Ballo

Contradancing and Math

The Mathematics Behind Dance

• Most dances are counted to keep track of rhythm and where movements go.
• The most common pattern is counting off in 8s.
• Within these 8 counts, you can divide them into half a count and a further into a quarter of a count.
• You can count half beats as "and" and quarter beats as "ee and a".
  Example: 1 "ee" and "a" 2 "ee" and "a" 3 "ee" and "a".... etc.
• This allows for varying frequency of movement nd varying speed of steps.
• This pattern of counting relates to geometry in dance. Without this pattern, dancers would be unable to be synchronized and create shapes.
• With this theory, the weight of the dancer would vary throughout the piece, as would the positioning of the CAM.
• A function could potentially be created that keeps track of the CAM position over time and see how fast it's positioning changes.
• This could be used by choreographers to make sure their piece flows as intended.
• In another movement called a fouette turn, the illusion is created of perpetual motion.
• During the movement, her body is the spin axis that the leg should be turning relative to.
• This movement is difficult because the dancer's body mass should be centered perfectly on the spin axis.
• It also relies on torque or a twisting force.

Balli caraibici e Matematica

La tipologia che attualmente riveste maggiore interesse, soprattutto tra i giovani, è quella dei balli caraibici di coppia, ovvero, la salsa, il merengue e la bachata. In questo articolo, focalizzeremo la nostra attenzione sul merengue e sulla bachata e, soprattutto, sulla Matematica che si cela dietro alcune loro figure.

Rudolf Laban: la matematica applicata alla danza

L'ungherese Rudolf Laban (1879-1958) dedicò tutta la sua vita alla descrizione del movimento, sia simbolico che geometrico. Il suo interesse per la matematica e la danza lo portò a strutturare un sistema di annotazione, detto dal suo nome «Labanotation», ancora oggi in uso. Nell’unità didattica vediamo questo sistema di annotazione a confronto con altri, quali la notazione di Feuillet, di Eskhol- Wackaman e di Benesh. Di quest’ultimo viene proposto un esempio di applicazione in sala prove presso il Royal Ballet, dove coreografo e coreologo lavorano insieme per la stesura della partitura della coreografia.

About Eshkol Wachman Movement Notation

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.
To this effect, 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.