DANCE NOTATION

the written recording of dance movements. The earliest surviving attempt at dance notation was in the form of letter-symbols found in the municipal archives of Cervera, Spain, from the last half of the 15th century. Also during this period, word abbreviations were found as dance notations in two documents from the library of Margaret of AustriaLivre des basses danses (c. 1460; Book of Low Dances) and L'Art et instruction de bien danser (c. 1488; The Art and Teaching of Fine Dancing). Methods of dance notation became more sophisticated through time, notably in Thoinot Arbeau's Orchsographie (1588), Raoul Feuillet's Chorgraphie, ou l'art de dcrire la danse (1700; Choreography, or the Art of Describing the Dance), and Arthur Saint-Lon's La Stnochorgraphie (1852). In 1892 the Russian Vladimir Stepanov made a great improvement in the field by using a special stave for rhythm notation. At the time, however, only rudimentary rhythm designations were utilized, and they were separate from the dance-step designations. The Hungarian Rudolf Laban published Choreographie (1926) and Kinetographie (1928), formulating the basis for the still widely used Labanotation (q.v.), the first technique to provide a means of simultaneously combining precise movement notation with precise rhythm notation. About this time Margaret Morris also developed Danscript, her method of notation, published as Notation of Movement (1928). Morris' system of notation was as versatile as Labanotation in its ability to notate general movement, not just dance steps. Timing and rhythm were indicated separately, however, a major drawback of the method. Another notation method of merit is the Benesh system, which was founded by Rudolf and Joan Benesh in the mid-1950s. Its base is the Institute of Choreology in London (1962), and it is used primarily by the Royal Ballet. Benesh is simpler to use than Labanotation but is criticized for its limitations in notating timing and rhythm. Labanotation's popularity continues to grow, particularly owing to the Dance Notation Bureau in New York City, originally founded in 1940 to further Laban's method. Many dances have been preserved for future generations by dance notation, yet the procedures of recording are still slow and cumbersome. Efforts to increase efficiency are being made currently, particularly at Columbia University, to create a system that combines notation with a computer-driven video display terminal. Additional reading A history of notation theory from the Renaissance to the present is found in Ann Hutchinson Guest, Dance Notation: The Process of Recording Movement on Paper (1984).