Klarinet Archive - Posting 000233.txt from 2002/12

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <patricia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Notation -- of a different sort
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 23:20:19 -0500

Bill Wright wrote:
..anyway, this list often discusses musical details that aren't (can't
> be) specified precisely by notation. The dance made me think about
> dance notation. Perhaps there is some method of 'writing' a dance, but
> given all the details of how body parts can move, I find it difficult to
> imagine.
>
> How did they pass dance 'scripts' from one troup to the next before film
> and videos? Memory, pure and simple?
>

I used to wonder that. Anyhow, there is such a thing as "dance
notation" that is used by choreographers. I don't know too much more
about it. I simply came across it once while waiting for my son and
daughter to finish a ballet lesson at the dance studio they study at.
It takes a true artist, however, to coordinate the dance notation with
musical notation in order to make a production actually work. Just
looking at the dance notation made this readily apparent to me!

Patricia A. Smith

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