25 Jun
2010
25 Jun
'10
11:01 a.m.
What I was noticing about switching every other time through is that for me,
at least, and for some other people I've talked to about it, it did become
internalized and I didn't have to think about it. That was the revelation,
suddenly noticing that I had been dancing for a while, alternating roles and
wasn't even conscious of doing it any more. Of course, it can depend a lot
on your partner and whether they are similarly falling into the rhythm of
it.
Actually, I like Alternating Corners despite the fact the caller has to keep
calling. And my perception is that modern dancers generally like it too
compared to a more traditional corners dance like Chorus Jig where you have
to wait to be active (and which may never happen if sets are long). For a
dance like this, sometimes all you need is a Lisa Greenleaf style minimalist
prompt such as quietly saying "ones" and "twos" just to keep things
going. I
think the alternation makes the dance more interesting and I don't see it as
my purpose to have every dance send dancers off into that la-la, altered zen
state (that I nonetheless cherish as a dancer...)
Will
on 6/25/10 10:18 AM, Jeff Kaufman at jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu wrote:
Will Loving wrote:
--
William M. Loving
Dedication Technologies, Inc.
7 Coach Lane
Amherst, MA 01002-3304 USA
will(a)dedicationtechnologies.com
Tel: +1 413 253-7223 (GMT 5)
Fax: +1 206 202-0476
When you do gender role switching every other time it basically turns a
32-bar dance into a 64-bar one, at least that's what seems to be happening
inside my head when I realize that I have stopped thinking about when to
switch.
I swap genders a lot when I dance, but I find switching every time is
hard for exactly this reason: it turns a 32 bar dance into a 64 bar
one. I can hold a 64 bar dance in my head, but it's harder and less
fun. I much prefer switching on whim, where we might switch more or
less often than once per time through the dance. Because the switch
is then a kind of flourish instead of a 'required' move, I don't have
to think about it at all until it happens.
There are some dances like Alternating Corners where you do
something similar in that the dance in different every other time
through, though with continued prompting from the caller. In the
case of Alternating Corners, the 1s and 2s alternate doing the swing
and contra corners.
I don't like the dance alternating corners because dancers don't
internalize it properly. They learn it ok, so they can do it, but
they usually can't handle the caller dropping out. Once the caller
drops out people forget which turn it is and they have to step back
in. I've seen this happen even in groups where a caller could drop
out after two times through on a simplish dance.
Jeff
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers