26 Nov
2012
26 Nov
'12
2:18 p.m.
Read wrote:
When calles at our dances do this, I lobby hard to not
have them invited
back. The message I get is "only I can be helpful to newcomers; you
experienced dancers, don't even try." If you've got experienced dancers who
are doing things that confuse newcomers, you (or someone) need to teach the
newcomers how to be helpful. Preventing them from doing so is not a way to
build a local dance.
It is an unfortunate incarnation of what I call the "don't do it yet"
syndrome, where the caller orders the dancers NOT to do something and
listen first. There are situations where this call might be needed...but
not often. If the caller asks dancers to ignore a call more than once a
night I'd call it a syndrome.
I try to let the regular dancers do almost all of the teaching, if
possible. I do offer some safety tips, etc. But my calls are directed
almost entirely at the regulars. I assume that they will show others who
will then quickly learn the calls. So...I guess I don't think calls need
to always be descriptive...I'm still thinking about that one.
A call like "angry robin," which is not descriptive, has no information for
first-timers. That makes it a little more difficult for first-timers to
learn. I avoid this figure for several reasons: The call is not friendly
to first-timers. And there is no physical contact and that makes it more
difficult for the regulars who know it to show it to others.
Generally I design my calls to get the most essential information to the
dancers first. I would never use the call "allemand left your neighbor,"
for example. That is a totally backwards call. I prefer "neighbor, left
hand turn" primarily because it first identifies the target dancer and then
it puts out the "left hand" information , which is what the dancers need to
know to start moving.
"Neighbor, left hand turn" also has two fewer syllables.
- Greg McKenzie