I want to be clear that when I suggest other dance venues, I have never suggested that dancers stop attending a series. My suggestion of other (additional) venues is so that the dancer finds a user friendly place to hone his/her skills. Like Don, I believe that our communities should be inclusive. Sorry for any misunderstanding. Rich Stafford, CT
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 5:34 PM, Don Veino via Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 1:26 PM, Mark Hillegonds via Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Would you ever (or have you ever) asked someone not to return based on >> their inability to dance? >> > > No. If we want to consider ourselves open and welcoming then, IMO, I > believe we need to model that. There are venues that have a different > mission and objective (the limited set of "experienced" dances) where this > might be appropriate but for a general dance I'm uncomfortable with the > idea of sending someone away because they struggle to perform as others > might expect. > > In the dance series I help run we have several folks with challenges whom > dance with us regularly. These include blindness, some memory impairment, > perceptual/developmental issues, physical impairment and just plain slowing > down. They are all welcome, even though that may cause others to have to > adjust - and that's just what we do. Callers adjust their material and > timing/calls. Dancers find ways collaboratively to surpass the challenges > presented. > > We strive to keep the hall well mixed, or the dancers will naturally > segment themselves such that the difficulties multiply rather than get > mitigated. A lot of that has to do with material selection - fidgety > fast-action dances will not encourage the mixing. Well constructed dances > with great flow (and some space for flourishes/recovery) will. We also have > generous experienced dancers who help in partnering. > > Is it easy to continue this way? Maybe not. It may cost us attendance. > There are times I (and others) get frustrated. But then I take a deep > breath and move on from the temporary issue knowing the bigger goal. I feel > you need to set a view of what you want the culture of your series to be > and act in accord. My dance strives to be a real community where we dance > and engage *with* people and not just dance *next* to them. > > Of course there's a difference between lesser capability and inappropriate > behavior. We don't tolerate the latter but fortunately we've had few issues > in that regard. > > -Don > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > >
