Alphabet of movements of the human body; by Vladimir Ivanovich Stepanov

Lessons in the system were given at the Imperial Ballet Schools, and many ballets of the period were notated in it. It is based on existing music notation, and although basic is certainly practical: one has only to read the official testimonial, signed by such people as Petipa and Johanssen, to realise this. The present system was developed by the Russian dancer Vladimir Ivanovich Stepanov at the end of the 19th century. The problem of recording movements of the human body is almost as old as the art of dancing: it has been said that the ancient Egyptians had a system of notation, but there is no real evidence to prove that this was so.