This is an extremely exciting paper about the possibilities of applying computers to dance. While computer applications for music are already fairly well known, this is one of the few papers on computer applications for dance.

The synthesis between dance and technology has indeed been slower compared to other forms of art. The authors regard this delay as having two causes. First, it is a niche market with little business possibility, and, second, there is some reluctance from dance professionals to adopt this medium. Although there have been installations used in live dance in the last few years, this paper is about something else entirely.

It describes Labanotation, a dance notation devised by the choreographer Rudolf von Laban, and the way it has been translated into a computer-based notation (the editor is the LabanWriter). Despite some difficulties and limitations, which the authors discuss, the LabanWriter offers several application possibilities: choreographers can use it to create a dance with simulated dancers, a particularly complex and expensive activity when human dancers are involved, and it can also be used in other domains where an analysis of human movement is necessary, such as in clinical diagnosis. These opportunities for broader applications make me hopeful that the study of computerized dance will continue.