[Callers] Ladies

Sun Oct 15 10:33:35 PDT 2017

Angela, ah....I see said the blind person. Now it makes sense. Will not
work in my home ultra conservative community and I will certainly need to
practice replacing. It will be interesting to say the least.
Thanks again!

On Oct 15, 2017 12:21 AM, "Angela DeCarlis" <aedecarlis at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Mary! A lot has already been written on the subject elsewhere, but the
> summary of why Larks and Ravens has become a great set of terms is that
> they correlate to the (L)eft and (R)ight positions at the end of a swing.
> The syllable count is the same when compared to Gent and Lady (or Man and
> Woman, for that matter), and the terms don't conflict with any dance
> instructions (like how Lead and Follow would, especially if used to call
> for English or Square Dancing).
>
> Another great set of terms are Jets and Rubies, but I've found those
> labels to be more arbitrary...the main advantage is that the words are
> phonetically similar to Gents and Ladies...and I'm not sure whether or not
> that's a good thing!
>
> I hope this helps clarify things for you, and I thank you in advance for
> keeping an open mind about trying these new, genderfree terms soon! In the
> communities I've danced in, I can't tell you how much of a positive
> difference these terms have made for individual dancers and for the
> communities on the balance. But again, more on that can be read elsewhere,
> and I hope to write in with more about my personal experiences as a caller
> and dance organizer soon!
>
> Angela
>
> On Oct 14, 2017 2:09 PM, "Mary Collins" <nativedae at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ahem Tom...that would be "gender" lol....Seriously, being of the more
>> mature (and I use that term loosely) set, I find all these new names for
>> ROLES to be troublesome and tiresome.  Who exactly is a Lark & who exactly
>> are Ravens?  Because quite frankly I have mental pictures of both....from
>> literature and music and they could be as offending as gents & ladies or
>> women & men....not to try to start anything here.  I am just trying to
>> grasp something that seems to be just a wee bit beyond my reach.  Several
>> of my fellow traveling dance friends (of similar age) do not understand
>> these terms either.  Since I plan to be traveling and hopefully calling in
>> "your community" sometime, I'd really like to get a handle on this.
>>
>> Mary "24" Collins
>>
>>
>> <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Virus-free.
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>>
>> “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass ... it's about learning
>> to dance in the rain!” ~ Unknown
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 12:15 PM, Tom Hinds <twhinds at earthlink.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Angela.  If only we could easily change our gender so we could
>>> understand what it's like to be the other sex.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 14, 2017, at 11:32 AM, Angela DeCarlis wrote:
>>>
>>> Tom, I had this conversation with Sue Rosen this summer. Women who
>>> belong to the original Feminist generation (like Sue and, presumably, like
>>> Mary and Martha above) were involved in a cultural movement to abolish the
>>> word "Lady", along with its restrictive connotations, in favor of "Woman".
>>> The latter label, I understand, was one which lent more power and ownership
>>> to its wearers, and so was preferable. You could be however you were,
>>> "ladylike" or not, and still be a Woman. (others, please chime in if I've
>>> gotten anything wrong or missed anything!)
>>>
>>> My generation has an opposite problem: due to the modern-day Gender
>>> Revolution, wherein we seek to abolish the gender dichotomy, terms like
>>> "Woman" and "Man" feel too restrictive and denotative. "Lady" and "Gent"
>>> feel almost more comfortable to some, since they are words that are
>>> slightly more flexible, in some ways.
>>>
>>> One of the biggest problems for both groups, I think, is when the terms
>>> are used interchangeably.
>>>
>>> This is one of my favorite things to think about when it comes to role
>>> terms in dance today! I *love* our community's intergenerationality, and
>>> learning about each other through conversations like this!
>>>
>>> Eventually I hope to get around to writing in about the changes I've
>>> seen at BIDA since switching to Larks and Ravens at the beginning of the
>>> summer. It's been truly remarkable!
>>>
>>> 'Til then,
>>> Angela
>>>
>>> On Oct 14, 2017 9:26 AM, "Mary Collins via Callers" <
>>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Martha, I dont recall this dance of which you speak. Could you share
>>>> the true title and calls? Thanks! I also cringe over ladies (I don't fit
>>>> that tradition) yet it is a good "place holder, ROLE identifer" for my
>>>> communities.
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 14, 2017 9:06 AM, "Tom Hinds via Callers" <
>>>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I must have fallen asleep during a discussion of "ladies".  What's the
>>>>> issue?
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>> > On Oct 11, 2017, at 12:13 PM, Martha Wild via Callers <
>>>>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I’ve got a gypsy star dance (I actually call it “Star Wrong” and not
>>>>> just because of the g-word, but because if you say “gypsy star” everybody
>>>>> starts to gypsy and NOT star, so I gave up on that confusing terminology).
>>>>> Haven’t seen another dance like it. The move from mad robin into the star
>>>>> wrong actually flows quite well.  I use men and women for roles, not
>>>>> genders. When I first started calling, we considered “lady” to be a four
>>>>> letter word - women’s movement and bra burning and all that. I still find
>>>>> it hard to use the word “lady” and not bristle. Times have changed, now
>>>>> people bristle at men and women. Go figure. I didn’t correct the “g-word”
>>>>> use on this version
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>>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>
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