Dancing on paper

Despite having existed since the late 1500’s dance notation has not taken off in the public sphere, not as music notation has. Rudolf Von Laban sought to create a comprehensive system for the study and documentation of dance forms. Despite being a famous and established practitioner, his notation system did not take off into global recognition. Why is this? What makes dance so different from music? In this thesis we explore the connotations of notating dance in a written form; by using ‘Labanotation’ as a jumping off point, we explore the point of view of two dance practitioners and delve deeper into a few of the many facets of this multi-layered subject. What seems to be a linchpin in this issue is the dichotomy between ‘oral traditions’ and ‘written traditions’ and how Western society has valued and viewed these traditions in very different ways. This has connotations that affect the performing arts and the bodies that practise those artforms. Oral tradition is at the heart of the performing arts and the perseverance of it lies in the repertoire and the body memory, shared from body to body in community. While written tradition is associated with colonialism, and the industrial revolution and subsequently capitalism and the patriarchy. The interplay between these philosophies and dance greatly affect how we view preservation of dance. An interview with two game designers gives us a little insight into how people are currently working with human movement in digital spaces. They effectively notate between the real world and the digital, by using technology like Mocap suits that produce the same data Labanotation seeks to hold. Might technology be giving dance and movement a new context for documentation, and oral tradition new life and appreciation