The £abauotator

Issue No. 52 August 1988

CONTENTS
Body Hold Sign for 'Rigidity1 ? 1
Partnerwork/Floorwork - Simple Description 3
Comments on The Labanotator Nos. 47, 48, 49 5
1. BODY HOLD SIGN FOR 'RIGIDITY1?
1.1 Question: Do body hold signs for limbs indicate rigidity? There
seems at some point to have been a confusion of terms defining
what is happening to the body parts that are held in this way. It
is hoped that the discussion below will clarify any misunderstand-
ings.
1.2 In la body hold signs are used to state that the relationship
between arms and trunk (the 'downward' direction for the arms) is
maintained during the forward torso tilt, the shoulder joint does
not move and therefore the arms are carried along in the same body
alignment. Spatially Ex. la will cause the arms to be passively
carried into the backward low direction.
1

W («)
/
a 0
^fe/• 4
()

. 1* fa) c) d)
1.3 If the movement is described as in Ib the arms will have a
specified direction in which to move and will therefore be active.
The resulting destination will be similar to la, but the arms,
being active will be more 'alert1.
1.4 In Ic body hold signs are used in the same fashion to indicate
carriage of the arms during a torso tilt. The end position is
shown here in brackets for discussion only.
1.5 Had space holds been used the arms would have retained the side
horizontal direction ending as indicated in Id.
1.6 In cases where retention signs are omitted, LN has tended to
assume the arms are carried along in torso tilts, as in Ic,
whereas KIN assumes that they retain the same spatial direction as
in Id. The LN position is based on the natural 'carrying along1
of attached body parts which is, incidentally, what all other
notation systems assume. The KIN position results from following
a technical understanding of the validity of directional
indications in the Standard Cross of Axes for both LN and KIN.
 The Labanotator No. 52, 1988

1. Body Hold Sign for 'Rigidity1? (continued)

1.7 It is of interest to Labanotators to understand the KIN validity
rules in using body holds in examples such as Ic or more
particularly when they are repeated as in le. In KIN the first
hold signs in le are seen as replacing the right side high
direction sign on count 1. They then have to be repeated for
count 2 where they replace the signs for left side high, and so
on. LN takes a quite different point of view. The body hold in
LN relates to a body state, and not to a direction, thus there is
no need to repeat the hold signs.

o
I
1/

I
()

1e
(kiv)
f) g) I o
• •

1.8 Quite apart from the above, a confusion of terms occurs when the
body hold signs are understood by some people to mean 'rigidity1
in the limb. This is not the case; la only instructs "maintain
the relationship of a minor body part to a major one".
1.9 Some thought must be given in this discussion to what 'rigidity'
means. Does it mean 'held unmoving', 'without movement'? Or does
it refer to a certain muscle tension, i.e. stiff, tense, taut?
1.10 How can rigidity be stated? One suggestion appropriate for the
sense 'held unmoving' is If, "the shape of the arms is to be
retained". This statement, however, refers only to the shape and
not to the particular muscle tension implied by the words
•rigidity1 or 'tautness1.
1.11 Stating that the shoulder joint is held, i.e. no articulation is
allowed, as in Ig, seems to come closer to suggesting 'rigidity',
but this does not imply tenseness, although some extra effort
(energy) is required to retain this physical state.

< fO.
i >OR
—- A">
%

<
Uo

k)
1h i)
 The Labanotator No. 52, 1988

1.12 Use of body hold signs directly over body part signs is also seen
in Ih, the traditional way of writing "walking with no knee
articulation" which produces a rather stiff-legged walk. Here
retention of a state of a joint is specified. In li the degree of
knee bend is to be retained.
1.13 A body hold over the elbow sign in the hingeing movement of Ij is
used to indicate that no change in the state of the elbow joint
should occur, and avoids writing the resulting directional changes
for the lower arm.
1.14 Stiff, tense rigidity should be written as in Ik, with the
addition of the indication of the rise in energy involved.

2. PARTNERWORK/FLOORWORK - SIMPLE DESCRIPTION

2.1 In 2a two people are engaged in a wheelbarrow race, a game easily
described in Labanotation. Directions are fairly straightforward
even though partnerwork and supports on parts other than the feet
are involved.

1r
2a

2.2 In many contexts, however, so much is happening that it is better

to keep the notation down to essential instructions rather than to
try to cover every detail. In 2b, dancer A comes running towards
dancer B, rolls over his back making a V-shape with his legs, then
runs off again.

2.3 Details omitted in 2b include accommodating torso movement

throughout; only the gross information of the "dip" forward and
coming upright at the end of the roll are notated. For the arms
only A's left elbow 'grasping1 B's right elbow is stated. For the
legs only the V-shape is stated. This gesture is cancelled simply
by a decrease sign to say "the indication no longer applies".
Exact details of the roll are also left out, only the back-to-back
contact is written. Dancer A does whatever is needed to achieve
the notated movement.
 The Labanotator No. 52, 1988

* J

i
a

-ft-
2b
2.5 Ex. 2c is from "Still Life at the Penguin Cafe", choreography by
David Bintley for London's Royal Ballet. In a lying position, the
feet 'walk1 around causing the body to wheel around<the shoulder
area. At the same time the body is rolling around its spinal axis
onto different chest surfaces. The pelvis is lifted but remains
close to the floor. Rolling would normally cause the body to
travel in space, but that is countered by the wheeling action in
the opposite direction. The spot hold for the shoulder area gives
the immediate message of the body-as-a-whole remaining in the same
location.
2.6 In Ex. 2c the degree of wheeling and rolling are left open. The
movement might for instance go on ad libitum until stopped by
another dancer.
2.7 The centre of the wheeling can be indicated directly within the
path sign, as in 2d.
2.8 In 2e an attempt is made to record more detail than in the simple
statement and shows some of what is omitted in 2d. Ex. 2e thus
 The Labanotator No. 52, 1988

shows that because of the rolling, different parts of the feet are
used each time for pushing off as the movement progresses. Leg
directions, slight arm contractions and arm supports are also
analyzed. The fact that the actual axis of wheeling changes from
one shoulder to the back of the chest to the other shoulder is
notated schematically; in fact this change is gradual.
2.9 In rolling over the back propulsion is achieved by pushing off
with the feet as in 2e. Analysis of the second half roll (not
shown in 2e) reveals that in practice, while rolling over the
front of the body the feet cannot be used in the same way and
momentum is kept up by increased rolling to propulse the performer
beyond this "dead point". Roughly with every quarter wheel a
quarter roll is performed but while the performer is supporting on
the front part of the body rolling is about twice as fast. This
movement fact should be recorded in an analysis such as 2e whereas
it is not, and need not be, accounted for in a notation such as
2c.
2.10 Quite apart from the fact that we may not always want to spell out
all these details and that, if sufficient, 2d is much easier to
read, it is also noteworthy that indication of detail in
Labanotation can be only relative in that complex movement can be
broken down to an ever greater degree giving specificities which,
in most cases, need not be analyzed or stated.
COMMENTS ON THE LABANOTATOR NO. 47
Errata; Ex. 5d should be X to match the wording of 5.3.
1. Secret Turns. It should be noted that the quote from Knust's
Dictionary includes an obvious but unfortunate error. In his
definition Knust states that the "black pin in this retention sign
[i.e. in the sign for secret turn] indicates which spatial
direction will now be taken as forward." Of course the pin does
not point directly to a room direction in the way flat pins in
ordinary Front signs do; it is used in the same way as black pins
in turn signs, i.e. it indicates degree of (secret) turn. From
his examples it is clear that this is, in fact, Knust's own
understanding.
In Ex. la Maria Szentpal (MSZ) remarks that Front signs would or
should be written as shown here.

1a

Ex. If. MSZ and Ray Cook (RC): in such examples there is a timing
problem. The secret turn appears to take time but if secret turns
are mental decisions they should not take time at all in the
 The Labanotator No. 52, 1988

