On Tue, Sep 06, 2016, Maia McCormick via Callers wrote:
>
> Though Tavi, I wonder, would your proposal here be equally as effective if
> we called more gents' right-hand chains? Even as an experienced dancer I
> find the left-hand chain counterintuitive, and yes it would be second
> nature if we
Andrea said:
> but address gender issues where they originate, in the expectation that
men dance left, women right.
I agree wholeheartedly that we should be unraveling "the expectation that
men dance left, women right"--but many of the callers on this list have
been trying to do just this for a
Hi Tavi et al,
I have to challenge you on your history. As a lover of chestnuts, in
which the vast majority of courtesy turns are same gender as the dances are
proper, and a one time historical dancer, I find your conception of the history
of courtesy turn flawed. In the 18th and 19th
Tavi,
Thanks for opening discussion on this topic.
I'd like to propose that we call the move what it is: "chain", and we stop
calling left-hand chains as "gents chains" and right-hand chains as "ladies
chains" for two important reasons:
1. No other common move in contra has the role in the
Sigh. Why is "join right with right in front, left hands behind the gent's
back, gents walk forward and ladies back up" way more difficult than "join
left with left in front, right hands behind the lady's back, ladies walk
forward and gents back up"? It's not, but
A numerical argument:
Say in
On Sat, Sep 03, 2016, tavi merrill via Callers wrote:
>
> Despite the hours we spend workshopping the ladies' chain, we spend
> virtually no time collectively addressing how to teach gents' (left-handed)
> chains. As a consequence, male dancers miss out on opportunities to twirl;
> understanding
Hi Tavi,
I do teach the twirls in a Ladies' Chain, occasionally at a regular
dance, but more often in style and technique workshops at festivals.
If anyone wants some pointers on how to teach good twirl technique
then please see my article at
Per Richard's excellent point about separating the courtesy turn from the
chain, an approach i too use, i want to address the related questions of
- lack of attention to chains beyond the beginner level, resulting in
- bad/injurious flourishing, partly due to
- gendered dynamics in the standard
