Labanotation

Abstract: This paper reports findings from a study of Labanotation, an already established movement notation, as a design tool for movement-based interaction where movements of the human body are direct input to technology. Using Labanotation, we transcribed movements performed by players of two different Eyetoy™ games. Our analysis identified a range of advantages and disadvantages of the potential use of Labanotation in design. Its major disadvantage is the effort required to learn how to use it. But it supports a representation of movement that can be easily linked into the context and point of interaction. This provides a valuable foundation for design of movement-based interaction.

Abstract: Symbolic systems such as Labanotation for notating dance and choreography provide a critical tool for the preservation of cultural heritage in what once was considered an ‘illiterate’ art form. While the goals of such notation systems are laudable, the unfortunate reality is that most dancers and choreographers cannot read or write the notation; that is, they are loath to take the considerable effort to learn a rich, but complex methodology. To make Labanotation scores more accessible the LabanDancer system has been developed to translate Labanotation scores recorded in the LabanWriter editor into 3-d human figure animations. A major challenge in the development of this translator has been to find approaches that are general enough to create reasonable animations for a wide variety of different movements. Any translator must also take account of the context of a movement since this can affect the interpretation of the Labanotation scores. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract: By using a motion capture system we can measure and record human body motion of intangible cultural properties like ballet dance or other performing arts. Since the measurement accuracy of the system is high, volume of the data is usually very large. Compact and abstracted description of the motion is also required. We developed a method to generate the coded description from motion captured data. The description is based on dance notation, called Labanotation, which is well known among Western dance communities. Labanotation score is produced from the coded description, and it can be readily used in choreography and dance education. This compact coded description of the motion may also be used as an index for motion captured data stored in the database.

Abstract: Today, intangible cultural properties like ballet and dance have been a target of digital archiving. Our laboratory is developing comprehensive data processing system to input, describe, record, search, and display human body movement. This system can record and reenact human body movement using the data format based on Labanotation, which has been used for recording human movement of dance with several types of graphical symbols. This paper describes LabanEditor, which is an interactive graphical editor for writing and editing Labanotation scores. By using LabanEditor, a user can input and edit human body movement of dance and also display animation of a human body model in 3D graphics.