Böcker av Ann Hutchinson Guest

Advanced Labanotation issue 10: Body Variations.

A Labanotation score.In capturing the spirit of the 'Roaring Twenties' Jerome Robbins' Charleston Ballet is agem. It came to life in the 1945 Broadway show Billion Dollar Baby, providing a highlightdespite being only seven minutes long. Robbins depicted the various characters of thetime, the gangsters, bootleggers, a policeman (who was always looking the other way)and various other characters who entered - and also exited - the Speakeasy. For each ofthese people Robbins selected appropriate Charleston steps of the period to illustrate theirparticular personality. Three young Flappers had great fun whooping it up; the RichCouple exuded elegance and disdain as they swept into the Speakeasy; the doddery OldCouple, dancing the familiar steps with caution; the over exuberant Collegiate Couplewildly sharing a flask of booze; two Younger Generation, he with banjo, joyfully beatingtime to the music; two Gangsters furtively casing the joint before the Bootleggers bringin the boxes of likker. The poor Timid Girl (who lives alone in an attic), meets up withGood Time Charlie who soon drags her into the Speakeasy. Before long, wildly drunk,the Timid Girl comes bursting out the Speakeasy and introduces exaggerated Charlestonsteps which leads into the group finale.

The death of the internationally celebrated choreographer Antony Tudor made the ballet world aware of the importance of preserving his works to enrich future generations before it was too late. Soiree Musicale, the first Tudor ballet to be made available in published form, will provide access to this delightful piece both to dancers and dance students as well as to teachers, historians, researchers and scholars concerned in the art. It is hoped that an understanding of this ballet will stimulate a desire to publish other works by this choreographer, who pointed the way to a deeper psychological insight into the art of ballet. The pages of history speak for themselves. Tudor's place in the development of ballet is assured, and it is vital that his heritage be kept alive as an essential pan of dance education and scholarship. Soiree Musicale is a charming, lively piece, well-suited to classroom study as well as stage performance. Although technically demanding when performed up to full tempo, the dances allow for a degree of personal interpretation and expression which can surmount technical problems. In the book the full Labanotation score is accompanied by detailed study and performance notes, historical background and photographs which provide the flavor of this much-loved piece.

'Robert le Diable - The Ballet of the Nuns' offers a new approach to the study of one of the most epoch-making works in European ballet history. Based on the choreographic notations made by the great nineteenth-century Danish choreographer, August Bournonville, this spectral dance scene has been recreated by Dr. Knud Arne Jurgensen with the precision afforded by Labanotation, here recorded by Ann Hutchinson Guest. Supported by extensive historical source materials and study and performance notes, the book not only enables us to unearth a hitherto lost ballet from the Romantic period, but also represents the most accurate possible reflection of the very pulse of Romantic Ballet.

The Pas de Six from La Vivandiere is the only ballet preserved intact from the glorious period of the Romantic Ballet. Because it was recorded in detail by the choreographer Arthur Saint-Leon in his own dance notation system it could be revived faithfully for audiences to enjoy and students and scholars to study. The historical background of the piece - the period, the choreography, the style - has been provided by world renowned ballet historian Ivor Guest. The Study and Performance Notes which provide a guide in studying and reviving the ballet are the result of productions of the work for professional companies. Publication of the ballet in Labanotation, the contemporary dance notation system, makes the choreography accessible internationally to researchers, students, teachers and dancers. While the steps are technically challenging, the ballet is an excellent piece for students to dance, thereby gaining insight into the Romantic Ballet style.

A comprehensive manual for writing movement in Labanotation when the body is not supported on the feet. Not only does it analyse in great detail how one can get up from lying, lie down from standing, roll from sitting on to the knees, etc., and how these movements are notated, but it also offers a complete survey of the Labanotation rules about distance, timing, systems of reference, weight distribution, and floor contact that apply to Labanotation as a whole and underlie any writing of 'floorwork'.

Nijinsky's score of his L'Après-midi d'un faune lay unused for nearly forty years after his death, because nobody could read it. In 1987 Dr Ann Hutchinson Guest and Dr Claudia Jeschke "broke the code" of his notation system and thus made the choreography he had notated available for revival. Subsequent performances of the restored Faune have been acclaimed for their beauty and subtlety. This book presents Nijinsky's ballet as he himself recorded it in 1915, making this authentic version, translated into Labanotation, immediately available to dance students, teachers, scholars and researchers. It intentionally includes the historical background, the chronology of Nijinsky's performances of Faune, Nijinsky's production notes, analysis of the choreographic style of the ballet, detailed study and performance notes, approaches to learning and teaching the ballet, research problems encountered in the transcription and revival, and a comprehensive explanation of Nijinsky's notation system with examples from his score. Supplemented by photographs of the 1912 production and with the music adjacent to the dance phrases, this book provides unique access to a much discussed and elusive ballet.

This is the first source text on this issue of Labanotation since it was introduced into the system in 1979. It shows the application of design drawing and the use of shape in pantomime gestures, in the handling of props and in choreography such as 'The Green Table' by Kurt Jooss.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This title provides specific details on a range of aspects of movement. These include finer intermediate directions, greater variations in writing paths of gestures and paths across the floor, defined intermediate distances, and specific minor movements

"Sequential Movements" shows how to write a successive movement in Labanotation, a movement that flows from one part of the body to another in succession, passing from joint to joint, or from vertebra.

This title completes the theory relating to movements on the floor, supporting on various body parts and transitions between such supports. It also gives a full account of revolutions of the body and their recording in Labanotation and offers many reading examples from choreography.

This title investigates how to describe types of objects and various ways in which they can be held or manipulated with the hands or other parts of the body.

Initiated by Rudolf Laban, the successful system for recording human movement, is now in this revised edition in a complete explanation of Labanotation.

This issue covers hand movements ranging from broad general statements for the whole hand to detailed descriptions, that necessitate defining use of a particular surface or edge of a specific joint or segment.

"Center of Weight" explores the possibilities of recording in Labanotation movements in which placement of body weight is of particular importance: balancing, shifting weight, leaning and falling. It includes many examples from modern dance technique.