[Callers] Gypsy Synopsis

[Luke Donforth via Callers]

Hello all,

I had the pleasure of calling last night, to a mostly experienced crowd of
dancers (although I didn't recognize everyone in their costumes).

The third dance of the evening was the first one with a gypsy; and I took
30 seconds to explain I was deliberately replacing the word gypsy with gyre
because it was seen as a pejorative term by some people. I got some nods,
and one person clapped. No one seemed thrown off, or flummoxed in the dance
by the new word.

During the break one person (not the clapper), a long time dancer who had
never complained to me about the word gypsy; came up to me and thanked me
for using a different term and said that as a person with Romani heritage
the word had always bothered her.

I asked several people directly at the end of the evening what their
impression was; and the responses ranged from neutral to positive over the
shift.

So from my own limited sample size, there are folks out there bothered by
it even if they've never raised the issue. When given an opportunity, no
one complained about the new term.

Gyre may not be what I settle on as a replacement; and I leave it to others
to decide what and how they want to call. But for me, replacing gypsy seems
like a small positive step.

Happy dancing,

-- 
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth at gmail.com <Luke.Donev at gmail.com>
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