The iabanotatoe

Issue No. 66 January 1992

A HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LABAN SYSTEM

Part Five

26 BAR LINES

26.1 Bar lines have basically been used in the same way throughout the development of the
system. Some variation has emerged in the use of double bar lines for the beginning and
ending of a sequence, for the start and finish of a repeat, for 1st and 2nd endings and so
on. In his 1928 book Laban gave 26a for the bar line at the beginning of a piece and 26b
for the ending. In Laban 1930 the thick line at the base was drawn more wedge-shaped,
26c; the end sign, however, remained the same. Knust had always used short bar lines, as
in AK 1958, Ex. 207a; longer bar lines were used by SL 1936-38 and by the Dance
Notation Bureau, as in AHG 1954, Ex. 17a. Short bar lines were later adopted because
body and arm movements and sectional repeats were easier to read, AHG 1970 Ex. 34a.

1 "_
26a 26b

(Laban 1928)

IOC |:
207a M
a) b) 34a
(AK 1958)
(Laban 1930)
(AHG 1954) (AHG 1970)

26.2 Laban 1928 and 1930 made no separation between the starting position and the subsequent
movement, 26d. Knust 1951, first published in 1956, used a simple double bar line after
the starting position, as illustrated in AK 1958, Ex. 95a. This double bar line indicated the
beginning of movement; anything before the double line was part of the starting position,
AK 1958, Ex. 444a. He also gave a base line to his starting position and this usage was
adopted for the 1970 LN text, as in Ex. 34a above. Some LN practitioners do not use this
base line for the initial starting position in a movement sequence or for an example; Ex.
26e is taken from the DNB Elementary Study Guide.

26d (Laban 1928/1930) L

95a 15"
26e
(AK 1958)
(LN)
444a
 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

26.3 Regarding starting positions, there has, at times, been the question as to whether
the three staff lines are needed for a starting position. The practice has been to
use all three, although occasionally one meets starting positions where the staff
lines have been omitted such as Ex. 42, given in Laban's 1956 book.

26.4 In LN when a position established earlier in the score is repeated as a reminder

on a subsequent page, no base line is given, thus the difference can be seen
between an initial starting position and a reminder statement; Ex. 26f shows a
reminder position while 26g is a starting position taken before entering. These
examples are taken from Nijinsky's Faune Restored.
42
; (Laban 1956)

19

26f (a9)

26.5 After the first staff with its starting position, the bottom of subsequent staves on the page
are handled differently. Laban's 1930 publication Short Dances with Preliminary Exercises
placed the double line with the extra thick lower line before each subsequent staff, 26h. It
is interesting to note that in the examples from this book the movement is placed in relation
to the adjacent music notes; the lengths of the symbols and the gaps between are uneven
although the note values are the same. The gap before the first movement on the staff
seems to have no significance.

Note that this

example is placed
horizontally, as
it was in the
original
publication.

26h
(Laban 1956)

26.6 At the start of each subsequent staff on a page, Knust has used
double lines (without extra thickness), AK 1958, Ex. 786b. The
practice in LN has been to use only a single line, as does Maria
Szentpal.

(AK 1958)
786b
 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

26.7 Laban did not introduce short horizontal strokes (known as 'tick marks')
placed on the center time line to indicate the beats. His early books did
not deal with any intricacies in timing. In his 1956 book tick marks are f
used in only two examples, Nos. 27 and 28. Leeder always used short
horizontal tick marks. Ex. 26i is of classroom work notated by Ann
Hutchinson in 1937. AHG 1954, Ex lOb includes these marks whilst
AK 1958, Ex. 696f makes note of the LN usage.

fl
I]
3
10b 1
(AHG 1954)
28

261
2
(AH 1937)
27 696t> ±. (SL 1936)
(Laban 1956) (AK 1958)
26.8 It has not been Knust's practice to use any marks for the beats; he believed the length of
the symbols would indicate clearly the timing. However, AK 1958 gives Ex. 696e and
states: 'The subdivision of bars into single beats can be marked by dots on one of the three
lines of the stave; a line is chosen where there are not too many symbols". Szentpal
established use of a thin bar line to indicate the beats, her actual bar lines being drawn
noticeably thicker, 26j. At some point a few Labanotators introduced the use of slanting
tick marks, 26k, with the idea that these would be more visible among the block symbols.

