Contents of The Noa Eshkol Archive by section

The Original Book (Movement Notation, 1958)

Containing materials from different stages in the creation of Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation (EWMN):

the first proposal of EWMN in booklet form (1955), evaluations of EWMN by contemporary dance agencies and professionals, notes and thoughts for classes by Noa Eshkol, early notebooks, scores of dances and exercises, notation experiments, notation notebooks from the Chamber Dance Quartet workshop, chapter drafts for the book in Hebrew and English, correspondences, and original illustrations by John G. Harries and Avraham Wachman from the Estate of Avraham Wachman.

“The Early Years” Capsule
“Illustrations for ‘Movement Notation'” Capsule


Noa Eshkol’s Dances

Containing various iterations of Noa Eshkol’s dance compositions and early commissioned choreographies:

scores of dances that have and have not yet been published of Noa Eshkol’s dance suites (“Rubaiyat”, “Right Angled Curves”, “Diminishing Series”, “Angles & Angels”, “Theme and Variations” and “Symmetrical and Sentimental Etudes”), Noa Eshkol’s hand-drawn sketches and schematic plans for dances, layouts, scores and preparatory materials for early commissioned choreographies for the plays, “The Good Guide,” and “The Queen of Sheba” and ceremonies like “The Memorial Ceremony for the Ghetto Uprising in Kibbutz Lohamei HaGeta’ot.”

“The Angels and Angels” Capsule
“The Four Seasons” Capsule 


The Chamber Dance Group

Containing materials related to performances by The Noa Eshkol Chamber Dance Group:

production files, correspondence, performance ephemera, programmes and invitations, press clippings, posters, and photographs and video of Noa Eshkol and the Chamber Dance Group in rehearsals and performances.

“The Angels and Angels” Capsule
“The Four Seasons” Capsule


Work Journals (1951 – 2007)

Containing annual work journals describing daily activities of Noa Eshkol, the Movement Notation Society, and the Chamber Dance Group, including rehearsal notes and schedules, performance dates, visitors, and more.


Movement and Dance Notations

Containing materials related to comparative analyses of movement and dance notations: 

manuscripts, essays, notebooks, illustrations, scores, schematic plans, proposals, and work journals on Nijinski Notation, Benesh Movement Notation, Labanotation (LMN), Beauchamp-Feuillet Notation, Coordination Method Dance Notation (CMDN) and symbol notations, as well as correspondence with the Benesh Institute, The Dance Notation Bureau, founders of CMDN, and others; preparatory materials for books comparing EWMN and LMN (“Movement Notations, Part I & II” and unpublished research for Part III), comparing EWMN and CMDN (“CMDN”), and comparing LMN, Benesh, and EWMN (“Tomlinson’s Gavotte”).


Congresses, Conferences, Exhibitions

Containing lectures, correspondence, programmes, lessons, photograph albums, audio recordings and production notes from professional congresses and conferences, as well as materials from exhibitions (images, posters and other works) on EWMN that accompanied them in Israel and abroad in the framework of:The International Congress for Choreographers (Paris, 1957), UNESCO Round Table (Paris, 1979), Conferences by the Israeli Center of the International Theatre Institute (ITT)(Israel, 1982 – 1986), The First International Congress on Movement Notation (Israel, 1984), The International Conference on Coordinate Method of Dance Notation and Application (Nanjing, 1988), The Second International Congress on Movement Notation (Hong Kong, 1990), Karmiel Dance Festival (Israel, 1993).


Ornamentics

Containing Noa Eshkol’s exploration of ornamentic abstraction through combinations and relationships of advances (steps) and resultant floor patterns in different compositional series:

Noa Eshkol’s hand-written sketches and sketchbooks, notebooks, schematic plans, diagrams, drawings, floor plans, and studies; documentation of the working process with the computer program “Dancer” including computer plots and operational instructions.


EWMN and Computer Graphics

Containing John G. Harries’ exploration of EWMN as a notation for visual art:

original illustrations, drafts, work booklets, correspondence, articles, slides, layouts, and original printing plates in the preparation of three published books by John G. Harries, “Shapes of Movement”, “Language of Shape and Movement”, “Symmetry and Notation”; materials related to exhibitions of Harries’ work, like illustrations, invitations, correspondences and resumes; essays and lectures by Harries, like “A Proposed Notation for Visual Art” and “Towards a Dynamic, Generative Computer Art”..


