[Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

[Jeff Kaufman via Callers]

Hi Cara!

There is definitely a history! Many dancers don't like lead/follow as terms
because they either don't think contra has a lead/follow dynamic or they
don't want to encourage lead/follow dancing.

Some dance series, primarily ones with younger dancers, do use those terms,
but there are enough dancers opposed to them that I don't see them as a
potential community-wide replacement the way rubies/jets could be.

Jeff

On Jan 18, 2017 7:53 PM, "Cara Sawyer via Callers" <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hello all,
> I am quite new to the list and am only now embarking on learning to call,
> but I have to ask a question I have had for awhile as a dancer that I now
> need to understand as a caller: is there something wrong with Lead and
> Follow?
>
> When I first encountered the creative alternatives in contra, I wasn't
> sure what to think. I came to contra from a swing background and that is
> what is used in workshops (and sort or in general now), since many people
> switch in that dance style as well.
>
> Besides being an obvious description for the dancer role, it had the same
> 1/2 syllables rhythm as Gent/Lady. And it seems to me to have the advantage
> of being intuitively linked to how the dancer is thinking about
> his/her/their role.
>
> Just curious if there is a history, I'm sure I am not the first person to
> think of this.
>
> Thanks!
> Cara
>
> Sent to you using thumbs.
>
> On Jan 18, 2017, at 10:40, Angela DeCarlis via Callers <
> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> When I called at PICD (the Portland ME dance), I really enjoyed using Jets
> and Rubies. One silly thing I enjoyed any the terms during the beginners'
> lesson was coaching palm direction based on the terms: "Jets' palms face
> up, towards the sky; Rubies' palms face down, towards the ground."
>
> And yes, I realize that *both* are gemstones and that some feel strongly
> that we should steer away from the "airplane" association, but it did make
> for easy teaching.
>
> Jets and Rubies is also more forgiving for callers new to gender-neutral
> language, since the terms are so linguistically comparable to Gents and
> Ladies.
>
> That all said, I also like Larks and Ravens fine.
>
> Happy calling, everyone!
>
> Angela
>
> On Jan 18, 2017 11:30 AM, "Aahz via Callers" <callers at lists.sharedweight.
> net> wrote:
>
>> Not that Portland, the other Portland.  ;-)
>>
>> http://bangordailynews.com/2017/01/09/news/portland/contra-
>> dancing-takes-a-gender-neutral-spin-in-portland/
>>
>> I personally would prefer to settle on "larks" and "ravens" because that
>> seems to have more traction -- but it doesn't matter as long as we get
>> away from "bands" and "bares".
>> --
>> Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6
>> http://rule6.info/
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