Re: [Callers] Origin of Beginners' workshops

Jon I can tell you how they originated here in Los Angeles. When I started contradancing in the '80s there was no beginner "lesson". The callers taught the figures and you learned as you went. At the time, most of the dances were pretty simple. I remember the first dance we had with a Hey for 4 (Washington Hey) and it was confusing to people to learn on the fly. That was when we began to discuss the possibilites of a short lesson to make it easier for people.   Then the dances became more active. Both couples were moving more and the dances became more complicated. I do not remember exactly when all the dances had a lesson beforehand, but it was probably 1982 or 1983.   I have noticed that in D.C. where there is a tradition of a 1/2 hour or more of a real lesson, it does seem to make people more comfortable. It is nto really necessary in order to learn contra, but the comfort level is what is really important.   I think Santa Barbara began their lessons at the same time as L.A. Bruce and Andrea (now in Carpenteria) were around L.A. then and might remember more detail. Leda       --- On Fri, 9/2/11, Jon Southard <JSouthard(a)IntouchHealth.com> wrote: From: Jon Southard <JSouthard(a)IntouchHealth.com> Subject: [Callers] Origin of Beginners' workshops To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Date: Friday, September 2, 2011, 1:00 PM David raises an interesting question about when and how beginners' workshops/orientation came to be part of the evening.  I have been dancing in Southern California for a little more than 20 years, and there have been beginners' workshops here for at least that long. I am wondering if one factor was geographic spread.  Perhaps an orientation wasn't considered necessary in the New England setting because everybody more or less knew what contra and traditional square dances were, even if they didn't necessarily dance them.  Whereas in other parts of the country people might not have that knowledge, coming in.    We don't any longer have any 'original members' of my local community to check this, but it stands to reason that if you were trying to start up a series in a new part of the country (maybe having moved there from New England, which is how a lot of West Coast dance communities got started), you'd certainly provide a lesson/orientation. If beginners' workshops did originate elsewhere and then were imported back to New England, that might explain why your memories of them there may be more recent than my memories of them here. Jon Southard Santa Barbara, CA www.jonsouthard.com -----Original Message----- From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of David.Millstone(a)valley.net Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 10:53 AM To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: Re: [Callers] Implied Messages in First-Timer's Orientation [bcc][faked-from][senderbase] [Many good comments deleted] David notes: P.S. As a historical note, I think it worth pointing out the concept of workshops  before the dances is a relatively recent phenomenon... maybe 25 years old, but  probably more like 10-15 years.  (I'd be interested to hear from others around  the country on when they think these introductory sessions began in their neighborhood.)  To be sure, going back into earlier centuries, there were dancing masters and  classes, but I'm talking about twentieth century social dances, at least in the  part of New England about which I know the most. People just came to the dance  and learned as they went; that's certainly what happened at community square dances;  where contras were done, which was a relatively small number of venues, there  wasn't such an introduction in places such as Nelson, NH, and at Dudley dances  throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s, the events that (IMHO) were the  primary jumping off point for making contras a much more popular dance form. It might be worth speculating on what led to the introduction of such workshops...why  folks came to feel that they were necessary. Changes in the dance programs? In  the folks coming to the dances? in the caller's expectations of what they hoped  to accomplish in the course of the evening? broader societal / cultural changes?  But all of that is grounds for starting a new thread, so if anyone is interested  in picking it up, I hope they'll change the subject line. _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers