The Russian dancer and teacher Vladimir Stepanov(1866 - 1896) developed a system of human movementnotation based on the principles of music notation, details of which he published in French as Alphabet desMovements du Corps Humain, in Paris in 1892. It wasaccepted as a system of notation in both the Mariinskyand Bolshoi ballet schools and much repertory wasnotated in it.The dancer, choreographer and teacher AlexanderGorsky was a friend of Stepanov and an advocate of hissystem. In 1899 he published two long essays explainingthe system in considerably more detail and with specifi crelevance to the notation of classical ballet, for use astextbooks by the students in the Mariinsky and Bolshoischools. It is these two essays, translated and editedby the Russian ballet historian Professor Roland JohnWiley which are reproduced here.