DanceStepper vs Steno Keyboard Pocket

Welcome to DanceStepper app for iPhone and iPad. If you are a student of Ballroom Dancing, you can use the app to create notated dance scores by Labanotation with few simple taps on your iPhone/iPad screen. If you are a enthusiast and considering to enroll in dance classes, the app provides you with an introduction by sample dance scores. The app has easy to use visual interface to notate the movements of the dancers. The app helps you to notate the instructions from your teacher as Labanotation symbols and save them for future reference and recollection. If you are an amateur choreographer and creative you can experiment with different movements of the body and steps. The app helps you to visualize the dance score you created in Augmented Reality view by virtual humanoid characters stepping to your creation and examine if the notations represent the movements and dance poses you intended. Labanotation was invented by the Hungarian choreographer Rudolf von Laban (1879-1958). Any form of human movement can be recorded by Labanotation. Labanotation uses abstract symbols to define the direction and level of the movement for each part of the body doing the movement, duration of the movement, dynamic quality of the movement. Labanotation is a record of movements of each part the body, so that it can be reproduced. The DanceStepper utilizes Labanotation to notate Ballroom Dances. Ballroom dances are partner dances. Examples are Foxtrot, Waltz, Cha Cha, etc. The student learns the dances as Dance Figures which are short sequence of poses and steps. Examples are Basic, Cross-Body-Lead, Under-Arm-Turn, etc. The Figures describe the steps and poses for the leader (man) and follower (woman) that are to be performed in a sequence of time intervals. The dance teacher trains and practices the students by providing verbal instructions on the following elements of the dance movements. 1. Step timing 2. Step directions and foot gestures 3. Hand movements 4. Turns 5. Position on dance floor 6. Connection to the partner DanceStepper app helps the student to organize the lessons. The verbal instructions from the dance teacher are transformed into visual Labanotation symbols. The shapes of the symbols indicate different directions in space and the shading of the symbol specifies the level of the movement. The symbols are placed on a vertical staff with a number of columns. Symbols in a column of the staff represent the movement of one part of the body, and the vertical dimension represents time passing by. The centre line of the staff represents the centre line of the body, symbols on the right represent the right side of the body, symbols on the left, the left side. The staff is read from bottom to top and the length of a symbol defines the duration of the movement. Think of the columns as "Audio Channels" in music where each instrument gets is own channel. Similarly, each column in the Labanotation staff represents the movements of a part of the body. The app saves the dance scores in digital format for future reference and recollection. The scores are reproducible at any future date without loss of details. DanceStepper utilizes Apple’s Augmented Reality technology to create animations of the dance scores created by the user. The movements notated by Labanotation for each part of the body are passed on to move and animate parts of the humanoid characters in the Augmented Reality views. The animations help the user to examine if the notations produced intended movements. The app doesn’t record or store any data from the camera or microphone. The app’s privacy notice is at the following link: http://ballroomdancestepper.com/dancestepper_content/PrivacyNotice.pdf

Steno Keyboard Pocket brings stenographic writing to iPhone. Instead of one key per letter, you press several keys at once. A dictionary translates that chord into a word, a phrase, or punctuation. HOW IT WORKS ON A PHONE Press your chord, then press Translate. The Translate key sits where the space bar normally would, so the rhythm is chord, translate, chord, translate. On a screen this size that is more reliable than trying to lift a whole chord cleanly, and it means a mistimed finger does not send the wrong word. WHAT IT IS NOT Pocket is Translate only. It does not include lift to send, the steno mode built around it, or the wide proportioned board those need. Those are on the iPad app, Steno Keyboard. If you want to write steno with both hands, that is the one to buy. YOUR DICTIONARIES Import Plover format JSON, or RTF/CRE files from most CAT software. Dictionaries are priority ordered, so a personal dictionary can override a general one. Large dictionaries are supported. FOR LEARNING AND FOR LOOKUP Look up how any word is written, and read a plain English explanation of what an entry's formatting codes actually do. Define a word you just wrote without leaving what you were doing. Useful for drilling a brief on the bus even if the real writing happens elsewhere. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Nothing you type leaves your device. No account, no analytics, no server of ours. Translation happens locally. REQUIRES A DICTIONARY This is a custom keyboard and it needs a steno dictionary to do anything. The app can download a free starter dictionary, or you can import your own.