<div dir="ltr">Yes, Cara, definitely a history! Thank you for inquiring.<br><br>Another argument I've heard against Lead/Follow is that if we change the role known up to now only as "Gents" to "Leads," and likewise "Ladies" to "Follows," we could unwittingly be reinforcing the cultural notion that only men can be leaders and that women can only be follows. This is not the most common argument used (see Jeff's comments), but it is the one I most often cite, since I do prefer contra to include the <i>option </i>for a lead-follow dynamic. Either way, while most partner dances do have this dynamic absolutely and inherently, contra does not have to include it and since we're already using gendered terms that have for generations described gendered roles that we're trying to move away from, switching to Lead/Follow has proved a less-popular choice.<div><br></div><div>Hope this helps!<br><br>Angela</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 7:59 PM, Jeff Kaufman via Callers <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Hi Cara!<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Jeff</div></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 18, 2017 7:53 PM, "Cara Sawyer via Callers" <<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.<wbr>net</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>Hello all,</div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature">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? </div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">When I first encountered the creative alternatives in contra, I wasn't sure what to think. </span>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. </div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature">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. </div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature">Just curious if there is a history, I'm sure I am not the first person to think of this. </div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature">Thanks!</div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature">Cara</div><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature"><br><div id="m_-3661486233919004786m_5245068864065962034AppleMailSignature">Sent to you using<span style="font-size:13pt"> thumbs. </span></div></div><div><br>On Jan 18, 2017, at 10:40, Angela DeCarlis via Callers <<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.ne<wbr>t</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="auto">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."<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">That all said, I also like Larks and Ravens fine. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Happy calling, everyone! </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Angela</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 18, 2017 11:30 AM, "Aahz via Callers" <<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.ne<wbr>t</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Not that Portland, the other Portland. ;-)<br>
<br>
<a href="http://bangordailynews.com/2017/01/09/news/portland/contra-dancing-takes-a-gender-neutral-spin-in-portland/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://bangordailynews.com/201<wbr>7/01/09/news/portland/contra-d<wbr>ancing-takes-a-gender-neutral-<wbr>spin-in-portland/</a><br>
<br>
I personally would prefer to settle on "larks" and "ravens" because that<br>
seems to have more traction -- but it doesn't matter as long as we get<br>
away from "bands" and "bares".<br>
--<br>
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 <a href="http://rule6.info/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://rule6.info/</a><br>
<*> <*> <*><br>
Help a hearing-impaired person: <a href="http://rule6.info/hearing.html" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://rule6.info/hearing.html</a><br>
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