Yes, I’ve been trying to replace the G word with spiral and dancers find it confusing and are not happy about it. Others have tried other words and as far as I can tell the reception is the same. Martha
> On Jan 27, 2017, at 12:08 AM, Jim Hemphill via Callers > <[email protected]> wrote: > > You can teach and call contra dances positionally without hurting anyones > feelings. We are all human beings, I find it objectionable to be referred to > as some form of rock or bird or whatever. > > The role a dancer chooses is really defined by which side of their > partnership they choose to start the dance or end a swing on. Working from > that basis just about any contra move can be taught or called without > reference to gender. > > On Thu, Jan 26, 2017 at 5:01 PM, via Callers <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > I have been calling at many venues over the years and using the role terms > "gents" and "ladies" has NOT been a problem. When teaching, I explain these > DO NOT refer to gender but rather to the role you are dancing. Beginners > seem to understand and not have any problem. The experienced dancers are > very helpful as well. I agree with Donna in the aspect of teaching a new > vocabulary that goes with a movement with new words that don't have any > relationship to the moves is confusing enough to me, who understands the > process. Throw all this at new dancers who move from venue to venue where > the terms change, makes my head hurt as well. There is an old saying "If it > ain't broke, don't fix it!" Maybe we should all rethink this. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Donna Hunt via Callers <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > To: contraron <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>; babsgroh > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > Cc: callers <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > Sent: Thu, Jan 26, 2017 12:37 pm > Subject: Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies" > > I'm sad to hear that so many groups are using different role terms and such a > variety to boot. Not only do our beginners have to learn a brand new > vocabulary (sometimes in a foreign language) and then remember the movement > to go with those new words, but now they have to deal with remembering a role > that there's no basis for, and that role term changes at different dance > locations. Augh my head hurts just thinking about it. > > Donna > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ron Blechner via Callers <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > To: Barbara Groh <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > Cc: callers <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > Sent: Thu, Jan 26, 2017 3:37 am > Subject: Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies" > > Let's please not presume to speak for the feelings of marginalized groups? > > Not thinking something is a problem because it doesn't affect you personally > is super privileged. > > Ron Blechner > > On Jan 25, 2017 1:36 PM, "Barbara Groh via Callers" > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > wrote: > Michael, if this view makes you a Luddite, sign me up as a member of the > Luddite Club. I think it's realistic to say that the members of all the > contra, English, and Square Dance groups will NEVER all agree on which > alternative terms to use for ladies and gents, so all these new terms being > bounced around will only cause confusion (and some eye-rolling). > > You've already made a solid argument for the Luddite position, so I won't say > anything more....except this: Please, let's not start an argument over > whether it's pejorative to use the term Luddite! > > Barbara Groh > > On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 4:55 PM, Michael Barraclough via Callers > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > wrote: > I guess that I am a Luddite. Here's how I see it. > > Somewhere between 80-90% of the population is 'straight'. Surely, we > want these people as well to come to our dances. It can be difficult enough > to get past the dance lingo without adding the complexity of renaming labels > for people that almost everyone already understands. To me, what really > matters is that we run dances where everyone accepts everyone else's > sexuality; where individual dancers can feel free to dance either role; where > everyone is welcome. I am not convinced that 'non-straight' individuals are > put off by the historical labels that we use, rather the lack of the 3 > conditions that I have just outlined. > > Census data show the U.S. adult population is about 239m. Searching the > web I can find around 300 contra dances, 150 English Country Dances and > 1000 MWSD clubs. My generous guess is that less than 100,000 people go > to these dances, less than 50,000 if we ignore MWSD. Did you know that over > 700,000 people in the U.S. own a ferret? That means there are 7x as many > people in the USA who own a ferret compared to the number of people who go to > our dances! > > Let's put less rather than more barriers in the way of getting those > who don't dance with us (that's 99.6% of the population) to join us. > > Michael Barraclough > www.michaelbarraclough.com <http://www.michaelbarraclough.com/> > > > > On Tue, 2017-01-24 at 16:19 -0500, Ron Blechner via Callers wrote: > > I know I'd appreciate it if people had new suggestions, they'd review > > existing considerations for what makes terms usable. Things like 1:2 > > syllable ratio, distinct vowel sounds - these disqualify a lot of > > terms as being unfeasible for the same reason "bare arms / arm bands" > > as terms are not preferable. The PDF spreadsheet that Dugan linked is > > the result of my study with teamwork and sourcing from many dancers. > > > > Best, > > Ron Blechner > > > > > > On Jan 20, 2017 7:28 PM, "Keith Tuxhorn via Callers" <[email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > haredweight.net <http://haredweight.net/>> wrote: > > > This conversation exhausts me, even though I know and accept it's > > > all part of the folk process. > > > > > > So I will make my one contribution... two terms I thought of a > > > couple weeks ago. > > > > > > Mun and Wem. > > > > > > They sound enough like the current terms that the brains of both > > > callers and dancers can make an easy transition. They're made-up > > > words, so they have no gender. And they're short. And easy to say. > > > > > > Mun and Wem. > > > > > > Okay, I've done my bit. > > > > > > Keith Tuxhorn > > > Springfield IL > > > > > > On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 4:04 PM, Dugan Murphy via Callers <callers@ > > > lists.sharedweight.net <http://lists.sharedweight.net/>> wrote: > > > > Since it was an article about my dance series that started this > > > > conversation about role terms, I'll offer that the primary reason > > > > we chose "jets" and "rubies" as gender-free terms is so that > > > > regular contra dancers from other places can come in and dance > > > > without needing anything to be explained to them since the terms > > > > are pretty similar to "gents" and "ladies." > > > > > > > > We also took a look at this graphic of Ron Blechner's analysis of > > > > gender-free role terms people have been talking about: http://amh > > > > <http://amh/> > > > > erstcontra.org/ContraDanceRoleTerms.pdf > > > > <http://erstcontra.org/ContraDanceRoleTerms.pdf> > > > > > > > > We may not use "jets" and "rubies" forever, but we figured we'd > > > > give it a try. There didn't seem to be any reasons not to try > > > > and there are certainly plenty of reasons to try. > > > > > > > > Most men at our dance dance as jets and most women dance as > > > > rubies, but for the few who dance opposite, switch around, or > > > > whose gender expression doesn't fit the man/woman binary, I'd > > > > like to think that formally separating dance roles from gender is > > > > validating in a meaningful way. > > > > > > > > Dugan Murphy > > > > Portland, Maine > > > > dugan at duganmurphy.com <http://duganmurphy.com/> > > > > > > > > www.DuganMurphy.com <http://www.duganmurphy.com/> > > > > www.PortlandIntownContraDance.com > > > > <http://www.portlandintowncontradance.com/> > > > > www.NufSed.consulting <http://www.nufsed.consulting/> > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Callers mailing list > > > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.n > > > > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.n> > > > > et > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Callers mailing list > > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
