Hear, hear, Eric! My sentiments exactly. And for a slightly different perspective: I danced a shadow dance at Glen Echo some years back, and after swinging my shadow a few times, we both suddenly realized we knew each other from way back (my how we change)! Every swing was an opportunity to catch up a bit more and a bit more as we continued the dance - it was wonderful! So good things can happen, too.
Martha On Sep 9, 2015, at 6:39 AM, Eric Black via Callers wrote: > Wow. ISTM [It Seems To Me] that this is far more responsibility for > controlling social interpersonal interactions than the programmer and/or > caller at the mic should have to worry about, even though we do worry about > such things. > > Sorry I don’t have opportunity to participate on this email list more often. > That Pesky Day Job [PDJ] and all… > > Short response: Don’t point out shadow partner interaction; the dancers need > to be adult about it, no one listens to the Caller anyway, let alone anything > said while they’re still lining up. > > Longer response: > > I really REALLY don’t think that there should be any announcement calling > attention to the fact that the next dance has interaction with someone other > than your chosen partner. What, are we supposed to say “This is a duple > improper single progression with a shadow who is the same active or inactive > role one place below [or above] where you line up”? > > Or should we say “Thank this partner, and ask another partner for the next > dance. As you line up, if there is someone at the dance here tonight with > whom you don’t want to dance, please make sure that they are in a different > longways set than you, or that if they are in the same long set as you that > they are not in an adjacent hands-four from you either up or down as you line > up for the dance.” > > Are we dance choreographers supposed to create dance sequences that don’t > have any “serious” interaction with the shadow partner, just in case the > dancers happen to line up such that someone on the floor has an “Ex” as a > shadow partner? Or someone who hasn’t showered recently enough? > > We already have the problem of MUC rejection of any dance that doesn’t > include both partner swing and neighbor swing; this seems to be an injection > of a problem of a potential swing with a neighbor some dancers might not want > to swing with, yet such swings are still required. > > I’m confused… > > <SoapBox> > > Yes, I understand the many reasons for not having serious shadow > interactions, but I am proud that every local dance community where I’ve been > a member, from NH/Boston to CA/SF, has understood that interpersonal > conflicts will happen, and yet social interactions are required. They > understand how to make everyone work together. Family schisms are inevitable. > Personal hygiene issues may arise. > > I hope that everyone eventually can live the philosophy on Jeremiah’s > T-shirt: “Dance With Who’s Comin’ Atcha!" > > Even long-time couples break up. It’s painful to the people involved and > also to everyone surrounding. We’re all Community here. Our Community is > larger and more long-lived than the simple “nuclear family” of two parents > and 2.3 children. That means we get to “enjoy” many various kinds of family > ties, both genetic and non-genetic. The Community connection carries us all > through this specific break-up episode. The Dance entertains us and it heals > us and it strengthens The Community. > > I say this with a VERY PERSONAL involvement in this community support. > > Yes, we DO see what’s going on. Yes, we DO love both of you, even if you’ve > split apart, and even if there is a court restraining order about you both > showing up at our dance on the same night (that’s a different discussion, and > yes, it does happen). > > If there’s a personal hygiene problem, sometimes it simply can not be helped. > I myself could change shirts whenever the band changes tunes and it still > would not be often enough. In such a case, please enjoy fresh pheromones; > fresh sweat can be enjoyable sweat. If it’s stale sweat, then by all means > tell the person that a shower with soap would make him/her a more enjoyable > dance partner. That’s a quiet face-to-face conversation. > > BUT please dance for several seconds, smile, and move on. > > All that aside, any swing can be changed to an allemande right once or twice > (to taste), or an elbow swing, or a do-si-do, or a gypsy (with varying > amounts of eye contact, again to taste). Experienced dancers, especially a > split dancer couple who encounter each other in line, will do whatever they > feel comfortable with. What a GREAT opportunity to swap roles with your > partner, given a little look-ahead! (“Oh! that’s my Ex ahead; let’s swap!” > or just take hands with the palm-up signal that you’re taking the “Gent” role > next time) Painless and fun. > > Never mind that experienced dancers often rewrite the dance to change a > non-swing dance move into a swing, even in the middle of a hey; it’s just as > easy to go the other direction, to reduce interaction. That’s what dancers > do. Just Be In The Right Place At The Right Time. > > We always say that a neighbor interaction is “just one time through the tune, > just 30 seconds”. Well, a shadow interaction is generally at most one > 8-count thing; 4 seconds repeated every once in a while as wonderful music > plays. Maybe double that for some dances, so then about 8 seconds out of > every half minute or so. > > It seems to me that we as social animals should be able to deal with that. > > Certainly we do this in our daily lives on the street/office/garage/whatever. > We can be civil and even develop the ability to enjoy a 10-second > interaction with an ex we encounter in a public event. > > One of the things I love about contra dance is that it gives us all an > opportunity to “be” the persona we live the rest of the time, or “be” someone > else during The Dance. We’re wearing a costume while we’re dancing, even if > it’s not obvious. Many of our dancers have an on-the-floor personality which > is quite different from the personality they exhibit the rest of the time > (such as while talking and enjoying refreshments at the break during the > evening dance). Certainly I wear a different persona on the dance floor than > when I am at the break, and I’m someone else if I’m calling, and someone else > if I’m the dance organizer. > > THEN there’s the issue of identifying which of the various people “near” you > as you line up might be your shadow/TrailBuddy. In a Becket dance it’s > likely to be your neighbor to the side in line, or could be next beyond them, > or the neighbor to the other side, or maybe the next beyond them. I TRULY > advise against spending too much effort in identifying the > “Corner/TrailBuddy” in advance, as the dancers are lined up. In a duple > improper, your shadow could be ahead, could be behind. It depends on the > choreography. And it changes if someone drops out, or if someone joins in > after the walkthrough. > > That’s not the place to spend your precious seconds at the mic as a caller. > Get them moving and listening to the music. > > </SoapBox> > > We already have the problem of MUC [Modern Urban Contra] rejection of any > dance that doesn’t include both partner swing and neighbor swing; this seems > to be an injection of a problem of a potential swing with a neighbor some > dancers might not want to swing with, yet such swings are still required. > > I’m confused... > > -Eric > > > On Sep 8, 2015, at 8:06 AM, Maia McCormick via Callers > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hey all, >> >> First, a disclaimer: Some people on this listserv thing shadow swings are >> problematic. Some don't see any issue with them. This is NOT the >> conversation I want to have in this thread; I ask that you respond to the >> question I'm asking and do not debate my premise--at least not in this >> particular thread. This should help keep this thread on track and hopefully >> reduce excess noise and go-nowhere discussions on this listserv. Thanks! >> >> Anyway, the actual question I wanted to ask (whew!)-- >> >> There do exist some really fabulous shadow-swing dances that I would love to >> be able to call, as long as I could do so without putting anyone in an >> uncomfortable position. Do folks have ideas for ways to mitigate the >> potential harms of shadow swing dances? I was considering, at the beginning >> of the dance, having dancers identify their shadow and mentioning, "this >> will be a shadow swing dance, so if you need to make any changes, do so now" >> (or something like that)--haven't gotten the wording down-pat, but the idea >> is giving dancers advance warning of a shadow swing so they can move >> (thereby changing their shadow) if they need to. Any thoughts on this >> method? Suggestions of others? >> >> Cheers. >> Maia >> _______________________________________________ >> Callers mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
