[Callers] Teaching Larks & Ravens

[Angela DeCarlis]

Hi Mary,

The important thing, I think, is that you communicate something along the
following lines: "Contra dance is divided into two roles, so that sometimes
half the people dancing do one thing while the other half do something
different. Otherwise, the two dance roles are nearly identical, with most
moves happening for dancers in both roles. The two roles have been named to
correspond to positions, so that the Lark begins the dance and ends the
swing on the Left, and the Raven does those things on the Right. If you
abide by these positional rules, you'll always find yourself in a good
place to move on to the next piece of choreography."

As is the case with technically simple but uncommon figures like 'Circle
Right,' beginners will generally have an easier time with new terms than
will experienced dancers. Their brains are already in learning mode,
whereas some of the old hands may be flying on autopilot. The tricky part
is that you can't necessarily rely on the experienced folks to be as
helpful to the newbs as they may be ordinarily, so programming just a tick
easier than you are used to could be a safe bet, especially if you're in
the process of getting comfortable using the new terms yourself!

If you're on Facebook, I highly recommend joining the group Larks and
Ravens Contra Dancers
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/1340769606022971/?ref=br_rs>. There have
been a lot of really great conversations in that group, including several
about how calling with genderfree terminology benefits the whole community,
including those of us who are straight and cisgendered.

For what it's worth, I've officially gotten to a point where calling Larks
and Ravens is *easier* for me. It's lovely that the common Allemandes
alliterate with the new terms (Larks typically allemande left, while Ravens
often allemande right), and it now feels so strange to say "Ladies
allemande right"; it feels like I've messed up!

Good luck and please feel free to reach out to me if you have further
questions on this!

Angela

On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 6:27 PM, Mary Collins via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> I call in primarily a traditional dance community but am investigating
> starting to call using larks and ravens. I am curious about what words you
> use and how you teach larks and ravens positioning. Thanks.
>
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