[Callers] tips for teaching dancing the "other" role?

[tavi merrill via Callers]

Regarding swing position: With good frame, differences between the roles in
giving weight are slight. But not all dancers are accustomed to good frame.

I find a mirrored ballroom hold (both dancers have right hand on the
other's shoulder blade, left hand on the other's shoulder) offers several
advantages:
       - In general, it's a good hold for dancers to know as it saves space
in crowded halls.
       - It facilitates spinning out from a swing, useful when dancers
encounter "string of swings" choreography
       - It allows both dancers to experience both sides of good frame
The one challenge is that dancers need to remember which side they are
ending the swing on, as it removes "pointer hands" from the equation.

This a bit of a tangent, but related to the chain: If we just called gents
chains (by either hand! the courtesy turn for a left-hand chain isn't
REALLY that complicated, folks) more often, role differences WRT chain
would be a moot issue, and both roles would be better equipped to
understand/offer/ask/decline flourishes. All for the effort of teaching one
move well, one move that's out there in good choreography waiting to be
used.

Susan, I'm assuming this workshop is at a gender-free series, but geared to
encourage attendance by dancers who aren't yet accustomed to gender-free
dance? Having danced both roles widely and called a bit of gender-free, I'd
be happy to chat by phone or IM. Feel free to ping me on facebook - Tavi
Merrill



On 7/5/2016 11:32 AM, Susan Pleck via Callers wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I'm to lead a workshop/extended intro lesson at a local dance this
> > Saturday on gender-free dancing/dancing the "other" role/switching
> > roles.  Not having done this before, I'd appreciate any thoughts or
> > advice about what this should include.  For the gender-free aspect,
> > I'm not sure there's much to discuss, really; ir'd be more just giving
> > dancers a chance to practice responding to different terms.  For
> > dancing the other role, though, what points of emphasis do you think
> > would be most useful?  Two that come to mind are swing
> > positioning/giving weight, and figures such as a chain where the
> > actions of the two roles are different.
>
>
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