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Labanotation and Asian dance:selected examples

by Judy Van Zile

Since 1971 I have been teaching Labanotation at theUniversity of Hawaii, and both my students and 1 have usednotation in research. The unique opportunities in Hawaii toapply notation skills to a tremendously wide variety of danceforms, and the geographically broad - ranging research ofstudents, have provided many opportunities to applyLabanotation not only to dance forms of the Western world,but to those of the East as well.

Because of the success in the varied applications of thenotation system, 1 am convinced of its suitability to virtuallyany form of human movement. 1 would like to share withyou information on a number of specific projects, as wellas selected notation examples.

A fascinating study evolved at the University in the areaof Balinese dance. A graduate student who had lived andstudied dance in Bali, and svho knew the Balinese language,wished to translate a Balinese dance treatise into English.As ihe worked with a University language teacher sherealized that a literal translation of terms did not create anaccurate picture of the intended movement, so she decidedto do two translations - one literal and the other descriptive,based on her understanding of the movement patternsindicated by the terms.

1 then posed the question: what would happen if thesame process were done usingLabanotation?She proceeded

The author is a professor of dance at the University of Hawaii, USA. Thisarticle is based on the material originally published in Van Zile 1979.

to translate the entire text in four ways - literal andmeaningful versions in both verbal and symbolic systems (secBallinger 1977).

Two features emerged. First, the short - hand methodswe resort to, in applying verbal terminology (in any language)to movement, may be meaningful to the native practitionersof a dance genre or to those who have already learned themovement. But they are often not fully communicative inrepresenting precisely what is happening to anyone else.Second, while these terms may not be totally descriptive, theyoften do give clues to what is most important to the nativepractitioner and the genre, and hence, to elements that shouldreceive attention when learning, performing, and notatingthe movement sequences.

Many classical Asian dance forms employ preciseprescribed hand/finger/thumh positions. Although oftencomplex, all can be easily and very accurately described inLabanotation. In my own work 1 have notated a number ofsuch positions used in the bharata natyam tradition of India.

Although the notation for the positions may appearcumbersome, it very accurately conveys the desired result.And once the positions have been fully described, it ispossible to establish an abbreviated notation that can besubsequently used in scores (nee Van Zile 1982a). These samepositions would require numerous photographs and extensiveverbal descriptions to capture the same amount of detailsthat can be conveyed in relatively few notation symbols.

In some Asian dances the dancer also functions as a musician, frequently playing a drum while dancing. Indocumenting these dances, an indication of the rhythmicpattern for striking the drum is often insufficient. Alsoneeded are documentation of the choreographed movements

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used u, striking the drum,the body part or portion ofa drMln stick or otherimplements, doing thestriking and the pan of thedrum r)n which the strikingoccuri

A student projectinvolved the notation of a Korean drum dance inwhich the dancer fastens a large hour - glass shapeddrum to her waist fard-ley 1972. Based onexisting principles of theLabanotation system a special key was establishedin which symbols used todelineate five different waysof striking the drum werecreated. These symbolswere then used as needed inthe score. They easilyconveyed all the necessarydetails for the properplaying of the drum.

In 1976 the Universityof Hawaii hosted aninstitute on the performingarts of Okinawa, featuringguest master teachers ofmusic and dance fromOkinawa. Several projectsdocumenting variousdances were undertaken,but lo me one of the most interesting projects centeredaround music One of the researchers was involved in learninga particular style of classical drumming - a style in whichthe visual aesthetic is as important as the resultant sound.Movements are highly choreographed, and the drummermust be equally comfortable in producing stylized movementas well as sound.

Together with a notation specialist the researcherproduced extensive documentation of the drummingtechiiique-via Okinawan terminology and symbolic notation,translations of the Okinawan terminology into English,gencial verbal descriptions of the movement patterns, still

Three bharata natyam mudras in Labanotation and in line drawings (from Van Zile 1982aand Bartenieff, et al 1984). The symbols to the left of the "equal sign" are abbreviated versionsof the notations used in the scores; the symbols to the right of the equal sign are the fullywritten out positions. The Labanotation contains greater detail of finger placement than itis possible to show in a single line drawing.

photographs, a video tape, and Labanotation scores (see

Sutton 1980).

The Labanotation scores provide an invaluable recordof the special movement involved in the drumming - onewhich can be read by Labanotation practitioners who havenever actually seen the drumming performed. And from thisrecord the movements can be as accurately learned as thesound can be from the music transcription.

Several students at the University of Hawaii havepursued projects relating to choreographic analysis. In a master's thesis a student related dance to tribal classification

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through an examination of selected dances of the Paiwanaboriginal people of a particular county in Taiwan (Kwok 1977).

She was concerned with whether the dances could beclassified on the basis of distinct tribal and sub - tribalboundaries and, if so, would these agree with otherclassification systems. In the course of her research a numberof methodological approaches to movement analysisemerged.

One component of the movement analysis was thedetermination of the major characteristics of the dancesstudied. The student began by identifying repeatedpatterns, which she referred to as motifs. She discovered thatthese could be grouped on the basis of similar features andproduced a series of charts indicating the taxonomy of thedances observed.

She then tallied the number of times each pattern wasused and determined which patterns were used in all regionsstudied, and which were distinctive to a particular region.A similar analysis was done for arm motifs, groupformations, and floor patterns. This led to the delineationof a frequency distribution based on the establishedtaxonomy.

Once motifs were determined the student examinedchoreographic structure. Were there any rules governing howthe motifs could be put together to create a dance? Althoughher informants could not articulate such rules, theyintuitively knew that certain things could go together andcertain things had to follow each other in a particularmanner.

When she examined complete dances she was able,based on the defined taxonomy, to evolve a number offormulae for producing a dance. There was. indeed, a structural basis for the choreography.

She concluded her study by compiling the data toproduce a map of tribal groups based on dancecharacteristics. Although limitations prevented the work frombeing definitive, the groupings concurred with classificationspresented by some scholars using criteria other than dance.

A master's thesis completed in 1979 (Ohtani) furthersupports the notion of a structural basis for choreography.Following her intuition as a performer, the student markedphrases in Labanotation scores of several Okinawandances - those places in a dance where one would stop at theend of a teaching session, where one feels a sense ofcompletion before going on to something else.

She then examined exactly what was happening at these

dividing points. She discovered that there does, indeed, seemto be a consistency in what kinds of things are happeningthat makes us feel that a phrase is beginning or ending - a formulaic basis for choreographic structure.

The value of Labanotation in tracing the roots of a dance form and comparing it with other dance forms isdemonstrated in an article by a group of researchers dealingwith mohiniyattam from Southern India (Bartenieff, et a/1984). The article provides an initial effort in relatingmohiniyattam to kathakali and bharata natyam.

Labanotation has also been used by indigenousresearchers pursuing studies on their own dance forms. 1 Made Bandem has used Labanotation to document thedances of Bali, M. Soedarsono to document those of Java,Mohd Anis Bin Nohr to document those of Malaysia, andLouise Chen to document those of China.

My own research has led me to extensive use ofLabanotation in documenting bharata natyam from India(1982), bon dances from Japan as they are practiced in Hawaii(1982b), and several traditional court dances of Korea.

Perhaps the most significant testimonial regarding thevalues of using Labanotation came from a Korean danceteacher (see Van Zile 1984) During a major research periodspent in Korea I notated one group dance and one solo dance.Upon returning to the United States 1 gave the scores to a student who was totally unfamiliar with Korean dance, andasked that she learn the dances from the scores.

This she did, teaching the group dance to otherstudents, and performing the solo dance herself.Performances of the dances were video taped, and I tookthe tapes with me on a return trip to Korea to show to myKorean teacher.

The initial reaction was interest, curiosity, anddisbelief - disbelief thai Labanotation could be used tonotate their dances. My teacher was truly amazed thatsomeone who had never seen Korean dance could learn somuch from a notated score. The final testimonial came whenmy Korean teacher said, "Now I understand the value ofnotating the dances."

Very often it is assumed that because one knows howto dance well one should immediately be able to learn howto notate the dances one performs. Unfortunately this ignoresthe issue of how long it took to become an accomplisheddancer.

Because a dancer is consistently involved withperforming, the "knowing" of the dance and its movementsis often based on a kinesthetic, or muscle, "knowing." The

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ability to notate movementis based on a consciousintellectual understandingof the movement - a modeoften bypassed by theperformer who knows themovement directly throughmuscles.

Hence, it is necessaryto take time to bring theunderstanding of dance tothe conscious level, andthen to translate thisunderstanding into thesymbology of Labanota-tion. And this also assumesa full knowledge of thesymbology and the rulesfor applying the notationsystem.

The process of learn-ing Labanotation can becompared to the processof learning a new language.The learner knows themeaning to be conveyed -in this case the movement -but must master the newlanguage and becomefluent in the translationprocess. While doing so,:he speaker - or dancer -jains a deeper under--tanding of the intendedmeaning that increasesability as a performer aswell as teacher. Theprinciples underlying thesystem of Labanotationprovide for an under-standing of movement thatin invaJuable to performers,critics, historians, teachers,and anyone deeply involvedwith dance.

