Rudolf Laban (1926) Choreographie

Style, Format, Abbreviations to this English Translation of Rudolf Laban (1926) Choreographie

(2011) Jeffrey Scott Longstaff

Laban was both an analytic and a creative writer. While he described details of complex analytical categories he also frequently modified and varied his definitions and descriptions on different occasions. This habit was described by one of his co-workers Gertrud Snell-Friedburg:

Laban sometimes preferred one solution, then another. Thus, often for days, I had to rewrite everything which I had just finished... Again and again Laban came to the office in the morning and announced he finally had dreamed the ideal solution and I started to rewrite everything. (Snell-Friedburg 1979, p. 12)

Laban’s biographer Preston-Dunlop (1998, pp. 51, 65) also makes frequent references to the chaotic structure of Laban’s book Die Welt des Tänzers and recounts that its apparent random disorganization of chapters may also have been intended by design since “hearsay has it that Laban confessed to [his co-worker] Jooss that he had cut up the text into short sections and thrown them in the air, to land as the fancy took them” (Preston-Dunlop 1998, p. 66).

Though perhaps to a lesser extent, a similar characteristic does occur in Choreographie where Laban seems to be in the process of creating a terminology as well as a notation system for dance and body movement.

Multiple German terms for similar concepts.

In making a translation of this to English, it might be tempting to supply the interpretation, thus provide a consistency in the English which might not have been present in the German.

For example, Laban uses several different German words which could each be translated as ‘position’ (Position, Haltung, Stellung, Einstellung, Lage, Zustande) and it is not clear if a significant difference in these types of ‘position’ are intended, or if the different words were being used just for style of writing, or if intentionally randomized or for other reasons.

It may not be likely that Laban intended a difference in these nine different types of ‘position’, however in some cases there might be a ‘method to the madness’ which will be missed if the nine types of ‘position’ are not kept distinct in the translation.

With the purpose of avoiding any ‘over-interpretation’ a near-literal approach towards translation is attempted here so that each German word is always translated into a unique English word. Thus each of the types of ‘position’ are translated into different English concepts (position, posture, formation, placement, situation, condition). When this literal translation doesn’t fit into the context of the sentence, thus requiring a different English translation for a particular context, this deviation from the norm is pointed out in the footnotes.

This literal approach to the translation can allow English readers to make their own interpretations about the meanings of Laban’s various concepts, if they are different words for the same thing, or if differences are intended. Therefore the literal approach to the translation attempts to do as little pre-interpretation as possible, and lets English readers consider this into the future.

German compound words.

A common characteristic of the German language is the formulation of complex concepts with compound words. For example, “Raumrichtungenkombinationen” is composed of raum + richtungen + kombinationen, (space + direction + combinations). In English the order of words is often rearranged with the insertion of “of”, thus translating this compound word into “combinations of spatial directions”.

However with the intention of the near-literal approach, whenever possible the German structure of the compound word has been maintained. This retains the feeling of a single unitary concept rather than dividing it into its components. Thus "Raumrichtungenkombinationen" is translated here as “spatial-direction-combinations”.

In many cases maintaining the compound structure of words is suitable in English, in other cases it may sometimes sound slightly unusual for native English speakers. For example, “direction-combinations” is used here rather than “combinations of directions”, likewise “direction-elements” is used rather than “elements of directions”. It is hoped that maintaining the structure of the German compound words can also contribute to presenting Laban’s ideas in a direct a form as possible, allowing future readers to make their own interpretations rather than imposing interpretations which become ‘hidden’ in the translation.

Format and abbreviations used in the translation.

With the aim of greater clarity and explicitness, the text and layout of Choreographie (Laban, 1926) have been modified in several ways and in many cases features have been added (eg. notation symbols). All changes from Laban’s 1926 publication have been noted in this translation, either within the text itself, or in the left-hand margin.

Numbers of Chapters, Appendices and Pages
Chapters	Chapter numbers. Each chapter in Choreographie is given a number (no chapter numbers were given in the 1926 book).
Appendices	Appendices. In the original publication the 2nd-to-the-last chapter was titled “appendix” whereas the last chapter was not. These both have a character of appendices (lists of examples and summaries) so they have been labeled here as Appendix I and Appendix II. In addition, Choreographie contains 22 photographic plates which are distributed throughout the book. They have more association with each other rather than any relationship to particular places in the text. Therefore in this translation all of the plates have been collected together as a group at the end of the book and titled “Appendix III”.
Pg. Pgs.	Page numbers from the original German publication. To allow easy comparison with the original German publication all references to Choreographie are given according to the page numbers from the original publication. These page numbers are also indicated in the left-hand margin of this translation. The less commonly used “Pg.” (rather than p. or pp.) is used here to highlight that this refers exclusively to page numbers in the original German 1926 publication rather than to the page numbers of this translation or the accompanying annotations and analyses.

