Yes! We had a similarly strange experience last week at one of our Calling Parties. There were just six of us there - five of our very best dancers, most of them callers, and one guy who simply could not process what we were telling him. Each person would try to explain a move, but all that would happen was more confusion. One dance had a hey in it, and after our usual explanations had not worked, one caller said "Watch this!" and did a hey for four just by walking straight across the set and back, letting the other three people weave around him. When the new guy didn't understand that, we did the PattyCake Polka and a simple couples mixer. He did okay with the Pattycake Polka (He did swing dancing, and I think the footwork made him more comfortable - THAT was like dancing!), and during the couples mixer excitedly said "OHHHHhhh... You listen to the caller and he tells you what to do!"
He didn't seem otherwise stupid or anything, but it was as if he couldn't "get" what we were saying about dancing. He kept saying "I just don't know where to go." It seemed as if his whole brain was occupied with some other thoughts so that nothing else could get through - like a denial of service attack... We've all been wondering ever since what we could have done, if anything, short of turning the evening into a One Night Stand dance. M E On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 9:42 PM, Robert Golder <[email protected]>wrote: > There's only one thing I can think of to try at that point, and that's to > strike up a conversation at the break, ask the guy if he's enjoying the > evening, how he heard about the dance, etc., and if conversation indicates > he's not compromised in some obvious fashion, then ask him what's up. Had > something similar happen to me with a couple that would fit the description > you gave. It turned out that as a consequence of surgery he would have > occasional, unpredictable disorientation episodes. He really wanted to dance > but it may have brought on a spell; at any rate, though he seemed clueless, > he had instead been trying to fight the disorientation and continue dancing, > but he realized with disappointment after a few attempts that he couldn't > dance any more that evening. He was a good guy and I wish he could have > participated more fully. > > On Mar 19, 2011, at 10:05 PM, Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing wrote: > > > Callers: > > > > (I should say, I'm used to dealing with clueless, drunk, not-listening > ONS > > dancers, and I have a repertoire of incredibly-accessible material. So > my > > usual approach at ONS is only to worry about people who are being > dangerous, > > and not worry much about clueless, and to call material where you can be > pretty > > far off and it still works. Even fairly-sophisticated contra-dance falls > into > > that realm, because somebody will be along to swing you, circle with you, > etc, > > pretty soon. So this is maybe an English-specific problem, but I'm > suspecting > > not.) > > > > I co-called the Palo Alto English last night with Lise Dyckman. (We > expected a > > somewhat challenging night because many of the strongest local dancers > are off > > at Spring Fever weekend.) Got a decent turnout (24+), about a third of > them > > first-timers or quite new dancers. > > > > One guy (50ish, not visibly impaired, seemed nice enough) showed up with > a > > group about 10 minutes late. When it got to be my turn to call, I gave > an > > abridged version of the orientation session (up, down, in, out, partner, > > neighbor, dance with anybody). Naturally, he did the first two dances > in a > > row with one of the women he'd come in with. He was clueless and active > (don't > > know what to do, must do something, do something random); she was > clueless and > > passive (don't know what to do, will wait until somebody makes me do > > something). > > > > First, I commend the community of dancers who were there that night. > They > > pretty soon got that couple separated; didn't display visible impatience, > and > > continued helpful and welcoming, without grabbing, pulling, and pushing. > Good > > work, everybody! > > > > Here are things that didn't seem to help this guy in any visible way: > > > > - continuing to call the dance when everybody else had it > > - doing demos of things that we otherwise would not (eg, Trip to > Tunbridge) > > - having dancers in his set beckon or point, as appropriate > > - strong partners who tried to lead him (by whatever means) where he > needed > > to go > > - pointing out other people in the line in the same role to copy from. > > - second walkthroughs > > > > I gave up following a problem couple up and down the set and calling to > just > > them years ago; that almost never works and just raises everybody's > anxiety > > level. I don't think it would have helped here. > > > > We tweaked our program to the simpler end of the things we'd been > thinking > > about, but didn't revert to the one-night-stand/barn-dance level, since > that > > wasn't what the vast majority of people there had come for. [To be > honest, I > > didn't even consider that - which I've done when, eg, the whole > > not-previously-dancing Revels children's chorus turned up unexpectedly at > a > > country dance I was calling, expecting to dance - but if I had > consciously > > considered it, I would have discarded it for that reason.] > > > > I could see that he was never really managing to build a model of the > dance, > > and that he was, if anything, a kinetic learner. (Eg, in Portabella, > where if > > you're a 1 the A1 is gent cast off with partner behind and orbit through > 2s > > place and back to place, and B2 is 1s cross, cast, and half-figure eight, > he > > seemd to have some kind of memetic entrapment where having crossed he'd > turn > > back and follow his partner down the wrong side, as though it were A1 > again.) > > I don't think he ever connected pieces of music to pieces of dance. It > wasn't > > "he's got it except for"; I don't think he ever understood the basics of > any > > dance well enough to be able to fix the parts that weren't working. > > > > He sat down at the last dance before the break and didn't dance again the > rest > > of the evening. > > > > Now, maybe he's just not cut out for this. (I think that if somebody > threw me > > into a football game in progress, and I just got a brief description in > the > > huddle of what I was supposed to do and I didn't understand how timeouts > > worked, etc, I'd look completely clueless and overwhelmed, and there are > ways > > in which this is like that. It was more like a football game than usual, > > actually, because among the things he never understood was the difference > > between going down the inside of the set and the outside of the set, so > there > > were considerably more near-collisions than usual. I'm not cut out for > > football, but if I got a bunch of explanations, coaching, and questions > > answered, I would at least look more like I knew what was going on. And > of > > course he didn't get that.) > > > > But maybe my bag of tricks isn't deep enough. > > > > What do you to do reach somebody like this? When do you know to let it > go? > > > > -- Alan > > > > -- > > > =============================================================================== > > Alan Winston --- [email protected] > > Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: > 650/926-3056 > > Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA > 94025 > > > =============================================================================== > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- For the good are always the merry, Save by an evil chance, And the merry love the fiddle And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
