23 Nov
2022
23 Nov
'22
9:30 a.m.
"during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 minutes
swinging"
Tangent: I thought "that can't be right" but a little playing with numbers
and I think it is. My back of the envelope: guess ~12 dances, each ~17
times through, with ~20 beats of swinging per dance. That's 4k beats of
swinging, which at 118bpm is 35min. Another way to think of it is that in
a 3hr evening half of your time is dancing and a third of that is swinging.
Jeff
On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 4:49 PM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Since, during the average contra evening, you will
spend approximately 30
minutes swinging, surely it would be better to teach the dancers how to
swing properly.
Apart from the slight variation in the position of one of your arms the
swing should be symmetrical. And nobody should be giving any of their
weight to the other person. (I hate the term “give weight” – it is grossly
misunderstood.)
I am quite happy to provide a gentle counterbalance to your mass, but
please look after your own weight!
When teaching the buzz-step I always get the dancers to do it individually
so that they learn to keep their own balance. Too many dancers thinking
that throwing their weight in some random direction will make the swing go
faster – it won’t – only your feet can make the swing go faster.
Lots more at http://contrafusion.co.uk/SwingWorkshop.html
:-)
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802
940 574
http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music
Ceilidhs
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs
*From:* Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Sent:* 21 November 2022 21:02
*To:* Alexandra Deis-Lauby <adeislauby(a)gmail.com>
*Cc:* Shared Weight Callers' Listserv <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
*Subject:* [Callers] Re: How to have the beginners choose roles
I appreciate the care that goes into option #3, and also really like
Becky's comment about some of the asymmetries that occur on the dancefloor
as a result of the culture (i.e., that robins may encounter more twirling
than larks). Another piece of cultural asymmetry I've encountered is that,
in some communities, dancers are used to the dancer in the left-hand
position carrying more of the weight in the swing — as a small person with
bad joints, I find it more difficult to dance the left-hand role where this
is a factor. Depending on how much time you have, reflecting on these
differences in the roles' physicality seems like a kind and useful addition.
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