The Art Of Staging: Negative Space

What the heck is negative space?

In painting, negative space is "the space around and between the subject(s) of an image". (wikipedia.org)

In my always vocal opinion:
In music, negative space is the pauses to breath, the silences that highlight the next sounds.
In speaking, negative space is (again) the pauses, the silences that capture the listener's attention.

Negative space defines shape - the shape of the subject, the meaning and importance of the next words or music. Negative space enhances substance. Negative space is critical to understanding meaning. Negative space offers time to think and reflect. (Think about it, if the speaker goes on and on, even if they are interesting you may find it hard to keep concentrating on what they are saying.)

Negative space is absolutely critical to staging.

Think about it.

Forget 'what the heck is negative space'? ... What the heck is she talking about?

Discussion continues tomorrow.