Labanotation (grammatically correct form "Labannotation" or "Laban notation" is uncommon) is a system for analyzing and recording human movement (notation system), invented by Austro-Hungarian choreographer and dancer Rudolf von Laban (1879–1958, a central figure in European modern dance), who developed his notation on movements in the 1920s.

Laban's first book on the subject was published in German in 1928 called Schrifttanz (Written Dance); a similar version in French and English appeared in 1930. A few years later Laban's interest turned to other matters and he gave his notation system to the world. The German dancer, choreographer and pedagogue Albrecht Knust, who by 1930 had together with Laban's daughter Azra (Azraela) established the Tanz-Schreib-Stube (the first Dance Notation Bureau), was the first-ever full-time kinetographer-movement notator. Between 1946 and 1950 Knust wrote his major work Das Handbuch der Kinetographie Laban (The Manual of Kinetography Laban) in eight-volumes in German, typed carbon copies appeared in 1951 in English. Ann Hutchinson Guest and former student of Sigurd Leeder, studied the system differences among and between the various practitioners taught by former Laban student Irma Betz, and had the opportunity to confer with Laban, Knust and Leeder personally on movement details and ideas, developed it further naming it Labanotation. The two systems differ somewhat.

Laban's notation system's other applications include Laban Movement Analysis, robotics and human movement simulation. With Labanotation, any form of human movement can be recorded: The basis is natural human movement, every change must be noted.

This notation system could be used to describe movement in terms of spatial models and concepts, which contrasts with other movement notation systems based on anatomical analysis, letter codes, stick figures, music notes, track systems, or word notes. The system precisely and accurately portrays temporal patterns, actions, floor plans, body parts and a three-dimensional use of space. Laban's notation system eventually evolved into modern-day Labanotation and Kinetography Laban.

Labanotation and Kinetography Laban evolved separately in the 1930s through 1950s, in the United States and England, and Germany and other European countries respectively. As a result of their different evolutionary paths, Kinetography Laban remained consistent since its inception, whereas Labanotation evolved over time to meet new needs. For example, at the behest of members of the Dance Notation Bureau, the Labanotation system was expanded to allow it to convey the motivation or meaning behind movements. Kinetography Laban practitioners, on the other hand, tend to work within the constraints of the existing notation system, using spatial description alone to describe movement.

The International Council of Kinetography Laban was created in 1959 to clarify, standardize and eliminate differences between Labanotation and Kinetography Laban. As a result, one or both are currently used throughout the world almost interchangeably, and are readable to practitioners of either system.

Labanotation uses abstract symbols to define the:

The shapes of the direction symbols indicate nine different directions in space and the shading of the symbol specifies the level of the movement.