We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra Knights, the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in your thoughts and advice, in case it has come up before, which it must have. I’m going to relate it as I perceived it, though someone more perceptive might have made some observations early on that would have alerted them to the nature of the situation.
Last night was the second dance of the semester and officer elections were scheduled during the break. Just at the end of my newbie lesson, a group of nine women dribbled in as a group. They were really enthusiastic to learn, and they were about 30% of the people in the room at that point, so I rewound the lesson a bit to at least teach them the swing.
They had joined the teaching circle with their purses and backpacks. I invited them to put their stuff on the chairs at the sides, including their jackets, as we dance to up-tempo pop music and it can get sweaty. That’s where it got interesting. Some put their stuff down, but they couldn’t take off their jackets. That’s when I noticed some of them wearing headscarves. Ok, no worries, wear jackets, that’s fine. We love diversity here.
I tried matching them with experienced dancers, which some accepted and some did not. Some said they just wanted to dance together and not with anybody else. O-kay. I explained that in this dance we all dance with each other in a sequence and we don’t control whom we’re dancing with. Well, that’s ok, as long as we don’t touch men.
This, of course, explained the refused partners; they were all men. How are we going to manage that in a gender-neutral dance? It’s not like I could put them in the men’s role. Someone suggested they turn all moves into do-si-dos. I was at a momentary loss, when our club president-to-be (elected later in the night) suggested putting them in a line of their own. That made them happy, though it was a very short line.
Then the rest of what turned out to be the Lebanese Student Society came into the room. Their meeting in a neighboring room had just ended. There were more women, enough to make the small line danceable. There were a lot of men, and they had a really difficult time taking partners. I had minor sets with five or six dancers (yes, experienced dancers can do it). I told them it would not work that way, but they said they’d make it work, and nothing I could say got anywhere. I was conscious of the original dancers who had been there 30 minutes now, had done the workshop, and were eager to dance.
So, the men also got their own line, but things in that line got a bit crazy during the first walk-through. Possibly because of the discomfort some may have felt dancing with other men, many there were more interested in goofing off or boasting to one another than in paying any attention to me, even after I cranked the mic volume way up and admonished them to be quiet and listen. There was some genuine interest in that line, and one of the louder argument points I heard was someone shouting to quiet the line, as they were here to learn.
At this point there were around 30 Lebanese students in two lines of 3-4 minor sets each and 20 originals, who had joined through the newbie session, which was evenly split between newbies and experienced dancers. Their line was quiet, but getting quite impatient at this point. I was afraid to lose them. I was really afraid of what would happen in the election later on if the Lebanese club stayed, as they outnumbered the originals.
It became clear that the Lebanese men were not going to get far, but they didn’t realize it yet. I really didn’t want to throw them out, since some really did want to learn and we are an inclusive club with too few members. I did say I would kick them out if they didn’t quiet down, which worked momentarily.
I decided to forge ahead and call to the group of 20. Either the guys were going to get it or they’d maybe leave. If their noise disrupted the line of originals, then I would ask them to leave. I put on a tune and called an easy dance, cranking the volume above the din. The originals danced it fine and seemed to have a good time. The guy line dispersed and said they’d come in time for the workshop next time. The ladies left with them.
The originals nearly all stayed. We had a fun rest of our night and held our officer election. While last night was a unique event, 50% newbies is common and we think it’s why we get so few dancers to stay in the club more than three nights. So, one of the changes is a new, occasional, no-newbies night, so the experienced dancers can dance something more complex than Airpants.
Are there ways to calm an unruly crowd? I have a fairly decent one-night stand routine, but I worried I’d lose my originals if we went over to that. I felt I could have taught them something if only I could just have gotten their attention. Throwing them out would have been uncomfortable, at best.
So, could I have done this any better? Has your dance ever been invaded, and how did you handle it?
Thanks,
—jh—
Joe Harrington
Faculty advisor and caller to Contra Knights, the UCF contra club
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights