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SESSIONS The Representation of Movement in Notation Systems and its Transformation in Digital Processing by Henner Drewes, Germany Paper Since the 1980s, various computer applications for editing, processing and printing scores of the major movement notation systems have been developed and a number of them are widely used nowadays. While the present programs facilitate basic editing functions for the graphic representation of notation scores, the need for more intelligent programs should influence future software development. A software that is not only aware of the graphic shapes of notation scores and symbols but also of their contained meaning, will ease a.o. the transformations of scores to animation, implementation of advanced search features as well as checking grammar and spelling. The following lecture will demonstrate basic approaches of digitalization methods employed by current computer applications developed for Labanotation and Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation. A thorough comparison between these notation systems reveals insights into their inherent understanding of movement and different representation methods applied in documentation, composition and learning of movement. While differences in the basic notation concepts are evident and may be clearly defined, numerous writing solutions and conventions introduce secondary aspects of movement understanding of which some are common to both notation systems. Looking at bo th notation systems and their corresponding computer programs shows that the conceptual difference of the notation systems apparently influenced the way computer programs were initially designed. Information structures employed by the notations thus indirectly determined current limitations of the present software. A detailed analysis of the notation systems involved may contribute to a wider understanding and may help to efficiently achieve the required goals during the next developmental stage of producing intelligent notation software. During the development of a software for one notation system it may prove to be helpful to look at the solutions found for the other system. Clarifying differences may contribute to the development of an appropriate native digital description for each system by itself, while some findings may inspire the development of the other system, or may be even transferred and applied to it directly. Henner Drewes has been teaching movement and notation since 1994 and currently works at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv (Israel) and at the Hochschule für Musik, Köln (Germany), where he lectures on dance and movement related technology. In 2002 he obtained his PhD at the University of Leipzig with his dissertation Transformations - movement in notation systems and digital processing. He is the author of the software EW Notator, a "word-processor" for creating Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation scores. Within his dance and notation studies, Henner studied Kinetography Laban at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen in Germany (1994-1996) and the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation system at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy for Music and Dance (1989-1991) and at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv (1991-1994).
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