strathspey@strathspey.org:47409

simon scott

RE: Pilling diagrams

Dec. 7, 2006, 5:57 p.m. (Message 47409, in reply to message 47404)

>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.


I too see dances, and their patterns, in my mind and very rarely use an aid.
I enjoy the similarity in dances and my profession, architecture. They are
both total geometry but the result is hopefully a thing of beauty.  If it is
not, it is neither dance nor architecture.


>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 


I don't know when Pilling started but I've never learnt it.  My education
must be lacking, I should try and master it.

Simon
Vancouver