Hi everyone again, Angela, Jeff thank you. I appreciate knowing the emotional attachment many had to the history of these calling terms. I had no clue. From where I was coming from, it was more of a logistical question for my calling aspirations, trying to figure out what is easiest for the dancers to understand. I have had personal experience with it being difficult to remember if I was a Band or Bare, it seems arbitrary and now I see that this is intentional. It is good to hear some of the rationale and what others have experienced.
Best, Cara Sent to you using thumbs. > On Jan 18, 2017, at 18:59, Jeff Kaufman <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Cara! > > There is definitely a history! Many dancers don't like lead/follow as terms > because they either don't think contra has a lead/follow dynamic or they > don't want to encourage lead/follow dancing. > > Some dance series, primarily ones with younger dancers, do use those terms, > but there are enough dancers opposed to them that I don't see them as a > potential community-wide replacement the way rubies/jets could be. > > Jeff > >> On Jan 18, 2017 7:53 PM, "Cara Sawyer via Callers" >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hello all, >> I am quite new to the list and am only now embarking on learning to call, >> but I have to ask a question I have had for awhile as a dancer that I now >> need to understand as a caller: is there something wrong with Lead and >> Follow? >> >> When I first encountered the creative alternatives in contra, I wasn't sure >> what to think. I came to contra from a swing background and that is what is >> used in workshops (and sort or in general now), since many people switch in >> that dance style as well. >> >> Besides being an obvious description for the dancer role, it had the same >> 1/2 syllables rhythm as Gent/Lady. And it seems to me to have the advantage >> of being intuitively linked to how the dancer is thinking about >> his/her/their role. >> >> Just curious if there is a history, I'm sure I am not the first person to >> think of this. >> >> Thanks! >> Cara >> >> Sent to you using thumbs. >> >>> On Jan 18, 2017, at 10:40, Angela DeCarlis via Callers >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> When I called at PICD (the Portland ME dance), I really enjoyed using Jets >>> and Rubies. One silly thing I enjoyed any the terms during the beginners' >>> lesson was coaching palm direction based on the terms: "Jets' palms face >>> up, towards the sky; Rubies' palms face down, towards the ground." >>> >>> And yes, I realize that *both* are gemstones and that some feel strongly >>> that we should steer away from the "airplane" association, but it did make >>> for easy teaching. >>> >>> Jets and Rubies is also more forgiving for callers new to gender-neutral >>> language, since the terms are so linguistically comparable to Gents and >>> Ladies. >>> >>> That all said, I also like Larks and Ravens fine. >>> >>> Happy calling, everyone! >>> >>> Angela >>> >>>> On Jan 18, 2017 11:30 AM, "Aahz via Callers" >>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Not that Portland, the other Portland. ;-) >>>> >>>> http://bangordailynews.com/2017/01/09/news/portland/contra-dancing-takes-a-gender-neutral-spin-in-portland/ >>>> >>>> I personally would prefer to settle on "larks" and "ravens" because that >>>> seems to have more traction -- but it doesn't matter as long as we get >>>> away from "bands" and "bares". >>>> -- >>>> Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 >>>> http://rule6.info/ >>>> <*> <*> <*> >>>> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> 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 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Callers mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net >>
