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| Nottoo Wise |
This is Nottoo Wise, Founder of Dance Queens, if you didn't know. Recently I asked a Dance Queens member who knows Nottoo if she could write up a bio for the info center. I got way more than I asked for in return but I was glad, and feeling like her writings should be shared so we could pay a small tribute. The member who wrote this was Winnie, thank you Winnie for sharing!
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When I first started to dance in SL, I was lucky enough to meet one very special person in the world of dance; Nottoo Wise. First impression....best.name.ever! She was also tall, very tall....and stately. Dancing.....there was never a time that I saw Nottoo that she wasn't dancing. She owned a club...dancing...she did shows....dancing...she did classes...dancing...she showed up to watch other shows at other venues...still dancing in her head.
Nottoo was the original creator of Dance Queens, and it was a labor of love the size and scope of which I could not imagine taking on. She did all of the original spreadsheets with stores, animations, landmarks...she even timed animations before they were done by creators.
She had this great sim where her club was and where she did classes. She had boxes of helpful things she handed out....dances that were transfer, grids for setting up dance routines, pose balls to do group dances...you have to remember...she did all of this before mo-cap animation and before movers *Gasps* Yes friends, we were all subject to falling off a stage at any time back in ye olde days of dance.
Nottoo also did these amazing tutorials where she showed folks how to make an alpha layer so we could be invisible and how to edit linked parts so pasties covered up your bits. Yep....no mesh back then either...we all had square elbows and knees and shoulders. We were....rough around the edges. Heck when I started we all used the HUDDLEZ...like...the only damn HUD that there was!
Nottoo taught me how to dance, but she also taught me to love to dance in SL. It's not easy...it's not even that easy now. Back then, it was really solely about the dance and costume. She didn't teach us how to build big, stunning sets and we couldn't move, so stages were small and you had to do one hell of a dance or striptease with emotes (the cut and paste kind) to keep everyone's attention.
Dance has changed so much with better animations, bodies, movers, sets, choreography, etc. I still sit and watch each act when I can and ooooh and aaaaah over what the human imagination can come up with. Nottoo was the person who planted that kernel in my brain that grew into the weed that is my love of dance in SL today, and she did that for so many wonderful dancers.
Cheers Nottoo for creating DQ for us and giving us the launch pad for where we are today!