On 1/5/2013 5:48 AM, Donald Perley wrote:
Different dancers will have different issues. One elderly dancer I
encounter regularly seems to be able to handle all the normal
maneuvers except she consistently takes 9 or 10 beats to get once
around in a swing.
Some adaptation can come from education (that all dancers should get).
Allemande 1 1/2 can turn in to 1/2. Petronella twirl can be just a
shift. If you fall behind, you WON'T be able to catch up, so just get
to where you need to be for the next thing.
These are good ideas and I have used them in my dance class for
seniors. Swings can be tricky since there is both the need for a
certain amount of speed to get around at least once in the allotted time
and the problem with dizziness that even a little turning can cause.
Sometimes the dancers may need to skip the swing, if they have trouble
getting around even once and just prepare for the next figure. However,
most of my participants can get around at least once, so a slow walking
swing works OK. Since many swings, especially with neighbors, end up
with the dancers trading places turning half-way and then opening up to
face the appropriate direction could work in some circumstances.
One thing I have run into with a few dancers is problems with
orientation. There was one dancer in one of my classes who always
seemed to end up facing the wrong direction, no matter what figure came
before. I learned to say things like, "If your new neighbor (or
whomever) isn't right in front of you, they are probably right behind
you." This seemed to be helpful at least some of the time. Luckily
this wasn't an issue with most of the dancers and they were able to help
the ones who had some troubles.
Jonathan
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Jonathan Sivier
Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances
jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html
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Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: It depends on what dance you call!
