From:
Martha Wild <mawild@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 1:56 AM
Subject: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk
dances
To:
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