Re: [Callers] Fwd: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances - Response from Voice of Roma

*From: *Carol Silverman &lt;csilverm(a)uoregon.edu <mailto:csilverm@uoregon.edu>> *Subject: **Re: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances* *Date: *November 3, 2015 7:28:00 PM PST *To: *Martha Wild &lt;mawild(a)sbcglobal.net <mailto:mawild@sbcglobal.net>>, Voice of Roma &lt;voiceofroma(a)gmail.com <mailto:voiceofroma@gmail.com>> *Cc: *Petra Gelbart &lt;petragelbart(a)gmail.com <mailto:petragelbart@gmail.com>> Dear Martha, Sani Rifati, President of Voice of Roma forwarded you message to me. Although I am not Romani, I am on the Board of VOR and we do care deeply about the terms used for the people we represent. A large number of Roma (but not all) are offended by the term Gypsy, especially with a small g. To “gyp" someone means to steal and swindle; plus the word connotes a false history— it a short for Egyptian whereas Roma are from India. Roma have faced centuries of discrimination, and today are subject to deportations and racial profiling; this would be an opportunity to teach your community a little about their history. So whatever the history of the dance step, I know that names can be changed by sensitive callers like you. I would urge you to change the names and seize and educational moment! Sincerely, Carol Silverman PS Check the VOR webs page fro my information: http://www.voiceofroma.com/culture/gyp_vs_rom.html > From: *Martha Wild* &lt;mawild(a)sbcglobal.net <mailto:mawild@sbcglobal.net>> > Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 1:56 AM > Subject: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances > To: voiceofroma(a)gmail.com <mailto:voiceofroma@gmail.com> > Hi, > I am a folk dancer - I do a lot of contra dancing and English > Country dance and I call the dances as well. > > Recently a newcomer who came to a dance at another venue brought to > our (a group of caller's that talk about such subjects on a list) > attention that we have been using the word gypsy for one of the > dance moves in both types of dance. This dancer (not a Roma) came to > one of our dances and was upset that we used the term "gypsy" for > this dance move, as they felt that the word was insulting to the > Roma people. > > I would like to know if this is the case, as we have never intended > to be derogatory to anyone, but lots of dances have this move, and > dance names even contain the name, like "The Gypsy Star" and others. > > The move in question is a move where two people walk around each > other and back to place, while facing each other. There is some > confusion about origin of the term, but the best guess is that there > was an English Country dance called "The Spanish Gypsy" that was > written over a hundred years ago, and it was the first to include > this move of people walking around each other while facing (prior to > that people generally did a "back to back, or what is also called > "do-si-do". The move was not called a "gypsy", but because this > dance used it and other dances copied it, people called it a "gypsy" > because it was the same move that was in that dance. > > I've been calling these dances for over 25 years and have used this > term to indicate this move, never intending anything by it other > than as an established name for a dance figure. I am hoping that > some of the folks at Voice of Roma could give me an opinion as to > whether you find it offensive or not for us to continue to use it. > We've been discussing on the web whether we should try to find a > different name, but if you feel that this use of the word gypsy is > not an issue then we can stop arguing over words like "eddy" or > "swirl" and continue to use it. If you do find it offensive, > however, I will gladly alter my dance cards to something else so as > not to continue to be offensive. > > Thanks for your input, > Martha Wild > > -- > Sani Rifati > 707/823-7941 > http://www.voiceofroma.com <http://www.voiceofroma.com/> Carol Silverman Professor Department of Anthropology and Folklore Program University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-1218 Office 541-346-5114 Fax 541-346-0668 csilverm(a)uoregon.edu <mailto:csilverm@uoregon.edu>