Wow, I'm stunned by the negative attitude toward mixers expressed
below. Certainly I know there are folks who aren't keen on mixers,
but seriously - "the caller assumes that most of the regulars do not
enjoy dancing with newcomers?" I call mixers fairly frequently
because as a dancer I enjoy doing them, just as Beth states. I tend
to do them as a third dance, a little break from the contra line
format, a chance for everyone in the hall to meet everyone - how many
times have you come to the end of the night and noticed a bunch of
people you just never happened to be in the same line with, and you
didn't even know they were there (and I don't just mean newcomers
either, I've seen good friends I somehow missed)? Sometimes if there
are a lot of newcomers that have been concentrating hard on the first
two dances, an easy short mixer will relax them and give them
confidence. There are quite a few fun mixers out there - Ted
Sanella's Love and Kisses is a nice one, for example. I do always say
as soon as the previous dance ends, "Take partners for a mixer" and
tell people not to get too attached to their partner, because they
won't have them for very long - after all, I don't want everyone
lining up for a contra if it's a mixer. But if anyone thinks I'm
doing it as an implied message that they aren't partnering with
newcomers enough - then I would suggest that the guilty parties are
projecting their own guilt onto my motives. If the shoe fits....
Martha
On Jul 19, 2010, at 9:00 AM, [email protected] wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Integrating Newcomers (Was "Calling debut")
([email protected])
2. Lack of Contra in the Adirondacks ([email protected])
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:21:55 -0700
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Integrating Newcomers (Was "Calling debut")
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Wow.
I call mixers because it is the one and only time in an evening
when the whole group is gathered together. Instead of "my little
clique" it is "all of us are in this together" as a dancer and as a
caller I enjoy that experience.
I call mixers because I find a whole evening of contra, contra,
contra, contra, contra... boring (as a dancer.) Especially if every
dance has a similar piece count, pacing, and two swings (or at
least a partner swing.)
There are probably other reasons as well, but these are my primary
thoughts. Any idea of needing to twist the arm of people to welcome
newcomers has not entered into it.
The modern urban contra dance scene is welcoming to people who
would fit in anyway. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It is the
nature of hobby activities. Since muc dancers go to a dance
primarily to dance "what they want to dance the way they want to
dance it" then anything outside of their hobby mind-set is anathema.
Beth
-----Original Message-----
<snip>
First, I find that mixers are too often a heavy-handed way to
force the
regular dancers to integrate newcomers. This can set a negative
tone that is
transferred to the newcomers themselves, creating an attitude that
newcomers should be "tolerated." The "grumbling" Jeff mentions
above is
not easy to miss. It seems obvious that many newcomers will be
aware of
this attitude and it will interfere with their motivation, and
possibly their
inclination, to integrate into the dance community.
Second, I feel that mixers can actually discourage many regulars from
partnering with newcomers. This happens when mixers are not
announced
in advance. Consider the situation when a more experienced dancer
takes
the initiative to approach a newcomer and partner with them only
to learn
that the dance will be a mixer. This can be discouraging to those
who put out
the effort to partner with a newcomer. If you want to call a
mixer please
announce it clearly and well in advance of the partnering process.
Third, the decision to call a mixer can send several implied
messages to the
regular dancers that have a negative influence. These include:
- The caller assumes that most of the regulars are not
partnering with
newcomers.
- The caller assumes that most of the regulars do not enjoy
dancing with
newcomers.
- The caller does not have confidence in the regulars to
welcome and to
partner with new dancers on their own.
End of Callers Digest, Vol 71, Issue 15
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