Resources

Body

Labanotation

Labanotation (Kinetography Laban in Europe) is a structured system for analyzing and recording movement with symbols. Each symbol has four elements: direction (shape of symbol), level (shading), timing (length of symbol), which body part is involved (placement on staff). Symbols are laid out on a staff, which reads from bottom to top and left to right.

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Motif Description

Motif Description is a form of Labanotation that pares movement down to its essence — actions and stillness. Many of the same symbols from Labanotation are used in Motif. In Motif Description, only the most essential aspects of a movement are recorded. Motif is used in a variety of ways: composition, teaching children, movement analysis, or highlighting a character's action in a scene for example.

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Laban Movement Analysis

Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) is a language for observing and describing movement developed by Rudolf Laban. The categories for observation are: Body (articulation), Space (design), and Effort (quality). The most well-known aspect is the Effort theory. The Effort category describes qualitative aspects of movement, comprised of Space (Direct/Indirect), Weight (Strong/Light), Time (Sudden/Sustained), and Flow (Free/Bound). LMA, like Labanotation, uses symbols. LMA is used in movement research, choreography and style analysis, even behavioral sciences.

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Other Notation Systems/Software