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Dear ICKL Members and ICKL Friends,
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Our biennial conference took place this summer in Ohio, with several of you in attendance. We would like to thank the host organizers from Ohio State University and Kenyon College: Valarie Williams, Mara Frazier, Hannah Kosstrin and Julie Brodie, along with Mei-Chen Lu, and Carolyn Cull.
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At the conference, two new colleagues were co-opted as ICKL Fellows: Henrik Kovács and Raymundo Ruiz González. Mei-Chen Lu was elected to join the Research Panel during the General Assembly. Elections for some Board positions will be held by the end of 2025.
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The next ICKL conference will be held in July 2027 in Essen, Germany, hosted by the Institute for Contemporary Dance at Folkwang University of the Arts. Further details will be shared in the coming months.
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In this newsletter, you will find updates on the activities of our members and various notation organizations, showcasing the diversity of initiatives taking place worldwide, along with the second edition of our One Document / One Story series.
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A New Organisation
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The Füged circle was established. The organisation, founded by the students and colleagues of János Fügedi, aims to foster a community that understands kinetography and movement analysis, mentor young talented students, researchers and other dance professionals, and promote dance notation-based scientific research and its practical application (e.g. pedagogy, choreographic work, dissemination of knowledge, etc.).
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Awards
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The National Dance Education Organization awarded Susan Gingrasso the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award: Living Artist/Educator. NDEO describes this honor as “The most prestigious award conferred, the Lifetime Achievement Award is given for exemplary leadership, scholarship and/or artistry, and philanthropy or service to dance education.” Susan Gingrasso is currently the Executive Director of Language of Dance Center. She has been an ICKL member since 1997 and served our community as US treasurer in 2012-2015. See Susan Gingrasso profile on the NDEO Awards webpage:
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In January of 2025, Raymundo Ruiz González, PhD Fellow Student at Temple University, was selected as the recipient of the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute Research Award 2025-2026, offered by The Ohio State University Libraries. During the summer of 2025, Ruiz González carried out archival work in the Dance Notation Bureau Collection (SPEC.TRI.DNB), researching about the production of Labanotation scores at the DNB between 1940s and 1960s. He presented some of the advances of his research during the ICKL Conference at OSU.
TRI Research Awards: https://library.osu.edu/tri-research-awards
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Education
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Six students graduated in October 2025 with a qualification equivalent to a master’s degree from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP), after four years of specialized studies in Kinetography Laban under the guidance of Olivier Bioret and Estelle Corbière. The new certified professionals in notation are: Faustine Aziyadé, Aurélie Camus Dalle, Florence Casanave, Chloé Corolleur, Kevin Martial, and Lucas Viallefond.
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The DNB hosted two major educational programs in 2025. The Labanotation Teacher Certification Course took place from July 7–12, 2025 at The Ohio State University. Co-hosted by the DNB and the DNB Extension for Education and Research at OSU, the workshop was taught by Mei-Chen Lu (DNB), Valarie Williams (OSU), and Julie Brodie (Kenyon College), with Lynne Weber (DNB) as guest teacher. Participants came from the USA and Greece, representing a range of backgrounds including university professors, graduate and undergraduate students, and a RAD ballet instructor.
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The Advanced Labanotation Session 3, held on weekends from August 2 through September 28, marked the final segment of the advanced course. Students from the USA, Thailand, China, and Greece engaged in intensive study of advanced notation topics in preparation for the DNB Advanced Exam. The international teaching team—Noëlle Simonet (France), Leslie Rotman, Valarie Williams, and Sian Ferguson (USA)—guided participants through this capstone experience.
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Henrik Kovács started his Fulbright teaching appointment at Kenyon College, Ohio, USA, where he is teaching Labanotation and Hungarian Folk dance courses this fall. In cooperation with his host professor, Julie Brodie, Kovács is also conducting a series of Hungarian folk dance workshops and performances for the college and the local community.
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The Warsaw Laboratory of Kinetography (WPK) starts its new season of bimonthly meetings (one live, one online). This self-educating and knowledge development work in the field of kinetography is partly supported by partnership with Envol des signes-ANNM (France) which shares its knowledge in some of the online sessions. WLoK members for 2025/2026 season are Maja Bilek, Aleksandra Kleinrok, Zuzanna Kupidura, Jagna Nawrocka, Anna Opłocka-Perko, Hanna Raszewska-Kursa, Katarzyna Skiba, Izabela Zawadzka.
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Scores
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The score for Quel est ce visage? (What's that face?), a 2001 solo by French choreographer Christine Gérard, has been completed and is currently being revised. It was produced by Raphaël Cottin and proofread by Noëlle Simonet. Format: 16x24 cm, introduction in French and English, 90 pages including 46 pages of score. Scheduled publication date by La Poétique des Signes: first quarter of 2026.
Info: lapoetiquedessignes@gmail.com
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In March 2025, Béatrice Massin revived the baroque/contemporary piece Que ma joie demeure (2002) with a new cast, inviting original performer Béatrice Aubert-Riffard to serve as assistant and notator. Half the piece had been notated in 2007 by Jean-Marc Piquemal. With recent support from the Centre national de la danse, Compagnie Fêtes Galantes, and Envol des signes-ANNM, Aubert-Riffard is completing the score, ensuring the notation reflects this 2025 revival and Massin’s current artistic vision.
https://www.fetesgalantes.com/que-ma-joie-demeure-2025
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Progress continues on the notation of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet (1965), with the 25th dance score nearing completion. This marks a significant milestone, as over half of this full-length evening work has now been notated. The notators contributing to this major project include Lynne Weber, Sian Ferguson, Noëlle Simonet, and Leslie Rotman, each bringing their expertise to this detailed documentation of MacMillan’s choreography.
Another project currently underway is the notation of Katherine Dunham’s Afrique (1940-1949). Permission to notate the work was granted by Marie-Christine Dunham Pratt, daughter of Katherine Dunham and the rights holder to her dances. This follows a reconstruction of Afrique staged by April Berry at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, in October 2025. Lynne Weber is serving as the notator for this important preservation effort, with the Labanotation score expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
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Staging from Scores
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2025 saw several significant stagings of classic modern dance works from Labanotation scores. Doris Humphrey’s Soaring (1920, notation by Jane Marriett in 1980) was performed at Hamilton College in April, staged by Yunyu Wang. An agreement with José Limón Company in order to stage Doris Humphrey’s Two Ecstatic Themes (1931, notation by Jane Marriett in 1975) has been secured, covering July 2025 through July 2026. Additionally, Antony Tudor’s Little Improvisations (1953, initial notation by Carl Wolz in 1961, last revised version by Muriel Topaz in 1994) will be presented in performances beginning November 2025, staged by Diana Byer. These revivals highlight the continued relevance and power of preserving choreography through notation.
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Publications
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The Chinese edition of the Elementary Labanotation Study Guide was released in June 2025 by Sichuan University Press. This publication significantly expands access to Labanotation for Chinese-speaking learners and educators. The project was led by Mei-Chen Lu (DNB) with essential financial support from Yu Ma (Xi’an Conservatory of Music). The translation and editing spanned over three years, involving a team of dedicated contributors: Yu Ma (Xi’an Conservatory of Music), Jiajia Tung (Beijing University), Sharina (Beijing Dance Academy), Xiaomei Zhang (Fuzhou University), and Zhiwei Jing (Beihang University), with Mei-Chen Lu also serving as editor and translator. This edition marks a step forward in promoting movement literacy and supporting the integration of Labanotation into Chinese academic and professional dance communities. The book is available for purchase on Taobao and other major online bookstores in China.
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The Dutch National Ballet Barre in Labanotation, by Siân Ferguson. Ernst Meisner of the Dutch National Ballet has created these barre exercises to stimulate your creativity. Siân Ferguson has notated them in clear and simple phrases. The book (104 pages) is now released and contains 8 full barre classes. Each class has 10 barre exercises, plus a warmup, and heel raises, for a total of 82 exercises. Take your teaching to the next level! There are still a few copies left. Please contact Siân Ferguson (email in the membership directory).
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Call for Papers—Special Issue of Journal of Movement Arts Literacy (lead editor Teresa Heiland, University of North Carolina Greensboro, NC, USA). How does movement literacy shape lives—yours and those in your community? This special issue invites essays and research that critically explore movement literacy as a personal, pedagogical, and communal practice. Research will examine how symbolic, analytic, and notation-based movement systems influence identity, education, communication, creative work, and social contexts. To read the detailed call: https://janeway.uncpress.org/jmal/news/3/
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2026
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Conferences
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Between May 8 and 9 of 2025, the Universidad de las Américas Puebla organized the Conference Laban Situado. Estudios labanianos en México in Puebla, México, coordinated by Ana Patricia Farfán and Ligia Tourinho. During these two days the participants presented papers, workshops, roundtables, and performances related to the Laban Studies, with the participation of international Laban specialists such as Alison Curtis-Jones, Karen Studd, Karen Bradley, Martha Eddy, and Regina Miranda.
Dr. Mark Franko organized the one-day conference Choreographesis: Dance and Writing. An Exploratory Seminar on April 2, 2025, hosted by the Institute for Dance Scholarship, AIR (Arts International Research), and the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. This seminar explored the relationship of dance to writing, including topics in the context of dance notation and the problematics that emerge from it. It had the presentations of Mark Franko, Lucia Ruprect, Lester Tomé, Carrie Jaurès Noland, Lou Foster, Raymundo Ruiz González, Rosa van Hensbergen, and Susan Jones.
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Creation and Notation
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Karin Hermes authored the historical fiction novel Purpur. The story centers on Oda Schottmüller (1905-1943), a Berlin-based dancer and sculptor, who finds herself torn between her passion for dance and art and her growing need to resist National Socialism. In the novel, Schottmüller joins the resistance group Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) and uses kinetography to transmit coded information within dance scores out of Germany. Purpur emerged from Hermes’ “Rote Kapelle” project, which was selected in 2020 by “Dance as Cultural Heritage”—a program of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture.
The novel is written in German, 224 pages, and published in September 2005 by edition 8, Zürich (ISBN 978-3-85990-566-5). See https://edition8.ch/buch/purpur
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An encounter with Mercedes Lackey’s 18-volume fantasy series inspired dance scholar Hanna Raszewska-Kursa to explore how movement and body analysis can enrich literary interpretation. She developed movement phrases, notated them using kinetography, and collaborated with performers and a composer to embody these ideas. The result—a unique blend of lecture, words, and choreographic metaphors—is presented by WLoK (WPK–Warsaw Laboratory of Kinetography). The people collaborating to this project with Hanna Raszewska-Kursa, as performers, musical composition, video or consultants were Aleksandra Kleinrok, Marta Kosieradzka, Zuzanna Kupidura, Michał Kursa, Antoni Michnik, Anna Opłocka-Perko, Katarzyna Skiba, Małgorzata Skoczelas. Work on the concept and script was carried out under a scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage. “Choreographies of reading Mercedes Lackey, 2.1.2.3” was presented at Kalejdoskop Festival organised by Podlaskie Stowarzyszenie Tańca (Podlasie Dance Association) in June 2025.
http://www.festiwal-kalejdoskop.pl/pf/choreografie-z-czytania-mercedes-lackey-2-1-2-3-2/
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Choreographer Foteini Papadopoulou will premiere in November a new work with Ensemble CRUSH, an ensemble of contemporary music. Together with her long-time collaborator, composer Lukas Tobiassen, they develop and craft an experimental work of art, a performance of an otherwise unsung part of art production: The preparation and setting-up for a concert. In the piece the musicians arrive and prepare their instruments and themselves. The borders of actual, real-life, preparations and choreographic score become indiscernible at times. A particularity of the work process: Papadopoulou and Tobiassen developed several scores, in which kinetography Laban has been employed in a range of ways, e.g. by itself (notably with a proper kinetogram for a short arm and hand gestures choreography a musician learned to read) or as a pool for symbols with which musical scores were enriched so as to include movement instructions.
Details and performance dates: https://ensemble-crush.com/motion-crush-are-you-ready/
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One Document / One Story
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Leeder with two dancers in London in the 1950s. The photo demonstrates how Leeder integrated Laban concepts (eukinetics, choreutics) and notation tools in his teaching.
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This photo is part of SAPA (Swiss Archive of the Performing Arts) collection. In 2010, SAPA received a spectacular addition: the estate of Sigurd Leeder, comprising 12.000 documents and objects, which earned the institution SAPA a place on the list of the world's most important dance archives. The archive contains hundreds of notations, written by Sigurd Leeder and by his students. A recent project of SAPA is saving video-recordings and photographs by Sigurd Leeder: Rettung von Videoaufzeichnungen von Sigurd Leeder / Stiftung SAPA - Memoriav
From this rich collection, several projects arose. First the Exhibition “Sigurd Leeder–Traces of Dance” (2017-2018): The exhibition used photos, films and dance notation, supplemented by costumes and masks, to show the vitality of Leeder's art and teaching. Contemporary interpretations from several countries highlighted its enduring relevance. If one is interested in the bilingual exhibition catalogue (German/French), please feel free to contact SAPA (Stiftung SAPA).
Also, from 2016 to 2019, Karin Hermes realized in collaboration with Tim Rubidge, a former student of Sigurd Leeder, the cultural heritage dance project “Sigurd Leeder, the overfull bucket,” for which she developed various choreographies based on scores found at SAPA Foundation.
A Selection from the Sigurd Leeder Heritage (Noverre Press) has been published in 2017 by Ann Hutchinson Guest, a student in the late 1930s of the Jooss-Leeder Dance School at Dartington Hall in Devon: This book presents the scores, written by Hutchinson Guest, of 10 “études” from the Leeder Heritage.
The Sigurd Leeder Estate demonstrates that dance scores enable the preservation of choreographic heritage and thus also influence future dance creations and research.
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Text on Sigurd Leeder: Karin Hermes, October 2025.
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Photo: With friendly permission by SAPA Foundation (Swiss Archive of the Performing Arts), Fonds Leeder. Photographer: Unknown, all rights reserved.
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Sungu Okan is the ICKL newsletter Editor, with contributions from Marion Bastien.
If for some reason you are not involved anymore in notation activities and/or want to unsubscribe, send a mail to webmaster@ickl.org
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