LabanWriter

LabanWriter Icon

Labanwriter is a Labanotation editor for the Macintosh developed by the Ohio State Department of Dance. It can be downloaded for free, and the current version will run on any Macintosh computer system running OS 10.4 or greater. Older versions will work with system 6.01 to 9.5.

LabanWriter is a software program that permits dance to be copied, edited and stored on a computer. It utilizes the symbols for Labanotation, a movement language devised by Rudolph Laban in the 1920s, to record dance on paper. The program includes more than 700 symbols that indicate parts of the body, direction, levels, and types of movement and the durations of each action.

Learn more about Labanotation.

Download LabanWriter

Download  Laban Writer 4.7.2 [zip] and install the fonts (MacOS 10.12.3 or earlier, newer operating systems not supported).
Learn to use LabanWriter with the LabanWriter Manual [pdf]

Read about new features for version 4.7.2.
Continue with LabanReader, a software program for selective viewing of notation symbols in a dance score

Please send all bug reports, problems with installation and requests for help to labanwriter@osu.edu.

Tips and Tricks

  • Tips for using LabanWriter that other users have found useful.
  • EazyDraw is a useful took for making your own drawings. Illustrations and notation symbols can be dragged back and forth between Labanwriter and EasyDraw.
  • LabanTalk is a mailing list for discussion of Labanotation and LabanWriter.
  • LabanWriter Workshop Guide [pdf] may be useful to those leading a computer lab session that introduces students to LabanWriter.

Resources

  • History of LabanWriter
  • LabanWriter Resources for those needing old versions of LabanWriter for older computers or needing Font Keymaps or details of the LabanWriter file format
  • Additional online information resources for Labanotation and other notation systems