Description

Article written by 2007 DPDF Visual Culture fellow Victoria Watts, featured in Dance Chronicle, Volume 38, No. 3:

Benesh Movement Notation (BMN) and Labanotation are practices of movement analysis and written documentation that have evolved over time, shaped by the contexts in which they have been used. To date, no substantive account of the genesis of these systems has been published. This article begins that work by presenting the bones of a historical narrative that moves from the moment of inception to the moment of relative establishment. Drawing on my experiences as a student, teacher, and researcher of both systems, I discover parallel, though contrasting, tracks of development for Labanotation and BMN, as they pertain to my own professional identity as a notator. The new knowledge that this study seeks to unearth lies precisely in the comparative approach to the histories of these systems.