Dancers: Mara Graf, Thomas Körtvélyessy. Performance starts at 21:00. Installation open to public until 02:00 (end of the evening). StudioK, Timorplein 62 1094 CC Amsterdam.

photography © 2009 by Carina Hesper
dancers: Diana Ibanez Lopez, Thomas Körtvélyessy.

Dress code and audience guided by hiko uemura 
Dancers: sarah & mara
 this time some flyers in the form of a manual for how to type were spread to the public. Members from the audience spent quite some time to look up the index of the symbols with the indication of the movement they represent. And some “choreographers” had quite an inspiration. One of them copyrighted Hitler’s salutation.. rather perverted move but also absurd if one thinks that it was at the same time copyrighted  

more photos (by Rob)

the updated version of the open-source, python-based Laban typewriter will be open to the public for making up their own Labanotation scores. it is yet a very basic typewriter, but already more advanced than the first, we’ve added specification of the staff with basic body parts.

PLUS dancer Kees Lemmens for his simultaneously performed & very own interpretation of the notations, alongside with Thomas Körtvélyessy, both in costumes by Hiko Uemura

PLUS a video interview with Bertha Bermudez based on her collaboration with emio greco | pc on the issues of notation, authorship, and choreographic work.
the typewriter will remain available as an interactive installation for the entire weekend .

a big thank you to all collaborators!

see you there …

ambiguity
This kind of control of the dancer raised ambiguous impressions. It was fun to see how the dancer was sometimes immobilized but in the same time this act of puppet play brought to surface questions of power and rigid systems. The sound is voice recorded that describes the meaning of the symbols. Therefore the notation can be interpreted by dancers that are not familiar with Laban’s notation. In the end of each typing, the notations were printed so that people could hold them as a piece of code.

discussion
After the performance, people were interested in the history of dance notation. How much it was developed as means of control or constrain, when copyright in choreography was introduced and how the project could develop further. Suggestions such as having more that one dancer, could give a nuance in the actual performance. A more detailed notation and a less descriptive sound. Also another idea was to have a small introduction of some basic steps before the public encounter with the computer.

Location : near the Schouwburgplein, between Mauritstraat, Karel Doormanstraat, Van Oldebarneveltstraat and Oude Binnenweg.
Public transportation : Metro, Trams (4 & 7) & Bus (32 & 46), Eendrachtsplein Station.

description:
we are interested in trying out some ideas with an audience of people from different disciplines, who will have different expectations.

rather than hold a beginning-to-end presentation that is ready to be consumed and attended, we intend to create more of a workshop and discussion-situation.
our tool will be Labanotation and we are interested in enabling visitors to visually write their own dance-/kinesthetic text.
.
thoughts >.
dance notation can serve as a great tool to become more conscious of how we move and what kinds of choices we make. however, as described in an article in ‘traces of dance’ (La Pensée de Feuillet, Dances Tracées, Éditions Dis-Voir, Paris 1991) it can also be used as a means of power and control: only if you had supplied the planned dance in writing to the Royal Academy of Dance in Paris, would they give approval for the dance to be performed. (by the way, the emergence of the notation itself began with a controversy on copyright / authorship, as Beauchamp claimed that Feuillet had stolen his original ideas and published them without mentioning him. the Royal Court of Louis XIV decided on a split verdict, giving both credit as originator & final developer…)

so, who is in control, and how far does it reach?

are copyright and authorship merely so-called tools of ethics, only for use to owning elites, or are there other ways of protecting each other from less social tendencies?