Those indications were found in a 15th century Brussels manuscript of basses danses(published in 1912 by Ernest Closson) and in notations of similar dances by the dance masters Stribaldi (1517) of Turin, Italy and Arena (1519). They also appeared in Robert Copelande's English translation of a French textbook(1521), in the better known Orchesographie by Thoinot Arbeau (1588) and in John Playford's , The English Dancing Master(1651). Playford added the abstract signs o and ) for men and women. Note: the o has a little dot in it. BEAUCHAMP -FEUILLET SYSTEM In 1666, by an act of the French Parliament, Beauchamp, who is credited with being the first to classify the basic forms and steps of dancing was also recognized as the inventor of a dance notation. This was published in 1700 by Raoul Auger Feulliet under the title of Choreographie ou l'art de decrire la danse. Famous ballet masters of the period: Jean Phillipe Rameau, Louis Fecourt, Sieur Isaac d'Orleans; Kelloun Toml...