Greg, I would agree with your idea that the leading/following comes from more experienced dancers leading the newcomers, but I think that's tangential to the discussion about what we call the roles. I don't believe anyone's uniformly suggesting there's no "leading / following" in general, though, yes, I realize simply stating, "Oh, there's no leading or following in contra" is ambiguous and, technically speaking, you're correct. But I think that's a matter of semantics; people saying that are speaking in the context of roles between partners, and I don't think they're broadening it to contra in general. (Though, it is an interesting thought to me to consider how lead/follow is more of a community, whole-line-of-people thing rather than a role thing. It probably has something to do with how I got hooked into contra in the first place.)
In dance, Ron On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Greg McKenzie <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Contra dance is not waltz, foxtrot, swing, or tango. It also does not have > "leader" and "follower" roles. But it most certainly does have leads and > follows, lots of them. > > This is an example of how the framings from couple dancing can be > problematic when discussing called community dancing, and contras in > particular. The couple dances mentioned above use a very restricted > meaning for their own purposes. In the English language "lead" and > "follow" have much broader meanings. Schools of fish, flocks of birds, > herds of deer, and groupings of many social insects all organize themselves > with individuals "leading" and "following" each other. > > This is an important concept...particularly in social dance. To suggest > that people do not lead or follow in contra dance is to block any > discussion of how this remarkable dance form *works*. The core idea of > "sweeping newcomers into the dance" is predicated on the assumption that > the regulars are leading newcomers through the figures. > > I hope that those of you who suggest contras are not a "lead/follow" dance > form will please "follow" my "lead" in this matter and allow us to use the > common English meaning of the word to discuss a core concept that--I would > argue--is more central to contras than it is to Tango or other partner > dances. > > This misunderstanding could have great impacts on this dance form. It > appears that many contra dance callers have accepted the notion that > "contras are not a lead/follow dance form" and the result is that they > insist on teaching from the mike when the regulars could quickly lead the > newcomers through the figures. > > This is an unfortunate situation in the contra dance movement. We need to > recognize that it is the ability of the regulars to lead the newcomers that > makes this dance form so accessible. > > I know that this does not match the restricted way you learned to use these > words. But please allow us to use common English to discuss this core > concept in contra dance. > > Just a thought. > > - Greg McKenzie > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
