strathspey@strathspey.org:47404

john.m.sturrock

Re: Pilling diagrams

Dec. 7, 2006, 4:54 p.m. (Message 47404, in reply to message 47388)

>I love hearing all the various ways people work out dances.

As do I.

I have been wondering if I am alone in  NOT  using graph paper, pepper pots, 
chess pieces, bottle tops, dolls and all the other aids mentioned ; I've 
always danced everything through in my head alone.  Maybe it was a result of 
my profession  -  I was a designer of intricate mechanisms, and, before 
computers, much of it had to be done mentally.  From there, it was a small 
step to apply work to recreation, and I've always seen a set as a piece of 
mechanism.

Although my early dancing pre-dates the first Pilling by 9 years, 
interestingly I've always seen a set just as Pilling does, that is as if 
from the west balcony of the Younger Hall.  It crossed my mind to wonder if 
he, too, sat in that same balcony (or a similar one) in the early fifties, 
and it was there that he had his great inspiration.  It would go a long way 
to explaining his choice of symbols  -  particularly those for casting and 
leading  -  as, unless one leans over the rail, they are exactly what you 
see most prominently down below!

John M Sturrock
Cupar  UK