Jolaine is a wonderful caller and I understand what she is saying but... There are always spectators at dances and at Burning Man there are also many people walking through the area and fire-dancing is a dramatic way to draw in that much more attention and therefore potential new dancers. Secondly there is the thrill of the challenge for the caller in succeeding in meshing two skills s/he loves. Finally there is probably going to be a novel thrill for the dancers who will getting something like that primal feeling of dancing around a fire - while contradancing. I think there will be plenty of enjoyment without taking in all the details in a way that would distract attention from their own dancing. They will go look at the youtube videos later - and admit it so will you :)
On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 7:27 PM, JoLaine Jones-Pokorney <[email protected]> wrote: > I applaud Mark for all his efforts to spread contra dancing. But I have to > ask what is the purpose of firedancing/hooping while calling? I would argue > that this is an unnecessary distraction and puts the focus on the caller > instead of on the dancers. Am I supposed to watch this person > firedance/hoop while I am trying to contra dance? I hope that organizers > will ask if this "innovation" is really making the dancing more enjoyable, > or simply for the sake of being "different." My personal opinion is that > the caller should be as invisible as possible - call clearly and get out of > the way of the dancers. There are certainly callers who contribute beyond > the calls such as Beth Molero and Nils Fredland's with their wonderful > singing voices and other callers who may clog or play spoons or some other > contribution to the experience. But firedancing/hooping is a distraction > from the dance, not a contribution to it. > May Burning Man contra grow and thrive for years to come! > JoLaine > > -- > JoLaine Jones-Pokorney > > "We are as gods and might as well get good at it!" > - Stewart Brand > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