notation, or, in other words, the secret turn symbol should always
occur at the same time as some real movement indication. RC
likens the decision-making involved in secret turns to changes of
key, e.g. from •$• to -f-
Ex. Ig. MSZ and RC point out that the presign for the diagonal
direction symbol just after the double starting line should be a
normal torso sign and not a sign for a surface of the torso; with
the latter in a gesture column shows a facing direction and of
course what is wanted is the direction of the progression of the
torso as a supporting part.
Exs. Ij/k. For MSZ these examples show exactly the same movement.
Ann Hutchinson comments that there is a difference: in Ij a torso
twist occurs after which the shoulder line is taken to be the
Front. Ex. Ik is a turn of the whole body as a unit in which the
foot does not swivel. The examples also differ in that they
reflect different experiences of the movement.
RC wonders who is making the decision to change Front by means of
a secret turn: the dancer, the choreographer or just the notator?
AHG believes the notator records what the choreographer describes
and/or the performer experiences. If no turning action is
intended or experienced the secret turn takes care of the change
of front. It is of interest to note that this discussion has wider
scope than the mere issue of secret turns: the question
continually arises whether and how we can write or suggest
intentions as opposed to actual visible movement.

\
ID

I<
k—
IB

E
-HI
1

M
If 1g Ij Ik

4. © = Each One. Exs. 4b-k: MSZ comments: 11... I disagree because

of the concept, For me all these movements belong to a canon-
concept. Sequentiality refers to a movement-flow of one single
body part which is multi-jointed but not for a body part which has
'simultaneous branches', such as the hand with the fingers....".
AHG comments: We also came to this conclusion, but how do you show
briefly whether the canon starts with the thumb or little finger?
Use numbers for fingers?
 The Labanotator No. 52, 1988

COMMENTS ON THE LABANOTATOR NO. 48

Errata; In Ex. 7e the second and the fourth pins should be black
instead of white to tie in with Exs. 7c and d).
The right half of Ex. 7q should also be black for the symbol to
mean 'a person'.
8. Michelle Groves commented that for Ex. 8c use of dotted lines
instead of action strokes can be used to suggest passivity of the
left leg movement.
COMMENTS ON THE LABANOTATOR NO. 49
1. Ex. 11 was a direct description of the action of the left foot
picking up off the floor. In Ex. In the left leg is instructed to
make a quick unimportant gesture. The point was made that In, the
conventional way of writing, is not appropriate in all cases.
JVZ "In Ex. In, if the time is brief and the leg does only what it
has to or can do to release from its previous support and move on
to the next support, why shouldn't this be an appropriate
statement [at all times]?" AH: In In the leg could be lifted
higher than wanted, the release sign in 11 is more specific about
height (very little).
2. Ex. 2h and 21. On count 1 of Ex. 2h the weight is shifted over to
the left foot, the right foot retaining some of the weight.
JVZ "What shows that this is a weight shift on count 1? Since the
hook is at the end of the symbol on count 1, couldn't this be
performed as an assumed weight shift during the pick-up and then
an active terminating touch place low that has partial weight?"
A similar question arises over Ex. 21.
3. Exs. 3d and 3e. JVZ questions the necessity of any release sign
for the left leg.
Ex. 3f. JVZ reads the toe hook for the left leg just before count
2 as a retained contact - how do we know it isn't? Is the
preceding release sign sufficient to give this clue? AH: Of
course! How could it be retained if it has just released?

11 1n
nm
2h 3d 3e
 The Labanotator, Issue Vo 52 , 1988

lull tor: Ann Hutchinson1 Guest

Associate Editors: Jane Vhitear, Rob van Haarst

Production: Nancy Harlock, Daphne Tribe

SUBSCRIPTION RATES 4 ISSUES 8 ISSUES

(All rates include U.S. A Jt7.50 ($20) £13.00 <*30)

airmail postage) CANADA £7.50 £13.00
AUSTRALIA £8.00 £14. 00
UNITED KINGDOM .. £6.00 £10.00
EUROPE £7. 00 £12.00

Please note that payment In sterling is preferred. Payment In US dollars is

acceptable and the rates are shown in parenthesis.
ALL CHEQUES PAYA&LE TO UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Address all subscription applications and renewals to: Daphne M Tribe,

The Labanotation Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, UK

Send comments and suggestions to Ann Guest, 17 Holland Park, London Vll 3TD

Discussions in the Labanotator represent the thinking of experienced

practitioners on choices in movement descriptions, uses of symbols, rules, etc.
and are not official in the sense of decisions concerning formal adoption of any
item, point of view or usage. Official adoption or changes will be clearly
stated as such.