[Callers] freedom

[Woody Lane]

These are good points, and they bring up a larger situation. Presumably, 
Tom accepted the gig months ahead of the date (like all of us). A few 
days before the gig, he receives the new "rule". Does anyone think that 
there might be a slight ethical problem here?

When we accept a gig, it's an agreement between two consenting parties. 
This is, in fact, a contract. I'm not talking about a long legal 
document with pages of small print in a sans serif font. That's not 
customary in our dance culture, although in other types of performances 
it may be the norm. In any case, in the contra dance world, nearly all 
the specifics are not in writing; they are just accepted behaviors and 
conventions. The artist (here, the caller) accepted the gig with certain 
expectations -- microphone, payment, times, etc. The organizers have 
expectations of quality, preparation, being on time, etc. These are all 
cultural norms. Every community has its own way of approaching this. 
After all, this is a community dance, and things are often pretty loose 
with lots of volunteer helpers, not a hard-knuckled bargaining dispute 
between unions and coal mine owners.

Here's the issue: Let's assume that the new terminology rule had been 
decided up by the organizing committee after Tom's gig date had been 
scheduled and finalized. But Tom didn't learn about this change until 
just before the gig. I think the organizers have a responsibility here 
to convey their decision to the caller in a timely manner and ask if the 
caller still wanted to do the gig with this new condition.

Alternatively, the organizers could set a future date when this rule 
would become a rigid part of the agreement, and any scheduling for gigs 
after that date would include that rule in the initial back-and-forth 
communications between the caller and the organizers. That gives both 
parties all the information they need to make their decisions.

The awkward period would be the transition period that Tom was caught in 
-- where the rule was conveyed close to the gig date and the caller had 
to accept it "fait accompli" or cancel. By laying down a rigid rule 
unilaterally, the organizers actually broke the agreement. No one wants 
this, but IMO that's what they did. But Tom wanted the gig, accepted the 
change, and was gracious enough to adjust and call it anyway

In that case, however, I think the organizers could have conveyed 
something different -- like Yoyo gently described -- that the organizers 
"prefer" that the caller avoid the word "gypsy", use an alternative word 
or phrase, and here is a preferred alternative, but that the caller use 
judgement for the ultimate choice. This communication would be during 
this awkward transitional period. There would, of course, be some 
dancers who may complain, but this would also be an opportunity for the 
organizers to convey to those dancers the ethics that they followed and 
that it's just a transitional period.

My two cents.

Woody Lane
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On 3/28/2018 4:04 PM, Tom Hinds via Callers wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestion.  The rule was sent to me days befor the gig 
> and it took my mind a good long while to process and work through it. 
>  The organizer knows my concerns.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Mar 28, 2018, at 6:34 PM, Yoyo Zhou <yozhov at gmail.com 
> <mailto:yozhov at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 2:29 PM, Tom Hinds via Callers 
>> <callers at lists.sharedweight.net 
>> <mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     Here was my issue, briefly :  I was told to use "walk around"
>>     when calling at glen echo.  It also happens that I'm a western
>>     square caller and have used "walk around your corner, see saw
>>     your taw" for decades.
>>
>>
>> Here is an opportunity to say to the organizers, "I understand your 
>> intent is to avoid certain language, but your proposed substitute 
>> doesn't work for me because I use 'walk around' to mean something 
>> else. I would prefer to use [such and such] or another alternative to 
>> avoid confusion. Does that work for your community?" This is a 
>> conversation between you and the organizers, which will ideally 
>> result in clearer communication at the dance itself. But if they 
>> don't want to budge, then you've hopefully communicated that their 
>> rigidness is hindering you from presenting a good program. After all, 
>> we're here to serve the dancers.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Yoyo Zhou
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