A definitive book for students of dance and movement studies, Labanotation is now available in a fourth edition, the first complete revision of the text since 1977. Initiated by the movement genius Rudolf Laban, and refined through fifty years of work by teachers here and abroad, Labanotation, the first wholly successful system for recording human movement, is now having the effect on ballet and other forms of dance that the prefection of music notation in the Renaissance had on the development of music. This book makes it possible to record accurately, for study and reconstruction, the great dance creations of the theater, as well as such diverse activities as time/motion studies for industry, personnel assessment and physical therapy. So comprehensive that it can indicate even facial expressions, the system is also simple enough for a child to learn easily as an integral part of athletic or dance training.

An introduction to the systematic recording of movement with emphasis on the historical development of notation. Includes comparison and evaluation of systems.

How and why to write a movement? Who is the writer? Who is the reader? They may be choreographers working with dancers. They may be roboticists programming robots. They may be artists designing cartoons in computer animation. In all such fields the purpose is to express an intention about a dance, a specific motion or an action to perform, in terms of intelligible sequences of elementary movements, as a music score that would be devoted to motion representation. Unfortunately there is no universal language to write a motion. Motion languages live together in a Babel tower populated by biomechanists, dance notators, neuroscientists, computer scientists, choreographers, roboticists. Each community handles its own concepts and speaks its own language. The book accounts for this diversity. Its origin is a unique workshop held at LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse in 2014. Worldwide representatives of various communities met there. Their challenge was to reach a mutual understanding allowing a choreographer to access robotics concepts, or a computer scientist to understand the subtleties of dance notation. The liveliness of this multidisciplinary meeting is reflected by the book thank to the willingness of authors to share their own experiences with others.

As an actor, awareness of your movement is the key to transformation. By making deliberate physical choices, you can fully and articulately embody different ways of being: you can become someone or something else. Laban's Efforts give you a way of identifying and making these choices. Working with them helps the actor to create wholly present and physically ambitious performances. This book outlines Ewan's practical process, which allows the actor to understand their own movement and that of others by exploring one key part of Laban's work: the 'Efforts of Action Drive'. This complete, stage-by-stage, working process has been developed through more than thirty years of work with actors in the studio. Clear instructions for practical exercises are woven throughout the book, as well as exciting ways to apply the work in rehearsal, performance and on set. This allows the actor to learn and apply Laban's Efforts for themselves. Full video and audio resources allow the reader to experience the practical work in action.

"'Irmgard Bartenieff has a profound knowledge of the human body and how it moves. I am delighted that this will now be made available to many more people.'." -- George Balanchine of Director, New York City Ballet "'Irmgard Bartenieff's pioneering work in the multiple applications of Labananalysis has had a transforming influence on many areas of movement training. Her careful and detailed development of the spatial principles into active corrective work has illuminated and altered the training of people as varied as dancers, choreographers, physical therapists, movement and dance therapists, and psychotherapists. Anthropologists and non-verbal communication researchers have found their world view necessarily altered by her fundamental innovations. The field of body/mind work will need to adapt to include her clear working through of basic principles.'." -- Kayla Kazahn Zalk of President, American Dance Guild