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Translating ‘Vector Symbols’ from Laban’s (1926) Choreographie Jeffrey LONGSTAFF A group of notation symbols were used by Rudolf Laban in his early German work Choreographie (1926, Jena: Eugen Diederichs) but were later abandoned during the development of choreutics and kinetography Laban (Labanotation). This paper presents the details of a step-by-step process of translating these early symbols into modern-day Labanotation direction symbols and then considers aspects of Laban's choreutic spatial conception which are embedded within the symbol system. Four of Laban's (1926) notated sequences are taken as examples, beginning with the well known choreutic 'axis scale', and moving on to other more obscure symmetrical spatial patterns. Several translation hypotheses are tested, for example each symbol might be translated as 1) synonymous with a modern-day Labanotation direction symbol, 2) as a 'transverse inclination' from the choreutic A-scales or B-scales, 3) as transverse inclinations in 'natural order' from the A-scales or B-scales, and also in the 'counter order' when the A- or B-scales are performed in retrograde, 4) as both transverse and peripheral inclinations in both natural order and counter order and also as transverse and peripheral dimensional movements. This final solution was found to consistently translate the spatial sequences in Choreographie into types of symmetrical patterns typical of Laban's choreutic 'scales'. Two features stand out in this translation. Firstly, the symbols represent orientations of lines of motion explicitly without reference to any particular positions or locations. Secondly, the orientation of movement indicated by a symbol could lie anywhere in the space (eg. either on the right or left of the body). Therefore these symbols might be referred to collectively as 'vector symbols' since they represent orientation of motions, regardless of where the motion is, and are in contrast to modern-day Labanotation direction symbols which typically represent motion implicitly as transitions from position to position. Other vector-type symbols have been used in other places. Laban (1966) used 'free notation' and 'free space lines', and Hutchinson Guest (1983) devised symbols for 'direction of the progression'. However, neither of these allow a concise representation of the orientation of choreutic 'inclinations' which are at the core of vector symbols. A choreutic principal of body movements being embodied as spatial 'deflections' between a dimensional and a diagonal is embedded within the vector symbol conceptual structure. These symbols can be useful as a method for documenting orientations of motion, and as an alternative spatial conception for the performer. ________________ This research was part of a Ph.D. research degree at Laban Centre London, City University London, and is in advance of an upcoming English translation and annotations of Choreographie, edited by J. Longstaff & V. Preston-Dunlop. |
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Jeffrey Scott LONGSTAFF CMA PhD advises research degrees, teaches movement analysis and is a resident musician at Laban Centre London. Recent research on the re-evaluation of Rudolf Laban’s choreutics has been presented at EuroLab, Motus Humanus and the Labanotation Institute, and published in Perceptual and Motor Skills. He is currently preparing a translation and analysis of Laban’s early German works Choreographie and Harmonie Lehere der Bewegung. |
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