For the past several months, I have been working on a map to aid my exploration of space as defined by points on the human body. In poi, we call this mode of spinning, “body tracing.” Essentially, a body tracer is a movement, where your handpath traces along your body, ideally so that your hand is always touching your body as you spin. I first started working on this map in an effort to explore only snakes, but I quickly found that snakes seem to essentially be linear extensions and isolations done as body tracers.

My initial sketches of this map included under the leg points, and even feet. For the purpose of legibility this first effort at a digital format is of upper body tracers only.

Here are the points for upper body tracing. Clockwise from the bottom left they are: Left Hip, Left Underarm, Left Hand/Extension, Left shoulder, Head, Right Shoulder, Right Hand/Extension, Right Underarm, Right Hip.

All 72 traces from each point.

That can be a lot to look at and break down, so I broke it down into traces from each point.

When you account for all of these, the tracers between two points that are available to you are Left Hip>Left Underarm, Left Hip>Left Hand, Left Hip>Left Shoulder, Left Hip>Head, Left Hip>Right Shoulder, Left Hip>Right Hand, Left Hip>Right Underarm, Left Hip>Right Hip, Left Underarm>Left Hand, Left Underarm>Left Shoulder, Left Underarm>Head, Left Underarm>Right Shoulder, Left Underarm>Right Hand, Left Underarm>Right Underarm, Left Underarm>Right Hip, Left Underarm>Left Hip, Left Hand>Left Hip, Left Hand>Left Underarm, Left Hand>Left Shoulder, Left Hand>Head, Left Hand>Right Shoulder, Left Hand>Right Hand, Left Hand>Right Underarm, Left Hand>Right Hip, Left Shoulder>Left Underarm, Left Shoulder>Left Hand, Left Shoulder>Head, Left Shoulder>Right Shoulder, Left Shoulder>Right Hand, Left Shoulder>Right Underarm, Left Shoulder>Right Hip, Left Shoulder>Left Hip, Head>Left Hip, Head>Left Underarm, Head>Left Hand, Head>Left Shoulder, Head>Right Shoulder, Head>Right Hand, Head>Right Underarm, Head>Right Hip, Right Shoulder>Head, Right Shoulder>Right Hand, Right Shoulder>Right Underarm, Right Shoulder>Right Hip, Right Shoulder>Left Hip, Right Shoulder>Left Underarm, Right Shoulder>Left Hand, Right Shoulder>Left Shoulder, Right Hand>Left Hand, Right Hand>Left Shoulder, Right Hand>Head, Right Hand>Right Shoulder, Right Hand>Right Underarm, Right Hand>Right Hip, Right Hand>Left Hip, Right Hand>Left Underarm, Right Underarm>Right Hip, Right Underarm>Left Hip, Right Underarm>Left Underarm, Right Underarm>Left Hand, Right Underarm>Left Shoulder, Right Underarm>Head, Right Underarm>Right Shoulder, Right Underarm>Right Hand, Right Hip>Left Hip, Right Hip>Left Underarm, Right Hip>Left Hand, Right Hip>Left Shoulder, Right Hip>Head, Right Hip>Right Shoulder, Right Hip>Right Hand, Right Hip>Right Underarm. That makes for 72 basic upper body tracers between two points. Each of these traces can be considered to be one side of a shape or polygon. In my next post, I will discuss various polygons, their presence in the geometry of the human body, and how they can be used to quantize this information.

Special thanks to Alex Powell for giving me this idea.

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