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Labanotation

Labanotation

9.9
A written system that records dance movements
  • noun
  • /ˌlɑːbəˈnoʊteɪʃən/
  • Specialized
: Labanotación
  • Laban applied these descriptors to improve the efficiency and safety of factory workers, rehabilitate polio victims, and create the first effective system for documenting movement, called Labanotation or Laban Movement Analysis.

Examples

  • They could be called notations if it were not that the word has been co-opted by Goodman to describe especially systematic images such as music notation, Labanotation (graphs of dancers' movements), and electroencephalographs.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Using Labanotation, she was able to notate the dance sequence for future rehearsals.

  • It could also be visualized in transmittable formal symbols through Labanotation.

    Academic text (2014)
  • The choreographer taught the class Labanotation to help them understand the nuances of each dance step.

  • The teacher explained Labanotation as a detailed method for documenting dance movements.

Synonyms

choreography
vsLabanotation
  • Specialized
1 6.8

A record of dance movements shown with symbols

is a technical system that records and analyses positions directions tempo and dynamics

Surface Forms

Labanotation singular
Labanotations plural

Morphology

Labanotation = Laban + notation (semi-transparent) = Laban + notation

The component 'notation' clearly signals a system of symbolic recording, but the proper name 'Laban' is specialized and unknown to many learners, so the overall meaning is only partly inferable.

Etymology

Labanotation is named for the dance teacher Laban and the word notation, which means 'a system of writing'. So Labanotation is a way 'to write down' dance movements so people can learn and teach them exactly.