Folk Dances

Containing research and preparatory materials for six published books on folk dances and their notation in EWMN: 

photographs, movement analyses and notes, draft texts and commentary, collaborators’ resumes, comparative studies, translations from EWMN to LMN of Yemenite dances, scores, work books, correspondences and invitations to conferences in the framework of the collection and preservation of folk dances and the following books, “The Yemenite Dance”, “Folk Dances of Israel”, “Debka”, “In the Steps of the Hora”, “Ethnic Dances: Variations on Six”.


Classical Ballet

Containing research and preparatory materials for the published book, “Classical Ballet”, including the basic canon of classical ballet notated in EWMN:

workbooks with notation studies, scores, work journals, scores notated by the diploma studies class of “The Classical Ballet Group”, teaching materials and exercises by professional Ballet teachers, like Amira Meroz.


Physical Education

Containing materials that explore methods of physical education and their notation in EWMN:

research and preparatory materials for the published book, “Physical Training”, including notation exercises, teaching texts, and press clippings.


Feldenkrais

Containing materials that explore The Feldenkrais Method and its notation in EWMN:

research and preparatory materials for the published books, “Twenty-Five Lessons by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais”, and “Fifty Lessons by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais”, including notation exercises, scores, teaching texts, drafts, press clippings, and correspondence.


Martial Arts

Containing materials that explore different martial arts and their notation in EWMN:

research and preparatory materials for the published books, “The Quest for Tai Chi Chuan” (1986), “The Quest for Tai Chi Chuan” (1988), and “Karate”, including drafts, work journals, sketches, illustrations by Noa Eshkol, work booklets, scores, 16 mm films, and correspondence.


The Hand Book and other Hand Investigations

Containing research into Sign Language and its notation in EWMN, as well as research on gestural communication:

research materials on sign language, baby’s hand movements, and the relationship of the hands to other body parts and their patterns and movements, drafts and edits, press clippings, correspondence, essays, invitations to conferences, lectures, original illustrations, archival photographs, and scores, in part related to the published books, “The Hand Book“, and “Sign Language: A New Dictionary | Employing the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation System.”

“Hands” Capsule


Neuroscience (and Zoology)

Documents and articles around the collaborations with Prof. Ilan Golani, Prof. Philip Teitelbaum and other scholars of the field on the use of EWMN in Parkinson’s research, Autism research, and animal behavioural studies:

Containing research materials on the use of EWMN in Parkinson’s research (in collaboration with Ilan Golani from Tel Aviv University); materials on the application of EWMN in Physiological Psychology, the analysis of movement disorders, and the early diagnosis of Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome (in collaboration with Prof. Philip Teitelbaum and Osnat Boneh); materials exploring the use of EWMN in animal research, including studies done in collaboration with the Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University led by Prof. Ilan Golani, Osnat Boneh, Shmuel Zaidel, and John G. Harries, as well as preparatory materials for two published books, “The Golden Jackal”, and “In the Steps of the Horses”, that contain original illustrations, scores, drafts, transparencies, correspondence, press clippings, audio recordings, scores.

“EWMN and Animal Behavioural Studies” Capsule


Education

Containing pedagogical materials on EWMN by Noa Eshkol and her team:

Materials from Noa Eshkol’s teaching history, documents, lesson plans, students’ work, DVDs, etc. in the framework of the following institutes and classes:

Beit Zvi Drama School; the Cameri Theatre School; the Academy of Music, Jerusalem; The Kibbuzim Teachers Seminary; Degree Studies at the Tel Aviv University and further advanced classes. Also included are documents, studies, assignments, and exercises arranged according to various movement notation subjects, for students of dance and notation, and for children in the framework of early childhood education.

**Include her creation of the program of study at Tel Aviv University


Simultaneous Movement – Research (USA, 1968)

Documenting the research and outcomes of Noa Eshkol’s guest professorship at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign containing correspondences, photographs, texts, computer-generated graphics and schematic print outs on the basis of Eshkol’s compositional combinations.


Various Notation Subjects
Containing verbal texts, graphics, the development of symbols, pictures, photographs etc.


Professional Reference Library

Containing books and articles on movement notations, Kinesiology, Anatomy, Geometry, Linguistics, Dance, Movement Styles and Systems, Topology, Art.


Private Correspondence, Drawings, Photographs