20 Mar
2006
20 Mar
'06
12:24 p.m.
Hi Cynthia!
It was great to see you at the festival and call with you and dance, too!
You're right, contra corners is not a figure that's often done at
community dances and may even be done less in general. However, there
was a significant group of beginners at the festival. People who hadn't
danced before the day at the festival. My suspicion is that there was a
group of them clustered in the far back - caller's right. They didn't
have experienced people to lead them through it, so Linda called for a demo.
As for people not squatting, I remember that as a new/intermediate
dancer, I didn't understand why people were squatting. I initially
thought that they were tired and taking a break. So now I assume that
they either don't understand why people do it, or that they are
incapable. If I am with a new dancer and people are blocking their view
of the demo, I might request that they move or sit so my partner can
see. A personal request "so we can see" goes down a little better than a
request "so people can see".
I think that this is another place where, we as callers need to model
the good behavior from the floor as dancers.
Chris
Cynthia Phinney wrote:
Hello callers,
I am just back from a wonderful two days at the DownEast Country Dance
Festival in Maine.
There was something I noticed there that I thought was worthy of note on
this list.
I was sitting out watching Linda Leslie do a walk-through for a dance. The
dance had a contra-corners figure in it and the dancers got lost enough
trying to walk it through that Linda had six couples do a demo. It struck me
that fifteen years ago I don't think that would have had to be taught at an
event like the Festival, because it was a figure we used (and was taught to
us) so frequently in the regular Saturday night dances that the number of
people attending an event like the festival who didn't know it would be low.
It seemed to me to be a reflection of doing the older dances so much less
often than we used to. I remarked on this to the person I was sitting with,
but then realized that he is in his twenties and does not know the kinds of
dances that used to fill an evening of dancing around here back in the 70s
and 80s (when the majority of dances we used in an evening might well have
been older traditional dances and were as likely to be proper as improper).
His assumption is contra corners is a figure that always has to be taught no
matter who the crowd.
When relating this story to my partner, who was not at the festival, he
asked whether people sat down when Linda did the demo. Most of them did -
but there were a good number who did not. He recalled how it used to be that
when the caller asked for a demo, the whole rest of the hall automatically
squatted or sat so everyone could see. Very often now people remain standing
during demos (at least around here).
Just two interesting observations on the evolution of what we're doing and
how we do it.
I've made a note to teach the contra corners at my local dance sometime
soon. (other callers have used it there - but very infrequently).
Best to all of you,
-cynthia
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