I remember how it was when I was starting to dance. It was tremendous information overload. So much to remember and perform, seemingly all at once.
\Bob > On Jul 8, 2019, at 18:30, jim saxe via Callers > <[email protected]> wrote: > > On May 18, 2019, at 11:28 AM, Rich Dempsey via Callers > <[email protected]> wrote, regarding flat-hand allemanders: > >> ... I still don't understand what those people are thinking. > > The question of "what those people are thinking" often comes to my mind in > relation to dance style points in general. A caller (whether myself or > someone else) describes something in terms that seem crystal clear; the thing > they are suggesting is something simple (e.g., "straight wrist, bent > fingers", as contrasted to, say, a complicated choreographic pattern or a > long footwork sequence in 11/8 time); perhaps they even do a demonstration > and specifically call dancers' attention to the details they mean to > demonstrate ("Notice how my fingers ..."); and yet, once the music starts, a > large number of dancers do something different from what the caller > suggested. What on earth are all those people thinking? > > When a caller's attempt to put something across to a group of dancers isn't > very successful, it seems to me that figuring out *why* can be an important > first step toward coming up with a better approach to teaching that thing in > the future--or toward having better judgment in the future about whether or > not to attempt to teach that particular thing (whether it's a styling > nuance, an unfamiliar figure, a complete dance sequence, or whatever) in any > particular situation. > > So I'd like to get your thoughts about figuring out what's going on when a > caller's attempt to teach a style point fall flat. What sorts of things do > you think the nonconforming dancers might be thinking? How do you try to > judge what the most significant issues are in any particular case, so that > you can decide what to do differently next time? (I'm pretty sure it > wouldn't be productive to go around cornering different dancers and saying, > "Hey, <name>, I noticed that in that dance where I made a big point of > teaching people to do such-and-such, you kept doing so-and-so. What's up with > that?") Can you offer any specific stories about how you diagnosed a > difficulty in putting across a particular style point (whether about > allemandes or anything else) and how you improved your presentation later? > > For anyone who feels like wading through more of my musings, below are some > possible reasons I've thought of that dancers might not follow a caller's > styling advice. Some of them may overlap or interact with others, and > perhaps some of you can think of other important possibilities that I've > omitted. I don't have any great ideas to offer about how to judge which of > the possibilities listed below apply in any particular situation. I welcome > your comments. > > --Jim > > 1. *Intentional rebellion*: Some dancers may get the vibe that "the caller > is criticizing us" or "the caller thinks (s)he knows our idea of fun better > than we do." They may find this presumption on the part of the caller > extremely off-putting and may decide to show the pompous twit who's boss by > visibly disobeying. [While it may be tempting to assume intentional > rebellion as the explanation when you see dancers apparently making no effort > to follow a very clearly explained suggestion from the caller, I think that > such instances of outright contrariness are actually quite rare.] > > 2. *Informed dissent*: The dancers in question really, truly understand the > styling the caller is recommending and have really, truly given it a fair > try--perhaps more than once, and with a variety of different partners and/or > neighbors at one or more previous dance events--but have concluded that they > personally prefer a different styling from what the caller is suggesting. > Furthermore, they have judged, after due consideration, that they will not > impose awkwardness or discomfort on other dancers by using their own > preferred styling. [I certainly must grant respect to the preferences of > dancers in this category--and most especially so when they have some frailty > or injury that would make it painful to dance in the style recommended by the > caller. However, there are times when informed dissent strikes me as an > unlikely explanation for dancer behavior. In particular, it seems unlikely > to me that most of the dancers who allemande with flat hands, straight > fingers, and sharply be nt > wrists can really have given a fair try to the styling with gently curled > fingers and straight wrists and found it wanting. Of course I haven't lived > in all those people's bodies.] > > 3. *Genuine ambiguity*: The caller's words may have been ambiguous, and some > dancers may have followed an interpretation that never occurred to the caller > but that is just as plausible as the one that the caller intended. [This > situation can occur not only for style suggestions, but also in cases > involving the basic choreography of a dance. To give just one of many, many > possible examples, a caller who identifies the role of "first corner" in > Contra Corners as "the person to the right of your partner" may think the > meaning is obvious, but a new dancer could quite plausibly interpret "the > person to the right of your partner" to mean "the person adjacent to your > partner's right shoulder".] > > 4. *Weak attention, but with good intention*: Some dancers might genuinely > believe that they are being completely cooperative with the caller when in > fact they have not paid careful attention to hearing and interpreting the > caller's words. For example, when some experienced dancers hear a caller > start to go