Note first that I am not an experienced caller and my comments are only
based on my experience as a contra dancer.
I love to both provide and hear the foot percussion. I also think it adds to
the enjoyment of the other dancers and, possibly, the energy level of the
band and hall. Also, with size 14's, I'm always worried about stepping on
those bare feet!
I can't imagine a barefooter feeling comfortable being told during a dance
that they should wear shoes. Some signage at entryways recommending shoes
for safety might not be bad. Another idea that might help is to discuss the
positive effects of wearing shoes and providing foot percussion during the
dance. Maybe the barefooters would want to join in with the music and wear
shoes so they could.
Darrell
On 9/4/06, [email protected] <
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: A funny incident (Barbara Groh)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2006 21:46:20 -0400
From: "Barbara Groh" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Callers] A funny incident
To: "Caller's discussion list" <[email protected]>
Message-ID: <005b01c6cfc3$ebf08a60$6400a8c0@Babs>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
I appreciate your sharing, Cynthia---this gave me a good laugh. With many
dances attracting a large percentage of high school and college kids these
days, I see more and more youthful antics while I'm calling....the young
men
holding onto their oversized baggy pants with one hand while they dance;
the
"Grateful Dead" dance moves or the breakdance or hiphop moves thrown in;
and
the leaping, hopping, cartwheeling, and rolling around on the floor at the
break (or perhaps during the walkthroughs and the dances as well).
One thing I noticed while calling in Charleston, SC, recently (where 90%
of
the crowd was under 21) was that most of the dancers were barefoot. This
seems to be the trend for younger dancers. I think their timing would
improve if they wore shoes, because they'd be able to hear the rhythm
better. There was very little foot percussion at that dance. (personally,
I
think it's also aesthetically more pleasing to hear the feet, but I'm old
school) It's also a safety issue when there are shoed and shoeless people
dancing in the same room.
But I was wondering what, if anything, I should say about it. I didn't
want
to come across as bossy, preachy, old-fashioned, or whatever. Any ideas
on
this?
~Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cynthia Phinney" <[email protected]>
To: "Callers Shared Weight" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 12:07 PM
Subject: [Callers] A funny incident
> Ah, the impacts of technology. I was recently calling for a contradance
at
> the Maine Social Forum. It was a crowd of primarily beginners, with only
a
> smattering of experienced folks. During one of the dances, one young man
> got
> a cell phone call. He stepped out of line to take the call! His partner
> carried on for a moment or two, but then the line started to break down.
I
> had to jump into the line and grab his partner - calling while we danced
-
> to keep it going. It worked. Fortunately I'd had a little practice on
this
> at another dance earlier this summer when an elderly gentleman simply
> decided to step out and sit down during a - thankfully - very simple
> dance -
> and I had done the same thing rather than stop or let the line crumble.
>
> Just wanted to "share"
> :-)
>
> -cynthia
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End of Callers Digest, Vol 25, Issue 3
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