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August 1, 2010
Labanotation
Dance is an ephemeral art form: now we see it, now we don’t. Consequently, choreographic structuring can be difficult to perceive and appreciate. One of the advantages of a Labanotation transcription of a dance is that it can enable you to identify recurring patterning, movement motifs and phrasing.
Come and help me make a forest is a combination of movement material taught by Daniel Larrieu and material devised by the dancers. The two sections that have been notated arise primarily from phrases taught by Daniel Larrieu. In both cases the choreographic impact is derived from the use of canon form.
In Labanotation motifs are clearly identified by a square box with either a letter or Roman numeral. The box is placed to the left of the staff at the start of a motif and to the right when it ends thereby highlighting for the reader the number of bars comprising the motif. The motif can then be shown to be identically repeated or repeated with lateral symmetry (‘on the other side’) without having to write out the notation again.
Section 1
The canon at the start of the piece consists of a series of variations on a basic step-close pattern.
The canon at the end of section two involves a number of different motifs which vary in length from 4 bars to 9 bars. Sometimes, the motifs are performed in canon, later on juxtaposed with one another and occasionally there are moments of unison.
