The Art of Recording a Ballet
I liked this article because it is a blog from a trainee notator doing work placement at the Royal Opera House. She is assisting the senior notator in documenting a brand new choreography. There is a lot of explanation of the role of a notator and gives examples of the work required. It does strike me there is an awful lot to be done and I feel the job must be very demanding. I also get the impression that it must use a lot of resources for a dance company to invest in the system. Most noteably having to hire dedicated staff to utilise choreology as a tool. This began to make me think about whether a dance company would deem the extra man power worthwhile. One excerpt says...
"The notator is the person that everyone refers to in case of
discrepancies (for example when a section has been changed without everyone
being there and the different casts are not on the same page)."
I feel this is one of Movement Notation's strengths. It serves as a foundation for choreographic clarity. This relates to my investigation as it highlights the issue of discrepancies. This is an issue that occurs on a nearly daily basis in the company I work for, who don't use Benesh Notation. Perhaps this is a particular situation I could consider when investigating various dance companies.
What is Choreology?
This article is a nice clear explanation of the history of Benesh Movement Notation and a break down of how it actually works. Considering 'legitimacy', this article is a very trustworthy source. It was written by Juliette Kando, a 'Fellow of the RAD institute of Choreology'.
The thing that interested me more in this piece was the introduction of how Benesh began. We discover that choreology's inventor Rudolph Benesh was not a dancer but his wife was. It mentions that he was inspired from his wife's notes she'd take in order to remember choreography. This suggests to me the dance world was in need of a universal system to record choreography on to paper. As I begin to consider the ethics of my investigation, I notice how this article mentions that the system records accurately in order to maintain a work's originality. When using Benesh as a system, the notator and even the system itself has a responsibility to not interfere with the chorographer's creation.
Meet Denis Bonner, The Repetiteur
This article is an introduction to a seasoned Benesh notator working with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In the same way my first article gives insight into the life of a notator, this is from the perspective of someone who has been a professional for some time.
Although Benesh could be time consuming, Denis actually mentions a way in which Benesh ultimately saves time and makes rehearsal time more productive. In reference to using Benesh to teach choreography over learning from a video, he had this to say...
"And it’s still quicker for me to do it this way,’ he says,
‘because if you do it all with a video in the studio then nobody knows the
counts, and you’re forever moving backwards and forwards."
Looking once again at the 'legitimacy' of an article, I like how this statement comes from a profesional notator who would know. I hold many personal ideas and opinions however I've never been in the position that Denis has been in. I can say however, I've been in many rehearsals where learning from a video has been problematic. This example also can be another strength of Choreology I can consider when comparing companies who do and don't use it.
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