Notated Dances
Founded in 1940 by Ann Hutchinson Guest and others, the Dance Notation Bureau houses the world’s largest collection of dances recorded in a system known as Labanotation. Many of these works have been performed at the Pillow over the years, with a small sampling collected here.
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Mark Morris Dance Group
Crosswalk, 2014
The “racing traffic, collisions, and intersections” that critic Deborah Jowitt noticed when this work premiered were all painstakingly recorded on paper as part of the notation process.
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Dance Theatre of Harlem
Act III Pas de Deux from Swan Lake, 2013
Although classical ballets have traditionally been passed down body to body, the 19th century choreography by Marius Petipa for this pas de deux (popularly known as the Black Swan) has now been notated as well as many other dances in Swan Lake, including the famous pas de quatre presented in a comic version by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
"I Wanna Be Ready" from Revelations, 2007
Widely considered to be the most-performed modern dance in the world, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations was notated 40 years after its creation. In addition, Ailey’s The Lark Ascending has also been notated.
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New York Theatre Ballet
"Come to Me, Bend to Me" from Brigadoon, 2007
Recording Broadway dances (such as this one by Agnes de Mille) is a practice that Ann Hutchinson Guest pioneered in 1946 when she notated a section of Jerome Robbins’s Billion Dollar Baby.
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Paul Taylor Dance Company
Company B, 2000
Paul Taylor studied dance notation at The Juilliard School with Ann Hutchinson Guest, and made a commitment to record more than 50 of his works in Labanotation.
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Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble
Barrelhouse Blues, 1996
This 1930s work by Katherine Dunham wasn’t notated until the 1990s, but Dunham herself was involved in the production which guaranteed its authenticity.
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Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, 1990
Donald McKayle’s own company performed this work at the Pillow on several occasions after its premiere in 1959. The production seen here predates the notation, which recorded a later staging by McKayle.
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David Parsons
Caught, 1989
This landmark solo by David Parsons was notated around the same time of this performance, just a handful of years after its premiere.
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Fred Strickler
Tone Poem, 1984
This solo by Fred Strickler, who had made his Pillow debut the year before this with Jazz Tap Ensemble, demonstrates that all forms of dance can be recorded in Labanotation.
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Johan Renvall & Madeleine Onne
Little Improvisations, 1983
This little gem by Antony Tudor premiered at the Pillow in 1953, and it joins many other Tudor works that have been notated, including Lilac Garden and Gala Performance.
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Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Soaring, 1982
Representing an early and unusual collaboration between Ruth St. Denis and Doris Humphrey, Soaring was originally notated by a co-founder of the Dance Notation Bureau, Helen Priest Rogers.
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Joyce Cuoco & Youri Vamos
Spring Waters, 1979
Asaf Messerer choreographed this classical showpiece shortly after he retired from the Bolshoi Ballet in the mid-1950s,
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Lupe Serrano & Royes Fernandez
Les Sylphides, 1970
Many different sections of this landmark work by Michel Fokine have been notated, though this is one of the only recordings of it in the Pillow Archives.
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Robert Joffrey Ballet
Pas des Déesses, 1965
This ballet by Robert Joffrey was inspired by a 19th century lithograph, so its notation score represents a return to two-dimensional form.
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Hugh Laing & Alicia Markova
L'après-midi d'un faune, 1957
Ann Hutchinson Guest deciphered Vaslav Nijinsky’s own notation in order to reconstruct this ballet and she then notated it in Labanotation (with Claudia Jeschke) and staged it throughout the world. She asserted that the version seen here bore little resemblance to the original.
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San Francisco Ballet
Concerto Barocco, 1956
More than 30 works by George Balanchine are preserved in Labanotation (including this one notated by Ann Hutchinson Guest), a list that includes Agon, Apollo, Serenade, and Square Dance.
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Soloists of the Royal Danish Ballet
Konservatoriet, 1955
The 19th century works of August Bournonville were lovingly preserved by the Royal Danish Ballet for nearly a century before they were first seen in the U.S. at Jacob’s Pillow, and a handful have now been carefully notated.
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Emily Frankel & Mark Ryder
At the Still Point, 1955
Though Todd Bolender was a prolific and highly-regarded choreographer in his lifetime (1914-2006), this is his only work that has been recorded in Labanotation.
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Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Septet, 1955
Like many choreographers, Merce Cunningham developed his own means for notating his dances, and this is one of only two Cunningham works that has been recorded in Labanotation.
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Alicia Markova
Sugar Plum Fairy variation from The Nutcracker, 1941
Alicia Markova learned this solo in 1934 directly from Nicholas Sergeyev, who famously practiced his own notation system for remembering and reproducing the Russian classics. When Markova in turn staged it for another dancer in 1957, Ann Hutchinson Guest was there to record it in Labanotation.