Additions inserted into the text of Choreographie
[ ]	Inserted material into Choreographie Any text inserted within the translation of Choreographie is indicated by placing it within square brackets.
[ _ ]	Added underlining within Choreographie. In many cases certain words have been underlined for emphasis. Addition of underlines is indicated in the left-hand margin by placing an underscore within square brackets.
[¶]	Inserted paragraph separations. In interests of presenting lengthy explanations into easy to digest chunks, frequently single paragraphs in the original publication have been divided into separate paragraphs in this translation. When paragraph separations have been introduced into this translation it is indicated at that spot in the text with a paragraph sign enclosed in square brackets.
	Inserted notation signs. Vector signs were often included in the original German publication. However in some cases additional vector signs have been inserted into the text of Choreographie. These insertions are indicated by placing the signs within square brackets and making a note in the left-hand margin: “vector signs added - JSL”. Modern-day Labanotation Direction signs were not invented in 1926 when Choreographie was published. In all cases where these are included in this translation they have been inserted. These insertions are highlighted by placing the signs into square brackets and my making a note in the left-hand margin: “direction-signs added - JSL”.

Footnotes, Endnotes, Annotations
(1) (2)	Footnotes from the original publication. In a few places Laban included footnotes within Choreographie. When these occur they are indicated within the text by numbers within parentheses. In the original publication these footnotes were located at the bottom of the page, but in this translation they have been put at the end of the chapter.
[1] [2]	Annotations and notes added to this translation. Many annotations and notes are included in this translation at the end of each chapter. These are indicated either within the text of Choreographie itself or within the left-hand margin by numbers within square brackets. These annotations or notes are placed at the end of each chapter.

Plates, Figures, Tables and Kinegrams
Plates	Twenty-two photographic plates in Choreographie. Choreographie contains 22 photographic plates which are distributed throughout the book. They have more association with each other rather than any relationship to particular places in the text. Therefore in this translation all of the plates have been placed together as a group at the end of the book and titled “Appendix III”. All the plates had titles but the plates nor their pages were numbered. For easy reference each plate is given a number according to the order in which the plates appeared in the original publication. Their original location in the book is also indicated according to the two pages between which the plate had originally been inserted (eg. Plate 8, pgs. 32-33).
Fig.	To designate a particular drawing of humans or geometry. Choreographie contains many drawings of humans and diagrams of geometrical forms. For easy referral these have all been given a two-part number indicating the chapter number and the order in which the figures appear in the chapter (eg. Fig. 10.2 refers to the 2nd figure in Chapter 10).
Table	To designate organised tables or lists. Choreographie contains extensive analyses of body-space, movement, and systems for ‘writing’ or notation. Thus Laban often organised this information into tables or lists. Further, some of the original writings have been sorted into tables in this translation. For easy referral each table is given a two-part number indicating the chapter number and the order in which the tables appear in the chapter (eg. Table 10-3 refers to the 3rd table in Chapter 10).
Kinegram	Kinegram: To designate a notation or ‘writing’ of a movement. Choreographie includes many notations of movement sequences. For easy referral these have all been given a two-part number, indicating the chapter number and the order in which the kinegrams appear in the chapter (eg. Kinegram 23.5 refers to the 5th kinegram in Chapter 25) or in the appendices (eg. Kinegram A-1.3 refers to the 3rd kinegram in Appendix I). In some cases the extended notation sequences have been subdivided by numbering the columns of notation. These numbers are placed in square-brackets and this addition is indicated in the left-hand margin.

Italics, Underlines
Underlines [ _ ]	To indicate emphasis and as having been italicized in original publication. This translation uses italics for foreign language (non-English) words, thus all words which were italicized in the original publication of Choreographie have been underlined in this translation. In addition, some additional words have been underlined for emphasis (and this addition of underlines is indicated in the left-hand margin by placing a line in square brackets). In addition, in the notes and reference list underlines are used for titles of published works.
Italics	Foreign language words. All non-English words are italicized. This occurs for Laban’s occasional use of French, which has been maintained here, as well as for German terms when discussing their translation in the notes.

Key Words

Left-hand Margin

cf.

Highlighting “Key Words” for important concepts.
The left-hand margin is used in this translation for highlighting “key words” for principal ideas within Laban’s conception of body-space (choreutics, space harmony). This include actual words used in Choreographie as well as modern-day terms (eg. “effort”), the word itself not occurring in Choreographie, but the early concepts, later to become ‘effort’ do occur.

When a reference is given to another location for a similar concept, this is listed in the left-hand margin beginning with the abbreviation “cf.” (“confer” or compare to) to highlight similar or related concepts.