In response to the recent discussion regarding the swing, I would say as
a caller, teaching the walking swing is easy. It gets new dancers doing
something, when the caller says "swing". As a dancer I think perhaps
teaching the walking swing is perhaps one of the most limiting factors
in starting a dancer to dance.
I think teaching the "buzz-step" is really important in establishing
perhaps one of the great pleasures of contra dancing. I do not claim to
have a full-proof way to teach the "buzz-step", but in teaching it is
all about the language. It is about using language so that the new
dancers understand.
If you are teaching new dancers any dance move, if it is an allemande,
do-si-do, and even the swing and they are not understanding how to do a
certain dance move, then the caller or teacher is not using the correct
language to teach them. From the many beginners workshops I have seen,
I see a lot of good callers, good teachers, teach the "buzz-step" with
success. I encourage people to go to beginners workshops, not necessary
for learning how to contra dance, but to learn how to teach contra
dance. You will see so teaching/language work well and so not... It's
all about the communication, not necessary the subject matter.
Jeff
