Editing Labanotation (section)

===Duration of the movement===
[[Image:Labanotation3.JPG|250px|right|thumb|Simultaneous movement and sequence of motions]]

The staff is read from bottom to top and the length of a symbol defines the duration of the movement. Drawing on western [[music notation]], Labanotation uses bar lines to mark the measures and double bar lines at the start and end of the movement score. The starting position of the dancer can be given before the double bar lines at the start of the score.

Movement is indicated as "the transition from one point to the next", that is as one "directional destination" to the next.<ref>Hutchinson, Ann. ''Labanotation or Kinetography Laban: The System of Analyzing and Recording Movement'' (1954, 1970, 1977). New York: Theatre Arts Books. pp. 15, 29.</ref>

Spatial distance, spatial relationships, transference of weight, centre of weight, turns, body parts, paths, and floor plans can all be notated by specific symbols.  Jumps are indicated by an absence of any symbol in the support column, indicating that no part of the body is touching the floor.