I dance regularly at three places in New England and the dancers at those venues fit the description of those kind, gentle and very relaxed Californian dancers. Rich
--- On Thu, 6/27/13, Tom Hinds <[email protected]> wrote: From: Tom Hinds <[email protected]> Subject: [Callers] integrating new dancers To: [email protected] List-Post: [email protected] Date: Thursday, June 27, 2013, 8:37 AM Greg, you've been writing about integrating new dancers by getting the experienced dancers to dance with them and even teach them the figures. For a long time I've thought that this was a bit weird- how could this ever work? Then my brain finally kicked in and I realized that we live in two very different worlds. Although it's been some time since I called in California, I remember that the dancers there were kind, gentle and very relaxed. They were quite a contrast to some of the dancers back east. Maybe your method works well because of the kinds of people who live in your area. Over the years I've seen some hostility and resentment towards new dancers in my small part of the world. In one dance community, the dancers were so hostile to the new dancers that someone started a separate dance series for the sole purpose of having a beginner friendly dance. And before the center line was abolished at Glen Echo, a very large percentage of experienced dancers had absolutely no interest in dancing with beginners. In my area we've always had a beginning lesson and the caller always teaches the figures. It's worked there for decades. It's the tradition. If it ain't broke why fix it? I'm thinking that to get the experienced dancers to teach the figures might be detrimental in some dance communities. This is a complicated issue and involves more than language. There's also understanding people and their values, beliefs etc. etc. I can't remember exactly what your background is but I'm very interested in learning more about language and it's use. Is there a good website or book that you could recommend? Tom _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list [email protected] http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