It is important tokeep in mind that Labano-

Excerpt from a bharata natyam alarippu (from Van Zile 1982a). Notations to the left of thestaff include musical notation for the accompanying talam syllables recited by the natturanar, and syllables recited internally by the dancer. Note the ease with which movement and threelevels of sound accompaniment can be compared.

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tation need not replace any indigenous forms of dancenotation. Rather, they can work in tandem. As pointed outearlier in the projects on Balinese dance and Okinawanmusic, indigenous systems provide valuable informationabout what is important within a particular dance tradition.In Labanotation, just as in verbal language, there are oftenmany ways to say the same thing, each way providing slightlydifferent emphasis and pointing to important components.And, as with a verbal language, there are good translations

and not such good translations.Labanotation should never be looked upon as an end

in itself. It is, rather, a very powerful tool for the study ofdance. It can provide a written document that can beunderstood by dance researchers throughout the world,whether or not they share a verbal language. And thisdocumentation can then provide the basis for a wide rangeof important dance studies. IB

Begin with back to .nun uf circle. Dunce progresses slightly clockwise aiound the circle.

C .''...it Movement12 Step kit to left side and

touch i ight toe alongside left. 3-4L eft ai in extends to forward 3-6left diagonal high, right tu forward left diagonal, parallel to flour,both slightly bent. Leftpalm faces away from body,right faces floor. Fingers of

Mcp lurwtira >u right. Both•n m drop forwaid low, palms

lacing backClose left foot to right. Bothamis make a slight arc awayruMM the body on their wayto forward high. Palms raceaway Irom body.Step forward on left. Both 11arms drop to forward low, 12-1?palm* facing back.Pivot quickly counierclock-

nghi hand are just below leftelbow.Repeat to opposite side.Step left to left side and pivotclockwise until tight shoulder

is to center of circle. Botharms swing down to left MJ.and then up to forward leftdiagonal high.

wi*e until bach IN to ten';*ot circle and step right to rigr.: side, finishing with both Ice.in * small snide. Kight armgoes to forward right daigon.il.left to forward left diagonal,parallel to floor Palms fleethe flooi.Hold.

Arms go to forward low, bentslightly, and clap two time*.

Soma Bon Ufa, a Japanese bon dance performed in Hawaii (from Van Zile 1982b), with movements written in verbal des-criptions, Labanotation, and in line drawings. Note that the Labanotation score contains the greatest amount of movementdetail.

REFERENCES CITED

Ballinger, Rucina1977 "Balinese Dance Movements: A Labanotation Score." Unpublished student

paper. University of Hawaii.

Bartenieff, Irmgard, Peggy Hackney, Betty True Jones, Judy Van Zile, and Carl Wolz1984 "The Potential of Movement Analysis as a Research Tool: A Preliminary

Analysis," Dance Research Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 3-26.

Eardley, Mary Anne1972 "Labanotation Scores for Two Korean Dances: GiBon and Changko Chum!'

Unpublished student paper. University of Hawaii.

Kwok, Madeline1977 "Dance of the Paiwan Aboriginal People of Pingtung County, Taiwan, with

Implications of Dance for Tribal Classification." Unpublished M.A. Thesisin Music (Dance Ethnology), University of Hawaii.

Ohtani, Kimiko1979 "The Okinawan Kumiodori: an Analysis of Relationships of Text, Music,

and Movement in Selections from Nido Tekiuchi." Unpublished M.A. Thesisin Music (Dance Ethnology), University of Hawaii.

Sutton, R. Anderson1980 "Drumming in Okinawan Classical Music: A Catalogue of Gestures, Dance

Research Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Fall), pp. 17-27.

Van Zile, Judy1984 "How Much Does a Score Say?" Proceedings of the Thirteenth Biennial

Conference 3-14 August 1983. Ohio: International Council of Kinetograph>Laban, pp. 104-106.

1982a "Balasaraswati's "Tisram Alarippu': A Choreographic Analysis," in Wade.Bonnie C, editor. Performing Arts in India. Essays of Music, Dance, andDrama. Maryland: University Press of America. Monograph Series No. 21,Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California,Berkeley), pp. 47-104. (Reprinted in Vol. XVI11, No. 2 (Spring/Summer 1987)issue of Asian Music, pp. 45-102.)

1982b The Japanese Bon Dance in Hawaii. Hawaii: Press Pacifica.

1979 "Exploring Notation as a Research Tool: Implications of Selected Projectson Asian and Pacific Dance, "Proceedings of the Eleventh Biennial Conference,3-22 August, 1979, International Council of Kinetography Laban, pp. 18-34.