[Sw-l] Placement of Signs in Space

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 23, 2021

Hi Adam, Cherie, Andre, Steve, Jonathan and everyone -

The old textbooks, such as Lessons in SignWriting, and DanceWriting for Modern and Jazz Dance, have diagrams trying to show the concept of the Raked Stage. The longer line represents “closer to the reader” which is really the audience in the dance world, but in the sign language world, writing in the Expressive, the audience is looking through the back of the signer, and becoming the signer. So “closer to the reader” means “closer to the chest” or “closer to your body”. Whether writing body movement or sign languages, and whether writing Expressive or Receptive, the concept of the Raked Stage shows depth. Please excuse the childlike nature of some of these drawings - they were done quickly in 1979 while teaching a dance class - I am looking forward to updating our books this decade ;-)







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> On Apr 23, 2021, at 7:40 AM, Adam Frost <icemandeaf at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> You’re right about the Raked Stage. I noticed that with the last writing with the “Depth Lines” as you aptly called it. I almost wanted to add connecting lines on the side to complete the stage look. Ha!
> 
> That is an interesting question of showing depth (if it is important for the writing). Let’s say I wanted to make it clear that a person crosses my path close to me and the later another person crosses my path farther up ahead. The line would be longer and shorter to show that distance.
> 
> 
> 
> Would this be readable?
> 
> 
> Adam
> 
>> On Apr 23, 2021, at 7:13 AM, Valerie Sutton <sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG <mailto:sutton at SIGNWRITING.ORG>> wrote:
>> 
>> SignWriting List
>> April 23, 2021
>> 
>> Actually, Adam, the lines you show in this email, with the longer one closer to the chest, feels like the concept of the Raked Stage, which our Movement Writing system was built on. Back in 1974 in Denmark I was teaching a troupe of ballet dancers DanceWriting, in Tivoli Gardens during the summer, and we would congregate for the class I was teaching on the stage that they would perform on, that evening. And the very old stage at Tivoli Gardens was hundreds of years old, and it was “raked”, meaning slanted down towards the audience. So I was sitting in the front seat of the audience looking at the dancers on stage, and the slant brought them closer to me in the audience. So the writing system was designed to write on a Raked Stage, so that the reader, in the audience, sees anything closer to the reader a little larger on a slant.
>> 
>> So you followed that theme perfectly with your invention of the longer line being “closer to the reader’s chest”.
>> 
>> So I really like this for “positions” of one hand close and one hand far, both “placed” in those positions.
>> 
>> But, if there is a movement between them, and this is all the right hand and it is not a right hand close and a left hand far - then I need a Movement Arrow. How can I know which position started the movement without an arrow? Did you start in the back or did you start in the front?
>> 
>> So for positioning or placing two hands for depth I love the “Depth Lines” if they are different hands -
>> 
>> Those are my thoughts ;-)
>> 
>> Thank you for working on this - Thanks for the Depth Lines!
>> 
>> Val ;-)
>> 
>> ———
>> 


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