macarena - dance

Wed Jan 7 01:22:54 UTC 2009

SignWriting List
January 6, 2009

Hello Stefan and Tini and Everyone!

Wow. Thanks for the attached document and for the video on YouTube...

And congratulations on all your hard work...this is a beautiful  
document ;-)

Go right ahead and use it with your students - I bet they will have a  
lot of fun with it!

Maybe the first column isn't necessary? It is a little hard to  
read...but once the arm movements really start and the rest of the  
document I could definitely read!

At the moment we do not have a DanceWriting List, nor do I want to  
start one ....Technically your document is a blend of the more modern  
way we write SignWriting and some of the old DanceWriting...but it  
really doesn't look like real DanceWriting...but that is ok...it  
doesn't have to!

It is more "movement Writing" ;-))

You see, DanceWriting is a related system, but it is handled  
differently than this document...

Regarding the old DanceWriting...it is not written receptively or  
expressively...it is written from the "audience's viewpoint", so if  
the dancer faces you, you write the body facing you...that is like  
receptive, but the difference is that when the dancer turns the body  
and is facing the side wall, you the writer still stay in the  
audience, so you then write the body facing the side wall, just as you  
see it in real life...a dotted line is used to show the side wall  
viewpoint...and if the dancer turns to have the back to the audience,  
then you write what you see if you were sitting in the audience...so  
then you would write the back of the dancer at that time...

I used to write the dances of the Royal Danish Ballet while sitting  
out in the audience....that is how that "stage view" started...

So if I were writing the video on YouTube, I would instinctively write  
it as if I were sitting in the audience which is very different than  
writing it from the dancer's perspective, which is what I believe you  
are writing...and that is fine...go right ahead!

We never used overhead views in DanceWriting...those came into  
SignWriting years later, and of course I guess the overhead view could  
be used in DanceWriting now, taking it from SignWriting, but because  
DanceWriting was based on writing while sitting in the audience, an  
overhead view was never considered...

DanceWriting is oftentimes written under music scores with a five  
lined staff that is like what written music is written on...five  
lines...

But SignWriting does not use a five lined staff to show levels or  
height of a jump or a bend etc...it is a different world...

So I was in the professional ballet world and we had our own  
profession...

Your document is fine for your students and a lot of fun! Please go  
ahead and use it...

I had a little problem reading the first column...is that writing the  
beginning of the video on YouTube? I think you are trying to shake  
your shoulders while going up and down with bent legs, at least that  
is what I saw in the video...but I could not have read the first  
column as that, because there are no bending knees and straightening  
legs...

For me, I need the lower body to really write this, but your writing  
is fun because you are really writing only the upper body except for  
the jumping...by the way, a jumping arrow is a little different in  
DanceWriting but I think your three lines that look like the floor are  
wonderful! Very descriptive!

I believe you are starting teaching again tomorrow? ENJOY!!

Regarding DanceWriting, we have a whole library of books you can  
download for free on the internet if you are interested...They are not  
really instruction books, but more Sheet Dance literature...but fun to  
download....

DanceWriting Library
http://www.DanceWriting.org/library

Notice the Jumping Arrow on this web page:
http://www.dancewriting.org/lessons/dwless001.html

The jumping arrow is placed under the feet of the jumping figure ;-)

Anyway, I must go to bed now...Thanks for sharing with us and tell us  
how it goes with your students writing the Macarena!!

Val ;-)

-----------

On Jan 6, 2009, at 4:28 PM, Stefan Wöhrmann wrote:

> Hi Valerie, Tini, dancewriters, movementwriters und SW-list friends –
>
> I came across a youtube video. Here a young lady explains the dance – 
> movements of a disco dance: Macarena
>
> http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=vlzwuFkn88U&feature=related
>
>
> I would like to use it in my class as a project for a wonderful  
> demonstration of the benefits of quick handwriting – and afterwards  
> carefully transcription with a computer program.
> I would ask you for your feeling, ideas, impressions.
> Can you understand?
>
> Well in fact the timing of the beat is still missing and if you look  
> at the video you see that they move from the right foot to the left  
> foot while doing these other things with their hands and arms. So  
> many things to keep in mind. ( And in the beginning she explains to  
> start with the right hand – but – hm …. ???
>
> Have fun – and thanks for any comments
>
> Stefan ;-)
>
>
>
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