696e 26j 26k

(AK 1958) (Szentpfl) (LN)

 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

27 ANALOGY SIGNS

27.1 Laban 1930 gave 27a as the symmetry sign and 27b as the parallel sign. He states: "When
a single dancer makes symmetrical movements with the right and left side of his body, the
movement need be transcribed only on the one side, the symmetry sign being noted on the
other side (27a). (Note: This has been used as one of the shorthand devices in Laban-
otation.) The same sign can be written when two dancers execute symmetrical movements.
In a like manner, when a dancer makes parallel movements with both sides of his body,
only one side can be transcribed, the sign of parallelism being inserted on the other side
(27b). This sign is also used when two dancers execute parallel movements". He noted
the following possibilities:
Line of march and movements \\
Line of march \ movements = EEEEEEEEEEEE^EEE^EEE
Line of march and movements •== •• ||
Line of march =, movements || (Laban 1930) 27a 27b
For these he did not give specific examples,
but, taking 'march' to mean supports, steps,
and 'movements' to mean limb gestures, the
idea seems clear. AK 1958 gave an example
of use of the parallel indication, 743a. Ex.
743b spells the movement out.

27.2 Knust 1951 gave = as the equal sign and

used it wherever one person's movements
equalled another's (i.e., exactly the same), as 743a 743b
in AK 1958, Ex. 737a. His original sign for
lateral symmetry (a reversal of right and left)
was AK 1958, Ex. 27c. Knust's basis for this sign was that by folding this design
vertically, the two sides coincide, illustrated here in 27d. AK 1958, Ex. 27e was the sign
for sagittal symmetry (an exchange of forward and backward movement); in this case the
design matches when folded laterally, as in 27f. The sign for 'opposite' (commonly called
'opposition') symmetry (as in ballroom), AK 1958, Ex. 27g, was a combination of the
above two signs. The sign for 'similar to', now generally called the 'ad lib.' sign, was used
by SL 1936-38, and was given in AHG 1954, as well as AK 1958, Exs. 773a or b).
Except for the 'similar' sign, the three other signs were doubled when used as repeat signs
for sectional repeats, AK 1958, Exs. 750a-c).
\u
27c 27d 773a 773b
737a
(AK 1958)
27e 27f 750a b c
27.3 In time it was generally agreed that these curved analogy signs
were difficult to draw neatly; by 1958 Knust published the new ^ 1C *
straight-line signs given here from AK 1979, Exs. 84-86. These
had been adopted by all for use as analogy signs. 84 85 86
(AK 1979)
 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

21A Ex. 84 used in context to indicate that Y performs the lateral symmetry of
X (usually termed "to the other side") is given in AK 1958, Ex. 757b.
< t\b
28

28.1
REPEAT SIGNS

Over the years there have been considerable changes in the writing of repeat
i
signs. Laban 1928 presented sectional repeat signs within the staff.
Doubtless they were soon moved outside the staff because of the established
use of space on the staff to indicate timing. Ex. 28a states merely "repeat (AK 1958)
sign". For 28b he states "The number of lines means how often the whole
movement should be made."

28a (Laban 1928) 28b (Laban 1930)

the same the other mirror

side 741 repeat
28c (SL 1936) 28d (AK 1958) 28e
(SL 1936)
28.2 An early use for sectional repeats (SL 1936) was to place the equal signs on
the same side of the staff to indicate an identical repetition, 28c. A repeat
on the other side, i.e., lateral symmetry, was written as 28d. AK 1958
gives Ex. 741 as "The old way of writing repetitions in Kinetography. The
equal signs are placed without a connecting line to the left of the stave at
the beginning and to the right at the end." In Ann Hutchinson Guest's
notes of that time Ex. 28e was given as a 'mirror repeat'; the term should ballroom
28f repeat
have been 'a repeat using sagittal symmetry'. A ballroom repeat was given
as 28f. (SL 1936)
28.3 In developing the system Knust followed the logic that
repeat signs should be based on the analogy signs. For
sectional repeats Knust modified the equal sign by using
the ends of the extended lines enclosing the area to be
repeated as part of the equal sign, as in AK 1958, Ex.
739d. The laterally symmetrical repeat sign was handled
in a similar way, becoming the end part of the extended
horizontal lines, AK 1958, Ex. 758h.
739d 758h
(AK 1958)
6 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

28.4 Sagittal repeats, AK 1958 Ex. 767f, were

attached to the extended lines. The old
curved ballroom analogy sign of AK
1958, Ex. 768b was first changed by 768b
Knust to AK 1958, Ex. 768a. AK 1958
Ex. 770a shows its use as an analogy
sign. Used as a repeat the old Ex. 771c
became Ex. 771 d. Later Knust changed S
the form of this ballroom analogy sign to 768a
AK 1979, Ex. 829, its use being illus-
trated in Ex. 832c. 767f (AK 1958)

770a
(AK 1958)

829
771c 771d 832c
(AK 1958) (AK 1979)
28.6 For sectional repeats a need met often
in classroom exercises was that of the
'en croix' repeat. AHG put forward 14-
28g to indicate the 'forward-sideward- 28g
backward' pattern, and 28h for the
526a 526b £-
'forward-sideward-backward-sideward'
form. These signs are placed facing H- Perform this to Perform this to
to the right when the right limb 28h the front, side, the front, side,
and back. back, and side.
begins the pattern, as in AHG 1970,
Exs. 526a-b), and to the left when the (AHG 1970)
left limb begins the exercise.

28.7 SL 1936-38 developed repetition signs y.

based on the sign used in music. 28i 28k
This slanted form is used when placed
within the staff, 281. A laterally
symmetrical repeat is shown by
doubling the line, 28j. These signs 28j 281
became a standard part of 515d
Labanotation. AHG 1970, Ex. 515d
illustrates this use. When repeat signs (AHG 1970)
are placed outside the staff, as in
sectional repeats, the signs are drawn
with a horizontal line, 28R-1). The
appropriate sign is placed within the
extended horizontal lines. Note that
the longer bar lines of AHG 1954
Exs. 171a-b), were changed to AHG
1970 Exs. 523a-b).
171a 171b 523a 523b
(AHG 1954) (AHG 1970)
 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

28.7 Repeat signs were found to be useful when

placed within a column. AHG 1954, Ex. 170a
shows a repeated wave of the hand. In AHG
1970, Ex. 663b indicates a slight upward and
downward movement of the hand. 663b
(AHG 1954) (AHG 1970)

28.8 Maria Szentpal has used the music-based repeat sign within the staff, but without the dots;
28m shows an identical repeat. For a repeat to the other side, she uses the analogy sign, as
in 28n.

28o

28m 28n 536

(SzentpaU) (AHG 1970)

28.9 AK 1979 presented many different uses of the analogy signs both to indicate analogies and
forms of repetition. The AHG 1970 textbook gave many more examples of uses of the
Labanotation signs. The whole range of these possibilities is not being investigated here.
Nor is the question of when a statement is indeed one of analogy and when it is more
correctly expressed as a repeat. For instance, the analogy indication of AHG 1970, Ex. 536
had for many years been incorrectly written with a repeat sign, as 28o.

28.10 A Reprise; Use of Repeats. The reprise signs (here identified as 'I') marks a sequence
which will be repeated later on. Knust's usage, shown here as AK 1958, Ex. 82a, was
adopted by others.

HI

82a 752b 752c EL

(AK 1958) (AK 1958) (AK 1958)

28.11 If the original reprise material includes repeats these may or may not be used later on. In
AK 1958, Ex. 752b the diagonal stroke that points from one reprise sign to the other means
repeat the phrase without the original repetitions. A doubled diagonal stroke, as in AK
1958, Ex. 752c means repeat the phrase including all previous repetitions.
8 The Labanotator, No. 66, January 1992

28.12 A usage introduced by Knust is indication of the same

general movement but with lateral symmetry occurring
for the feet ('the path'). In AK 1958, Ex. 762a 'x' and
*y* are the same, but *y* is to use lateral symmetry for the
feet.
762a

(AK 1958)

Editor: Ann Hutchinson Guest

Associate Editor: Jane Dulieu

Production: Jean Johnson Jones

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