21 Jan
2023
21 Jan
'23
9:45 a.m.
The closest thing I can think of that was an invasion was when someone brought a bus of
visiting international students. They didn't have adequate language skills to follow
directions, and their cultural differences created a lot of awkward moments. Thankfully,
our other gracious dancers took them in hand and helped them follow along, giving personal
tutoring as needed. I think sometimes as callers we try to make everybody happy (I try to
do that myself), but we forget that we have some gracious and ingenious folks on the dance
floor who will (hopefully) gladly jump in and help out the new folks one on one. I think
your new president had a good short-term solution, but I hope these women will realize
it's not for them. People generally don't know what they're getting into
when they come to their first contra dance. Some are pleasantly surprised while others
don't come back. That's okay.
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On Jan 21, 2023, 12:05 PM, at 12:05 PM, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I have no clue what happened with the white on white,
which also killed
the
last half of the message. Read all the way through the second half and
then see if it's an invasion! :-)
I had just done about a 25-minute gentle intro with circle keepers and
mixers, when the ladies walked in. I was balancing losing my regulars
and
the newbies who had come on time with keeping the new dancers.
--jh--
On Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 11:08 AM Meg Dedolph <meg.dedolph(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
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well, maybe I wouldn't use the word
"invasion." :)
Did some of the regular women dancers join the line of newcomers?
Might
have been a great opportunity for some folks to
practice the role
they
don't usually dance, which is a terrific way
to become a stronger
dancer in
general, and also make new folks feel welcome. A
line made up of only
new
dancers (for whatever reason) is usually
something callers like to
avoid.
What about throwing in some circle mixers to
learn terminology, only
remove the progression and dance it as a keeper? Or throw in some
whole-set
dances like you get at community dances, which
often don't progress
the way
contras do.
Meg
On Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 9:25 AM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra
> Knights, the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in
your
> thoughts and advice, in case it has come up
before, which it must
have. I’m
> going to relate it as I perceived it, though
someone more perceptive
might
> have made some observations early on that
would have alerted them to
the
> nature of the situation.
>
> Last night was the second dance of the semester and officer
elections
> were scheduled during the break. Just at the
end of my newbie
lesson, a
> group of nine women dribbled in as a group.
They were really
> enthusiastic to learn, and they were about 30% of the people in the
room at
> that point, so I rewound the lesson a bit to
at least teach them the
swing.
>
> They had joined the teaching circle with their purses and backpacks.
I
> invited them to put their stuff on the chairs
at the sides,
including their
> jackets, as we dance to up-tempo pop music
and it can get sweaty.
That’s
> where it got interesting. Some put their
stuff down, but they
couldn’t
> take off their jackets. That’s when I noticed
some of them wearing
> headscarves. Ok, no worries, wear jackets, that’s fine. We love
diversity
> here.
>
> I tried matching them with experienced dancers, which some accepted
and
> some did not. Some said they just wanted to
dance together and not
with
> anybody else. O-kay. I explained that in this
dance we all dance
with
> each other in a sequence and we don’t control
whom we’re dancing
with.
> Well, that’s ok, as long as we don’t touch
men.
>
> This, of course, explained the refused partners; they were all men.
How
> are we going to manage that in a
gender-neutral dance? It’s not
like I
> could put them in the men’s role. Someone
suggested they turn all
moves
> into do-si-dos. I was at a momentary loss,
when our club
president-to-be
> (elected later in the night) suggested
putting them in a line of
their own.
> That made them happy, though it was a very
short line.
>
> Then the rest of what turned out to be the Lebanese Student Society
came
> into the room. Their meeting in a neighboring
room had just ended.
There
> were more women, enough to make the small
line danceable. There were
a lot
> of men, and they had a really difficult time
taking partners. I had
minor
> sets with five or six dancers (yes,
experienced dancers can do it).
I told
> them it would not work that way, but they
said they’d make it work,
and
> nothing I could say got anywhere. I was
conscious of the original
dancers
> who had been there 30 minutes now, had done
the workshop, and were
eager to
> dance.
>
> So, the men also got their own line, but things in that line got a
bit
> crazy during the first walk-through. Possibly
because of the
discomfort
> some may have felt dancing with other men,
many there were more
interested
> in goofing off or boasting to one another
than in paying any
attention to
> me, even after I cranked the mic volume way
up and admonished them
to be
> quiet and listen. There was some genuine
interest in that line, and
one of
> the louder argument points I heard was
someone shouting to quiet the
line,
> as they were here to learn.
>
> At this point there were around 30 Lebanese students in two lines of
3-4
> minor sets each and 20 originals, who had
joined through the newbie
> session, which was evenly split between newbies and experienced
dancers.
> Their line was quiet, but getting quite
impatient at this point. I
was
> afraid to lose them. I was really afraid of
what would happen in the
> election later on if the Lebanese club stayed, as they outnumbered
the
> originals.
>
> It became clear that the Lebanese men were not going to get far, but
they
> didn’t realize it yet. I really didn’t want
to throw them out, since
some
> really did want to learn and we are an
inclusive club with too few
members.
> I did say I would kick them out if they
didn’t quiet down, which
worked
> momentarily.
>
> I decided to forge ahead and call to the group of 20. Either the
guys
> were going to get it or they’d maybe leave.
If their noise disrupted
the
> line of originals, then I would ask them to
leave. I put on a tune
and
> called an easy dance, cranking the volume
above the din. The
originals
> danced it fine and seemed to have a good
time. The guy line
dispersed and
> said they’d come in time for the workshop
next time. The ladies left
with
> them.
>
> The originals nearly all stayed. We had a fun rest of our night and
held
> our officer election. While last night was a
unique event, 50%
newbies is
> common and we think it’s why we get so few
dancers to stay in the
club more
> than three nights. So, one of the changes is
a new, occasional,
no-newbies
> night, so the experienced dancers can dance
something more complex
than
> Airpants.
>
> Are there ways to calm an unruly crowd? I have a fairly decent
one-night
> stand routine, but I worried I’d lose my
originals if we went over
to that.
> I felt I could have taught them something if
only I could just have
gotten
> their attention. Throwing them out would have
been uncomfortable, at
best.
>
> So, could I have done this any better? Has your dance ever been
invaded,
and how
did you handle it?
Thanks,
—jh—
Joe Harrington
Faculty advisor and caller to Contra Knights, the UCF contra club
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
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