[Callers] Gypsy Wrap-Up

[Patricia Campbell via Callers]

Wonderful!

Beautifully written letter and a positive response.


Patricia


Patricia Campbell, Dance Caller

http://www.countrydancecaller.com

*"Celebrating Community through Traditional Dance and Music"*

"bcc:" for privacy <http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/bcc-for-privacy.html> -
please observe these guidelines when including me in your group emails





On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 6:31 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I finally composed a response to the original complainant. Here it is,
> followed by an almost instant reply from him (yes, it is a male):
>
> Hello Mr.__________,
>
> Thank you for letting us know about your experience at our dance. I am
> glad our community was so welcoming and friendly to you. I hope you
> remember that in the future.
>
> As for the term "gypsy," it has been used in contra dancing for decades,
> and is not my invention. I am sorry you were offended by my use and
> description of it. It is my habit to let dancers know the name and author
> of each dance I call, and "gypsy" is in the title of that dance. I regret
> my description of the move as "flirty." I thank you for reminding me that
> some people are uncomfortable with that, and I will no longer suggest it.
> As for the name of the move itself, you are correct in that it has never
> been meant as a pejorative. I cannot, however, change it on my own. Contra
> is a folk dance and the folk process takes time. There is no governing body
> in charge of naming the terms used in contra dancing. When someone invents
> a new move they give it a name and it gradually works its way into the
> vernacular.
>
> I can assure you that callers nationwide are discussing this and other
> terms we use which we are learning are offensive to others. We are
> endeavoring to change what we can, but you might imagine that coming to a
> consensus between many hundreds of callers is neither swift nor sure. This
> is especially true, given the lack of a governing body.
>
> For my part, I have decided to remove the term "gypsy" from my calling and
> am searching for a substitute. It is not in my power to rename dances. At
> Emerald City Contra Dance we book approximately 25 different callers every
> year, from across the United States and beyond. I am just one. Please
> understand that if you return to our dance you may hear that term used
> again, until such time as awareness has spread as far and wide as the
> callers themselves.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Amy Wimmer
> Caller and ECCD Organizer
>
> His response:
>
> Thank you for your very thoughtful and informative response. I feel much
> better about continuing to attend, hearing that there is an awareness of
> this issue and conversations happening about it.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/callers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20151102/ff41144d/attachment.htm>