If I can add my two cents to the equation - if the worry that recent
developments in contra dancing are potential harbingers to the death of contra
and folk dancing in general, I just don't see it. As a matter of fact, given
the large number of young dancers I see at dances these days, I think
I am confused by this discussion. I believe Robert G summarized the focus
succinctly as
"The point is that modern western squares dancing took what some people think
was a wrong turn that tended to make their events socially exclusive, rather
than inclusive."
What I don't see is any evidence
David Millstone wrote:
>
> * The "basic figures" that one would meet in an evening was much
> smaller, so the learning curve wasn't as steep. ...
While there have been additions to what you might see at an evening,
there are also things that used to be common that are gone. This
decreases what
Dear friends and colleagues,
I sent along Don Coffey's comments in the hope that they might stimulate some
thoughtful discussion, and that it has. I was not trying to reopen the contras
vs. squares debate; similar groups have been ripped apart by strong rhetoric on
all sides of that
I think Bob is absolutely right about the point of the original post;
it's to point out supposed parallels between this community and the
square dance community of the 50s as a cautionary tale.
That said, I wholeheartedly disagree with the parallels Don Coffey's
trying to draw here. I just don't
Oh my!
My last post certainly generated some heated responses. I was admonished
for “name calling” (there was none, from anyone here). I was told I was
“intemperate,” and one person even said, off line, that my post was
“hateful.”
All of this because I questioned the common assertion that
Oh hooray! Divisive politics are my favorite! (Not) But somewhere in the SW
archives I've already pointed out what a waste of time it is to point fingers
and deride each other. So just a couple other things, starting with an example.
On David Chandler's note of openness to new
Greg, I think you misunderstood the tone and some of the substance of what Don
Coffey-- not Coffee-- said. I also think you made some erroneous assumptions about
where he's coming from.
He is not an ardent modern western square dancer, first of all. Yes, he's danced
MWSD but left after a
lists.sharedweight.net
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:08:29 -0700
> From: Greg McKenzie <greken...@gmail.com>
> To: millst...@valley.net, "Caller's discussion list"
><call...@sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Contra / MWSD parallels?
> Message-ID:
&g
As Program Chair and Board Member of NEFFA for the last 12 years, I
can attest to the fact that during this time, the NEFFA Board never
intentionally planned the Festival to conflict with NESRDC. NEFFA has
been held in April for decades, and our major reason for choosing the
weekend which
To: millst...@valley.net; Caller's discussion list
Subject: Re: [Callers] Contra / MWSD parallels?
David Millstone quoted Don Coffee as writing:
Modern contra dancing has become a mass "movement" with the energy of a
> greight train, but most of the young people who so love contra
Charles wrote:
> Greg, could we please cut the name-calling on “both sides”? Thanks.
>
"Name-calling?" Can you be specific? I am genuinely not sure what you are
referring to. (Answer me off-line if you prefer.)
- Greg
Greg, could we please cut the name-calling on “both sides”? Thanks.
I do both contra and MWSD (as well as several other similar forms). I'll
state bluntly that MWSD is highly inaccessible to most social dancers.
This is a lost cause, and MWSD will never recover from it. The forms,
while
David Millstone quoted Don Coffee as writing:
Modern contra dancing has become a mass "movement" with the energy of a
> greight train, but most of the young people who so love contras?and contras
> only-- have no idea it is but one component of a larger, very wonderful,
> tradition. This
On Mar 19, 2012, at 10:22 AM, David Millstone wrote:
> * And then there are the two whole separate worlds of "international" folk
> dancing and "AngloAmerican" folk dancing ... and why don't their two large
> populations even know each other? It's as if they were on different planets.
I'm
Don Coffey is a Kentucky musician and dance caller who started dancing some 40
years ago. He recently published in The American Dance Circle, the quarterly magazine
of the Lloyd Shaw Foundation, an article and a chart that attempts to organize
and show the relationships between different
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