Re: [Callers] Gender free dances

Susie, Called my first Gender Free dance last year.  Will be calling again the same dance in February.  During the dance my calls became Bands and Bares.  A caution that was told to me was to do the following: redo my cards for these calls.  This was a great help, I only slipped twice saying gents/ladies.  Secondly, practice the dances with these calls to get this alternate calling method in my muscle memory.  Writing new cards and practicing alot made the night a fun time for all.   I could go on autopilot and not have to think.  I wish you much success.  See ya from the floor, Dan   ________________________________ From: susie rudder <surudder1(a)earthlink.net> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Sent: Thu, December 2, 2010 1:02:54 PM Subject: [Callers] Gender free dances   I have been asked to call for a new dance group forming in a small town   near our regular dance. Experienced dancers were asked to come help   these absolute newbies, and some local musicians have volunteered their   services. It became obvious that about half the dancers were lesbians   who asked me to use non gender specific terms when calling. I tried   'lead' and 'follow' because the syllable numbers worked, but I'm not   happy with that. I also had some regular dancers comment on not wanting   to deal with 'some' peoples' political agendas as related to contra   calling. I have never dealt with gender free calling and would   appreciate ANY help from those of you who may have been doing it for   years. What terms seem to work best? Any other hints to make things go   more smoothly?  These people are very enthusiastic and I want to see   the dance succeed. _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers