“…In my humble opinion, Movement Notation, an original Israeli creation, is one of the most intriguing things. Many esteemed individuals believe it may be one of the biggest and most fascinating things ever created in Israel… in the fields of art and communication… which has implications for science as well…” (Uri Zohar, opening statement)
In a series of short chapters, this television show from 1976 introduces us to the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation system and its various applications. It shows how the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notational system relates to other notational systems and how it can be read and used. Between each chapter, which features talks with experts John G. Harris , I. Golani and Amos Hetz among many others, The Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group dancers Ruth Sela, Shmuel Zaidel, and Rachael Nul-Kahana will perform a short, demonstrative dance.
The screening emphasizes groundbreaking elements of this emerged supplementary language. It highlights some remarkable figures that Noa Eshkol worked with and who helped explore the system’s boundaries, distribute its use, or play around with it.
About The Movement Notation Eshkol – Wachman
Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation is a thinking tool that can teach people the art of observation, i.e. encourage them to aspire for the ultimate level of seeing. It does so by organizing the ‘material’ known as movements of the human body in relatively simple categories, thereby allowing us an insight (in-sight) into the complexity of this phenomenon as a whole.” – Noa Eshkol –
Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation (EWMN), is an objective method of defining and symbolizing the elements of the movement of the human body and its organization. It was devised and developed in Israel by Noa Eshkol and Avraham Wachman. A first book introducing the method and providing notation examples was published in 1958 (Movement Notation, by Noa Eshkol and Avraham Wachman, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson). Since then, it has been systematically improved as an instrument of thought and research as well as a compositional tool by Noa Eshkol, her disciples and others.
EWMN is designed to convey the spatial relations and changes of relations between the parts of the body, which can be treated as a system of articulated axes. The system is the result of an analytical process, which disassembles the phenomenon – body, space and time – into basic units.
The analysis of the space of movement is based on a spherical system of reference, in accordance with the structure of the human body. In relation to this system (The System of Reference), the directions and paths of movement of each part of the body and the body as a whole are determined.
The notation is devised using an inventory of graphical symbols and numerals, which is a system of objective quantitative definitions of the movement of the human body (later applied to additional animals), constituting a common language for those working in different aspects of this field.
The combinations of these symbols allow the writing of every visually discernible movement of the human body, and therefore, the documentation of different disciplines in the world of movement. This includes all styles of dance, folk dance, physical educations, martial arts, movement-based therapeutic systems, human and animal behavior ,the languages of the deaf and computer- graphic applications.
Similar to other non-verbal methods of notation, such as musical notes or the system of mathematical symbols, EWMN entails the possibilities of unrealized combinations presented to creators in dance, education and research.
