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<html lang='en'><head><meta charset='utf-8' /><meta name='pinterest' content='nopin' /><link href='../../../../static/css/style.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><link href='../../../../static/css/print.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' media='print' /><title>Negative Space in Dancing / Steve Losh</title></head><body><header><a id='logo' href='https://stevelosh.com/'>Steve Losh</a><nav><a href='../../../index.html'>Blog</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/projects/'>Projects</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/photography/'>Photography</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/links/'>Links</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/rss.xml'>Feed</a></nav></header><hr class='main-separator' /><main id='page-blog-entry'><article><h1><a href='index.html'>Negative Space in Dancing</a></h1><p class='date'>Posted on August 31st, 2008.</p><p>Last night a few of us from Rochester drove to Buffalo for a swing event.
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There were three classes during the afternoon that were pretty fun. There was
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a dance in the evening which had a great turnout and plenty of energy. As nice
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as all that was, the real highlight of the day/night was the blues party after
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the dance. Matt and I ended up DJ'ing it and it was absolutely awesome. I got
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to meet and dance with a whole bunch of new people that I hope to dance with
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again soon.</p>
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<p>One concept I try to use in my blues (and tango) dancing is that of negative
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space. I've found that a lot of blues dancers don't really seem to quite get
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that idea. I'm not saying that it's the "right" way to blues dance but it's
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something that's changed how I dance and I wanted to write something about it
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to share it with anyone interested.</p>
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<h2>What is negative space?</h2>
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<p>Negative space is a term used a lot in painting, photography, graphic design,
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etc. It basically means that for a given photo (or painting, whatever) the
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whole frame isn't filled with "things." Two examples of this taken from my
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flickr favorites are <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/theoperamafia/2790037114/">this photo</a> and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/jodiseva/2385347094/">this one</a>. In both of these
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images the subject takes up only a small portion of the frame. The expanses of
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even texture and tone add certain qualities to the photos that can't be
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achieved otherwise.</p>
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<p>A photographer that takes this to an extreme is Hiroshi Sugimoto, in his
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<a href="http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/seascape.html">Seascape</a> series. He uses long exposures and darkroom techniques to produce
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images of nothing but negative space. The sea blends into a seamless texture
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and the sky becomes a single tone. Even though there isn't a physical object
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between the two, the division between them forms a subject of its own.</p>
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<h2>How does it relate to dancing?</h2>
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<p>Most of the blues dancers I know come from a Lindy Hop background. Lindy Hop
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is a dance of movement and momentum; that's part of what makes it so much fun.
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When blues dancing I think a lot of Lindy Hoppers never catch on to this idea:
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<em>you don't need to be moving all of the time</em>. It's alright to slow down and
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actually stop for one, two, three, four measures. It gives the dance a chance
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to breathe and lets you focus on your connection with your partner without
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movement getting in the way.</p>
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<p>"Won't that be boring?" No. Absolutely not. Stopping can provide things that
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you can't really get while moving. It can add tension, release it, and
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completely change the mood of a dance. It really does have a lot in common
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with negative space in art, and it adds a lot to a dance.</p>
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<p>Negative space does not mean "empty space," although it's often described like
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that. In the first photo I linked to the wall is indeed blank, but has color
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and texture that can give you plenty to look at. In the second, the expanses
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of white are just that: white. They are not empty; they have a distinct tone:
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white. If they were black, or even a light grey the photo would be entirely
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different.</p>
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<p>In dancing, movement is important but not the only thing we think about.
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Posture and body positioning is one example. "Feeling" or "mood" is another,
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more elusive, one. Just because the movement is gone doesn't mean all these
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other things go away automatically; they're still there until you let them go.</p>
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<p>Taking it to the extreme like Sugimoto's Seascapes is also emphatically <em>not</em>
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boring. In some of the best blues dances I've ever had there were parts where
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we didn't really move for several measures at a time. When this happens, both
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of you create your own negative space through your posture, etc. Neither of
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these spaces are empty.</p>
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<p>Where these spaces meet is your connection. Like the horizons in Sugimoto's
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photographs it becomes the main subject. By eliminating motion you're free to
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focus your attention on other aspects of the connection. Sometimes these
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aren't obvious at first. One example Mihai likes to talk about is breathing.
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Another is understanding where your partner's weight is.</p>
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<p>By giving yourself time to really feel the connection with your partner you
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have time to examine it much more closely. You can introduce tiny movements
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(like the waves that fleck the surface of the water in Sugimito's seas) that
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interrupt the absolute flatness of the spaces and let you explore the
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interactions between them. Not only does this let you learn about how your
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partner is connected to you in a more in-depth way, it's very, very fun.</p>
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<p>I don't have a particularly amazing ending for this post. The main points I
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wanted to get across are these: Negative space in dancing is removing most or
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all of the movement for a longer-than-normal about of time. Negative space is
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not empty space unless you ignore all the other aspects of the dance like
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posture, mood and connection. Negative space can add things to a dance that
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you can't get otherwise.</p>
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<p>Try it.</p>
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</article></main><hr class='main-separator' /><footer><nav><a href='https://github.com/sjl/'>GitHub</a> ・ <a href='https://twitter.com/stevelosh/'>Twitter</a> ・ <a href='https://instagram.com/thirtytwobirds/'>Instagram</a> ・ <a href='https://hg.stevelosh.com/.plan/'>.plan</a></nav></footer></body></html>
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