Hi Jon,
I really appreciate you clarifying your email's intent and which parts were
facetious and which weren't!
Best,
Julian
On Tue, Feb 14, 2023, 10:32 AM Jon Greene via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi Maia,
>
> The part of my post referencing role names was meant to be ironic ("when
> men were men ...") and was triggered by Robert's post about some future
> nostalgia. I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone else. I have no problem
> with any of the gender free names. Nor do I have a problem with "right
> shoulder round" apart from it being a mouthful and that callers no longer
> emphasize eye contact. But that's fine. I get that not everyone is
> comfortable with making eye contact with everyone else. Those who want to,
> do. Neither of these changes has in any way detracted from my dance
> experience.
>
> But the Covid part was not ironic. I definitely miss not being able to
> simply go to a dance without restrictions. And I miss seeing people's
> faces. But at least requirements like pre-registration, testing and mask
> wearing impose reasonable requirements on all dancers, even though I
> personally have chosen not to go to a dance that requires masking. But I
> believe that vaccination requirements are out and out exclusionary and that
> the data is at best mixed as to whether asymptomatic unvaccinated or
> partially vaccinated dancers pose any greater risk of transmitting Covid
> than asymptomatic fully vaccinated and boosted dancers, especially as the
> virus continues to mutate. Requiring that a person puts a synthesized
> chemical into their body is not equivalent to requiring that they wear a
> mask. And that's why virtually all vaccination mandates have been dropped,
> even by organizations like the Metropolitan Opera that caters to older,
> more vulnerable populations. It's ironic that this thread is all about
> making dances as inclusive as possible while some of the largest dances in
> New England exclude over 80% of the population (those who have not gotten
> the bivalent booster). It doesn't much matter what the role names are when
> you're not allowed to go to a dance in the first place.
>
> - Jon
>
> On Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 9:47 PM Maia McCormick via Contra Callers <
> contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> Happier days for some, but a lot of us, those "haylcon days" were really
>> not all that. Transgender people and gays and lesbians having to hide who
>> they were, or not able to dance with (let alone marry) their partners for
>> fear of retaliation, or having to go to their own separate dances to feel
>> safe and accepted; women with no recourse if they were touched
>> inappropriately or made to feel unsafe; and more that I don't have a gut
>> sense for, not being part of those groups. For myself, I much prefer the
>> current time.
>>
>> I'm sure it must feel jarring to experience this sort of contention and
>> discomfort, but I promise this is only a fraction of what minorities and
>> vulnerable groups have experienced in the dance scene over the years. I
>> hope that folks who have mostly coasted through a dance world built for
>> them are willing to endure a little proximal discomfort and change for the
>> sake of the people only just finding safety and community here.
>>
>> I know email and especially large group discussions are a pretty lousy
>> way to have discussions and convey nuance; if Jon or anyone else yearning
>> for these "simpler times" is interested in having a one-on-one conversation
>> about this, drop me a line off-list.
>>
>> Take care,
>> Maia
>> --
>> Maia McCormick (she/her)
>> 917.279.8194
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Feb 11, 2023 at 5:37 PM Jon Greene via Contra Callers <
>> contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Oh those halcyon days when gents were men, ladies were women, birds were
>>> birds, gypsies melted down, nobody cared how many jabs you had and you
>>> never had to guess whether someone was smiling or frowning at you.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Feb 10, 2023, at 9:23 PM, ROBERT FABINSKI via Contra Callers <
>>> contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> I look forward to a day in the future when the "quaintness" of the
>>> gendered terms will be used as a quirky theme for a dance evening, and
>>> people will think it's so old fashioned that no one will take offense;
>>> gendered terms will just be "the way it was a long time ago" and not the
>>> contentious topic it has been for the last few years.
>>>
>>> If that ever happens, the "Push Pa, Pull Ma" type dances with original
>>> will be pure gold!
>>>
>>> bob...@aol.com
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 3:03 PM, Rich Sbardella via Contra Callers
>>> <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
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