24 Jan
2013
24 Jan
'13
5:05 p.m.
Greg,
You need to watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7b3yzjAv8c
There are dances where you can take the greatest caller in the world,
the best band in the world, and there will be stubborn dancers who
just. Don't. Listen.
"> But if the dancers perceive the process of partnering with first-timers to
be a “duty” or “task” instead of one of the primary
reasons they enjoy
attending open, public contra dances—and make the effort to drive two hours
to such a dance—this is the caller’s fault."
While, in my experience, the friendliness of the average folk dancer's
is better than the average person in general, we are far from the
picture you describe.
While you and I agree very much so on the caller's power and
responsibilities, you paint too rosy of a picture of people. Callers
can set a good example, promote friendliness and safety, inject energy
into a room, but not even the best diplomats in the world can stand in
front of a room full of people who are attending event to have
personal fun, and turn them into altruists who want to seek out new
dancers.
I also think that by alleging this "it's the caller's fault", you
de-emphasize the things that *do* work to make dances more friendly. I
think they are long-term initiatives that must be done by organizers
in conjunction with callers. For example, the dances I attend that
have clear, written, expressed organizational values that promote
friendliness and safety are, by no coincidence, the dances that are
the friendliest and most inviting towards new dancers.
That's why we have these discussions here - because it's the community
leaders acting together, and not one person at a dance - the caller.
This is a *community* dance. Attitudes in a community are dictated by
the whole community, not one person on stage with a mic.
In dance,
Ron
On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 9:06 AM, Greg McKenzie <grekenzie(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Ron wrote to Greg:
** Booking ahead is done because people want to
dance with a small subset
of dancers who are their friends / the "cool, hip dancers" / etc. **
So I don't, as a caller, make the assumption that you present. Instead, I
believe that unless a dance specifically fosters a new-dancer-friendly,
inclusive environment, and goes out of its way to post signs / e-mails /
promote discussion with callers / etc, dancers will generally see a narrow
view of what's going on at the dance. It's up to organizers and callers, I
believe, to specifically shape the dance to a friendly environment ...
... if that's the dance's goal.
Thanks Ron. I think we agree entirely about our goals. Shaping the dance
to a friendly environment is a goal implicit in the open, public nature of
our dances and in the accessibility of the dance form to people of all
skill and experience levels. As callers and leaders it is our role to
facilitate that.
It is true that many folks “want to dance with a small subset of dancers
who are their friends / the ‘cool, hip dancers’ / etc.” It is a natural
human tendency to form cliques and subgroups.
But it is also true that:
- People want to feel they are a part of something larger than
themselves.
- People enjoy sharing something they are passionate about with
new friends.
- The structure of the dance itself requires an empathetic
response from the dancers. We are all in this dance together and if anyone
fails we all fail.
- Said another way: Our own personal enjoyment depends upon the
success of newcomers in the hall. or Our "enjoyment-maximizing behavior"
includes dancing with first-timers.
- The caller is in a key position to provide leadership in this
process.
- There are numerous things the caller can do to make this process
both easy and fun for the regulars as well as for the newcomers.
It is always the caller’s fault. If the caller is not doing everything
possible to make it easy and fun for regulars to partner with first-time
dancers then any attribution of this problem to “selfish dancers” is
nothing more than a “blame the dancers” excuse for our own poor calling.
This is why I think of open, public contra dances as one of the greatest
challenges for a contra dance caller. The caller needs to know how to earn
and hold the attention of the hall. The instructions and calls need to be
clear, precise, structured using the most effective word order, and given
at precisely the time when the information is needed by the regulars so
that they can confidently lead their first-timer partners.
The sad fact is that most contra dance callers—including some very popular
and well known callers—either do not know how to do this effectively or
don’t believe that this is even their responsibility. Instead they resort
to a “blame the dancers” strategy. I know this because I did it myself for
more than a decade.
But if the dancers perceive the process of partnering with first-timers to
be a “duty” or “task” instead of one of the primary reasons they enjoy
attending open, public contra dances—and make the effort to drive two hours
to such a dance—this is the caller’s fault.
Sorry about that.