Re: [Callers] Gender disparity responsibilities (was: booking ahead)

Personally, I feel that no dancer should be obligated to do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.  If men don't want to dance with other men, or if women don't want to dance with other women, they should not be obligated.  It is an evening of dancing, leisure, enjoyment.  I know that we strive for the ideal that people dance with anybody regardless of physical gender, but for a great deal of dancers, especially newbies, they are not comfortable with that, and if they feel forced to do something outside their comfort zone, they won't come back.  Best we can do is suggest that dancers can dance with anybody, but we shouldn't pressure or obligate people to do anything.   Perry ________________________________ From: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 12:10 PM Subject: [Callers] Gender disparity responsibilities (was: booking ahead) Dave's post about booking ahead and people's "responsibilities" to dance one role or the other made me think: DO people (read: experienced dancers who are capable of switching) have a responsibility to dance a particular role if there's a gender disparity? There's something to be said for reminding people, "not all couples need to be male/female!" But the idea that anyone is obligated to dance lead or follow, or to dance with same or opposite sex, makes me uncomfortable. My home dance regularly has more men than women (crazy!) but my preferred role is lead; does this mean I'm obligated to dance follow/dance with men (it happens that many of the men don't follow, and anyway, the height difference makes it tricky), rather than dancing with women? Is there a difference in obligating someone to dance their gender-typical role and their gender-atypical role? How much responsibility do experience dancers have for evening out a gender imbalance? (And to what extent is it an okay thing to assume that a gender imbalance *needs* evening out?) Cheers, Maia _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers