Dance writing

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 14, 2004

Dear SW List, and Tini!
Thank you for this email message, with photos and an historic 
description of your use of DanceWriting, Tini.... This meant a lot to 
me to read it. I had not realized that a dancer from the Royal Winnepeg 
Ballet had used DanceWriting because of your teaching...and that some 
of your students now use it because they are now teachers 
themselves...Thank you for teaching both DanceWriting and SignWriting 
all these years...Do I have your permission to post this information on 
the DanceWriting web site? I could make a summary, and would check it 
with you first for your approval?...  Val ;-)

---------------------------


On May 13, 2004, at 6:22 PM, Tini Pel wrote:

Hello Valerie and list.,
Yes we met in Copenhagen around 1974 or '75. I really can't remember, I 
have to go back to my files. But that does not matter. I was so 
thankful that we were there with our students at the time that you were 
there.

I was by then involved with the Benish notation after I had done Laban 
for some time. and found Benish a lot quicker. Then I met Valerie 
wow.... what a difference. After I took the correspondence course and 
started to teach it to our group of serious students training to become 
professionals, either in dancing, teaching or related arts, they found 
the Sutton system easier to read and quicker to learn as the figures 
were so closely related to the body.

I worked with the Sutton notation with the dance company and most of 
them new the system and were able to rehearse on their own from the 
notations. I still believe it is a good way for dancers and students to 
know the system. They can take it home on a piece of paper instead of 
having to rely on a video machine

Following are some pictures of young students learning to read and 
write dance notation. This was around 1982.

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The girl in the white sweater in picture 2 has used it when she was 
dancing with the Winnipeg Ballet Company, to jot down her parts of the 
ballets. I have lost contact with her. It would be nice to know if she 
is still using it. Three of my former students who are now teachers are 
still using the Sutton notation, so Valerie you have made sooooo many 
people happy with your work and it is still growing and growing with 
the SignWriting as well

  I thought you would like to know about this.
 
Tini.