Noa Eshkol

Noa Eshkol (1924, Palestine – 2007, Israel) was an artist, choreographer, dancer and professor. In the 1950s, together with architect Avraham Wachman, Eshkol developed a system of movement notation (Eshkol Wachman Movement Notation – EWMN) which uses a combination of symbols and numbers to note down the movements of the body and organize them into categories which can then be studied and repeated. Eshkol developed various choreographies with the help of the EWMN system, in which, without depending on the music or the costume, dance becomes a process of interaction between bodies in space and a communitarian activity. EWMN thus transcended the field of dance and can be a tool for observing the relationship between any body and its surroundings, and can be applied in various fields, including studies of language and of behavior.