I was having the same thought, coming as much from my many years of
parenting as from my few years of calling: frame it as a "do" (join in
the fun of the percussion!) rather than as a "don't" (for what will
probably feel like over-blown safety concerns).
The other "do", that could get mentioned during teaching, is just that,
at least for me, spinning is so much more fun with shoes on--you can
cut loose way more--and way less painful the next day on the ball of
your foot.
On Sep 4, 2006, at 3:49 PM, Darrell Webb wrote:
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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