Oh hooray! Divisive politics are my favorite! (Not) But somewhere in the SW
archives I've already pointed out what a waste of time it is to point fingers
and deride each other. So just a couple other things, starting with an example.
On David Chandler's note of openness to new experiences, a year or so ago our
dance series celebrated the DEFFA Board (DownEast Friends of the Folk Arts) and
hired a fiddler and several dance callers who were DEFFA board members. Given
the expertise of the callers, the program included a Czech mixer-Doudlebska
Polka, an English Country Dance-Knole Park, a Croatian dance-Moja Diridika, and
several contras (mostly modern compositions). Because none of the callers
considered themselves skilled at calling squares, there were no squares. In
some ways, this program was a first for public contra dances in Maine.
But (a) it seemed like everyone had a good time (dancers, callers, organizers,
and even musicians who were asked to learn some unfamiliar music), and (b) it
was still delivering our dance's usual fare -- namely, accessible, fun,
traditional social dances, taught & prompted, and danced to excellent live
music. And on the plus side, we were also celebrating the varied contributions
to the world of the board members who serve our local folk organization - board
work that is done, as Linda Leslie points out, with "good intentions" and "for
the love of the art forms."
What I got out of David Millstone's original post was a cautionary note -
asking us as dance leaders (organizers, callers, dancers) to be conscious of
the perils of rareifying or stultifying our social dance traditions (making
them so complex/exclusive or proscriptive/rigid that they lose their capacity
to live on into the future in good health.) So, I got out of it an exhortation
to consider sustainability, but I also got a reminder that we are connected
inextricably to history - this isn't some brand new movement. It's got deep,
strong roots. And it's not a dead form. It's got branches. And quite
thankfully, it's got richness of variety. There's something for everyone,
thanks to the variety of visions of the organizers who make these dances
happen. But at the core it's about participatory social dance. And I say, the
more people who join us in participatory social dance, the better. (Even if
you don't want to think about dance as positive social change...)
Dance on,
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