into details of styling for some figure, they might assume that > the caller is addressing only newer dancers and that they themselves already > know how to do whatever it is. So they may turn their attention to modeling > (their idea of) standard styling with the new dancers around them and > meanwhile not fully attend to the actual words coming over the P.A. system. > [It's easy to dismiss such dancers with expressions like "smug" or > "overconfident" or "dancers who imagine themselves to be 'experienced'", but > I think we humans have a natural tendency to be only as attentive as we > imagine circumstances to warrant. And our idea of how much attentiveness a > situation warrants may be ba se > d more on habit than on careful intellectual consideration. Numerous street > crossings in London are painted with the words "LOOK RIGHT" just off the curb > (or "LOOK LEFT" just off center islands of divided streets) as shown in these > photos: > > > https://image1.masterfile.com/getImage/600-08639271em-look-right-sign-at-crosswalk-and-speeding-double-decker-bus.jpg > https://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyg/4523412014 > http://www.packingmysuitcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/lookleft.jpg > > That's for the benefit of tourists who genuinely imagine that we're in the > habit of looking both ways before crossing a street, when our actual habit > may be to look in the direction that we normally expect traffic to come from > and then to take a few steps into the street before we look the other way. > If people can be less than hyper-vigilant in situations where it can > literally be a matter of life and death, it's hardly surprising that we can > tune out a little when we imagine that a dance caller is about to go over > familiar ground. By the way, notice the arrows in the photos cited above. > Perhaps those are primarily for the benefit of non-English-speaking tourists, > but I also think they're a useful addition to the words even for literate > native speakers of English.] > > 5. *Verbal/spatial processing issues*: Some dancers may find it more > difficult than others to make sense of a caller's verbal description of a > spatial situation. [As an example, a pair of dancers might have their hands > in an allemande hold where the tips of each dancer's fingers are near the > other dancer's index finger, approximately as shown in the supposed depiction > of arm wrestling at > > > http://lowres.cartoonstock.com/property-supply_and_demand-demand-arm_wrestling-real_estate-industrial-bmm0122_low.jpg > > and when the caller says something about each dancer curving their fingers > around the other dancer's hand "between the base of the thumb and the wrist", > they may simply not make sense of what that could mean. Similarly, to give > an example involving basic choreography rather than styling, when a caller > talks about one person in a courtesy turn backing up while the other goes > forward, the person who is told to "back up" may be unable to imagine what > that could mean except to back completely away from the other dancer. And if > the caller tries to clarify by talking about a "common axis of rotation" or > some such thing, it might be like expecting someone who has never seen the > inside of a jet engine, or the outside of kangaroo, to make a recognizable > drawing of one based on a verbal description.] > > 6. *Mental overload and reversion to habit*: Some dancers may need to devote > so much of their attention to the basic choreography of the dance that they > don't have any left over for details of styling, which therefore revert to > the habitual. [I've sometimes danced with new dancer partners who have had a > tendency to press their thumb against the back of my hand, for example during > circles. When an opportunity presents--say, while we're waiting out at the > top or the bottom of the set--I might tell/show them about how pressing with > the thumb is unnecessary, and a bit painful. The result is sometimes that > they keep the thumb out of play for a round or two of the dance but soon go > back to pressing it against the back of my hand. I presume that their > attention is all taken up dealing with things like what to do next and who to > do it with and the unfamiliarity of things being turned around 180 degrees > now that we've come back in after being out at the end, and the thing about > what (n ot > ) to do with their thumbs is what ends of getting dropped.] > > 7. *Acoustic issues*: Perhaps the caller chose excellent words to explain a > particular style point but some combination of acoustic issues rendered the > callers words unintelligible to some of the dancers. [Issues could include > poor room acoustics, poor adjustment of the P.A. system, noise from fans > and/or from conversations on the sidelines, poor enunciation, or poor mic > technique. There could also be dancers who have various degrees of hearing > deficits. Acoustic difficulties can interact with issuers attention (item 4 > above) and verbal processing (item 5). One source of distracting noise can > be other dancers who begin talking among themselves as soon as they detect > that the caller has stopped teaching the essentials of the dance sequence and > begun to prattle about styling.] > > 8. *Unseen demo*: During a demonstration, people might have crowded around > so that only the nearest ones had ha clear view. > > 9-?. *???*: What possibilities have I missed? > > ============ (end) ============ > > > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: [email protected] > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ _______________________________________________ List Name: Callers mailing list List Address: [email protected] Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
