>>I want to build an application that depicts classical
>>dance via language scripts and a musical score (piano).
>great idea ! I've searched the web for a long time to find if
>there was an equivalence to abc for dance notation, but only for
>folk because I learn many fine dances and I'd like to archive them
>in a conveniant way.
The two symbolic notations I'm aware of are Labanotation and Banesh
notation (a bit simpler version). You might want to look into that.
As in music, the main problem with taking notation from live performance
is that when trying to get every detail you get down to the actual
performer's personality, which may or may not be the essence of what
you're trying to record. Labanotation is both too detailed and too
difficult to learn. It has even been applied effectively to psychoanalysis
with some astounding result.
I have not worked with Banesh notation. NOr do I plan to. Instead, I
intend to rely upon the quite comprensive and detailed language of
classical dance itself. But this does not apply well to other forms
of dance.
I think it would be far easier to categorize small/short movement
sequences into some kind of order and give them names and a taxonomy.
Unfortunately, most dances, especially folk dances are taught by
replication
and emulation rather than more formal analysis. And so the language often
used to describe the dance is often vague or too generic to be useful.
So here's a spectrum of such descriptions, (as I see it)
Mathematics on one extreme being highly impersonal, abstract, yet precise;
Music in the middle with a defined level of useful abstraction yet quite a
bit of room for personal interpretation -- architecture is about in this
area as well; and
Dance on the other extreme (in most cases) which is almost solely
dependent
upon personal expressiveness and interpretation with very little
abstraction.
Yet, it is the language (symbols) develop and use which make an artform
vital. My favorite work on this topic is Christopher Alexander's "The
Timeless
Way of Building" and "A Patten Language for the Construction of Houses"
(a logical pair).
Jeff Sz.
--
In truth everything and everyone
Is a shadow of the Beloved,
And our seeking is His seeking
And our words are His words...
We search for Him here and there,
while looking right at Him.
Sitting by His side, we ask:
"O Beloved, where is the Beloved?"
-- Rumi, poet and mystic
(1207-1273)
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