations*. Reprint Services Corp. ISBN 0-685-14864-5
- Drewes, Henner (2003) *Transformationen – Bewegung in Notation und digitaler Verarbeitung* in Fellsches, J (Ed) Folkwang-Texte Bd. 18. Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen. ISBN 3-89924-057-X
- [Hutchinson Guest, A.](/source/Ann_Hutchinson_Guest) (1989) *Choreographics: a comparison of dance notation systems from the fifteenth century to the present*. Routledge ISBN 90-5700-003-2
- Kahn, Stanley D. (1951). "presenting Kahnotation: the K-Symbols for writing Tap Dancing"
- Neagle, R.J. and Ng, K.C. (July 2003) *Machine-representation and visualisation of a dance notation* in Proceedings of electronic imaging and the visual arts. London
- U Chang-sop (1988). *The Chamo System of Dance Notation*. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. [OCLC 500236112](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/500236112)
- Felipe Hsieh (May 2018) *Initial Tango - INITIAL TANGO: the tango ideogam writing system*. ISBN 9781980737018
- Felipe Hsieh (July 2020) *TANGOBOOK: Dance Notation of The Classic Tango*. ISBN 9798669531782

## External links

- [Sutton DanceWriting](https://www.dancewriting.org/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dance notation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_notation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_notation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.