[Organizers] Transition to ungendered dances

[David Kirchner]

Thanks Read,
I did not mean to suggest that the reactions to the first experiment mean
anything for what should or should not happen in the future. I was simply
reporting on where we're at right now.

David

On Sat, Aug 10, 2019, 9:35 PM Read Weaver via Organizers <
organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> On whether gender-free terminology is simply code for gender—I started
> doing country dance in the early ‘80s with the Gay and Lesbian Folk Dance
> in Boston, which always included a fair amount of English country dance and
> often some contra, both using global terminology. At my first conventional
> ECD, I remember thinking “Oh, this is about men and women!” Yes, of course,
> if you’ve danced for years hearing “gents and ladies,” when you first hear
> “larks and ravens” you’re going to do the translation, but for folks new to
> it, there’s no translation to be made.
>
> Reactions to a one-off GF evening will always be negative. When the Boston
> Gender-Free Contra Dance first tried “larks and ravens” after 25 years of
> “bands and bare-arms,” the reaction was mostly negative. Inference from
> that about whether GF calling will work at a dance over time won’t be
> accurate.
>
> Read Weaver
> Jamaica Plain, MA
> http://lcfd.org
>
> > On Aug 10, 2019, at 1:29 AM, David Kirchner via Organizers <
> organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> >
> > I used to call this way (role-less) at the gender-free contra that used
> to be held once a month in the Twin Cities. I was of the opinion that
> simply replacing the terms "gents" and "ladies" with other terms did not
> make a dance "gender-free," it just meant that we were using code words
> that everyone simply translated in their heads as "gent's role" and "lady's
> role." Most of the other callers who did this dance used "leads" and
> "follows."
> > ...
> > FWIW, larks and ravens have not made it to the Twin Cities, though
> dancers that travel far afield for special events are beginning to bring
> back news of it from other parts of the country (and of course social media
> brings news in many other ways). One caller experimented with using the
> terms for one evening this past spring. The feedback they got was mostly
> negative.
> >
> > David
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