On 4/18/2013 4:13 PM, Kalia Kliban wrote:
On 4/11/2013 5:18 AM, Richard Mckeever wrote:
I think we are making a bigger deal out of this than needs to be. You go to
any other type of dancing and you will have some difficulty finding 2 men
dancing together. It is not the social norm and so it makes people
uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with homophobia. I will admit - I prefer
opposite gender swings - Am I homophobic and just don't know it?
I worry most about new dancers - we try very hard to make them comfortable and
same gender swings don't help with that objective.
This sounds like something that deserves a few words at the beginners'
session. "Some folks like to switch roles as they're dancing, so you
may find yourself swinging another man, or another woman. No big deal.
Here's a symmetrical hold you can use if you're not sure how else to
swing. It'll help you enjoy _all_ your partners..."
If you can make it less of a surprise and thus defuse a little of the
awkwardness for someone who's never danced with another man/woman
before, seems like that might smooth out a bump or two.
Disagree!
IF the choreography of the dance brings together two "men's role" or two
"women's role" dancers in a swing, then a symmetrical swing is called
for, and that's great.
Suggesting a symmetrical swing based not on the roles but on the
perceived gender of the _dancers_ increases complication. (I could
see an argument for dropping the gendered swing completely - a
symmetrical swing would work with everybody, but it would definitely
change the flourish options. I can't see an argument based on reducing
confusion which implicitly suggests that instead of swinging everybody
dancing women's role the same way, you introduce the complication of
evaluating the gender of the dancer - who might be androgynous enough to
be difficult to judge, or who might be gender dysphoric enough to resent
being evaluated - and then switching to a symmetrical swing. What are
you supposed to do if a woman dancing a man's role and a man dancing a
woman's role come together? Reverse the polarity of the swing?)
I'm beating this to death, I fear, but I think it's gotta be:
- Dance the role in the swing that you're dancing (at the moment) in
the dance.
- If that doesn't work because it's two of the same role, then swing
symmetrically.
- Don't switch roles if you can't handle both sides of the swing.
-- Alan
