Re: [Callers] Second Life

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:10:54 -0400 (EDT)

Burning Man, hah, maybe so, that's pretty funny. I've been watching slide shows of Burning Man on Slate.com and it does seem rather like an alternate universe. I wonder how well-attended that contra dance was, with the fire-dancing and hooping caller.
My wife told me the message I sent late last night was rather ill-natured, so I apologize for its snarky tone, but I do feel pretty strongly that community dancing provides a precious opportunity for people to connect directly with each other in an increasingly disconnected world. A few years ago I moved from North Carolina, where I danced every week at venues only a mile or two from my house, to New Mexico, where I now drive literally hundreds of miles across mountains and deserts once a month to dance and call in Las Cruces. It's almost the only thing that kept me sane in the isolated community I now live in before my wife moved out here a couple of years ago, so I feel pretty strongly about the importance of personal interaction that community dance provides. 


Square and contra dancing in Second Life might be pretty fun, and I 
guess it is sort of like real dancing if you don't have any 
alternatives, in the same way that manual stimulation is an alternative 
to physical intimacy with a real partner if you happen to be unattached. 
In general I would prefer a live partner.



I'm glad to hear that the author of the original post is at least making 
some decent money teaching square dancing in Second Life, considering 
the rather low wage scale of callers in the real world, but I'm amazed 
to read that he's from Massachusetts. I have contra danced in Oklahoma, 
North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon and Texas, but never in New England. 
Considering the widespread availability of contra dance outlets in that 
part of the country, I can't help but wonder why anyone would feel the 
need to indulge in virtual dancing while sitting in front of a computer 
monitor.


Lewis Land

On 9/21/2011 3:59 AM, Donald Perley wrote:

Does Burning Man count as an alternate reality?

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 1:44 AM, Lewis Land<[email protected]>  wrote:

Second Life, hmm. I must say, it is hard for me to imagine any experience
more divorced from the spirit of contra dance than a virtual contra dance
performed in a computer-generated alternate reality. To quote Snoopy in a
long-ago Peanuts cartoon, "my mind reels with sarcastic replies". That's
about as polite as I can get about such a bizarre concept.

Lewis Land

On 9/19/2011 3:46 PM, [email protected] wrote:

Perhaps if someone is curious enough to dance in virtual reality then
  they
might be curious enough to try it in real life.  I guess the challenge  is
to get them to step away from their computer.  Uummm, I'll step away in
just another minute...

Donna Hunt
"Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while  we're here we should
dance." -unknown


In a message dated 9/19/2011 5:36:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:


On  Sep 16, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Chip Hedler wrote:


(Bizarre aside:  anyone remember Second Life? Wouldn't it be cool if you
could program  avatars to do dance moves and have a virtual contra dance,

or

test  dance sequences? Actually, forget that! It's totally against what I
  value about real dancing! )

I sent the following e-mail to the MWSD  caller's list on April 1, 2010...

Begin forwarded message:


  From: Clark Baker<[email protected]>
Date: April 1, 2010  12:37:41 AM EDT
To: [email protected]
Subject: Square  Dancing in Second Life

With the box office success of Avatar,  you may be interested in my

experiences taking square dancing to Second  Life.  In this virtual world,
users
(residents) can interact with each  other through avatars.   Residents can
explore, meet other  residents, socialize, participate in individual and
group activities, and  create and trade virtual property and services with
one
another, or travel  throughout the world.

Second Life has an internal currency,  the Linden dollar (L$). L$ can be

used to buy, sell, rent or trade land or  goods and services with other
users.   L$ can be purchased using US  Dollars and other currencies on the
LindeX exchange provided by Linden Lab,  independent brokers or other
resident
users.

I put two and  two together and created a square dance hall and offer

square dance  lessons.  People pay in L$ but I have made enough to make
more
teaching  dancing in Second Life than at some dances in the real world!  I
know  that some of you are going to say that teaching square dancing in
virtual
  reality doesn't count, and that the computer users should meet and
interact  with real people.  However, I believe that they are square
dancing, and
any kind of square dancing is better than nothing.

Let us  know what you think.

--
Clark Baker, Belmont,  MA
[email protected]

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