4 May
2012
4 May
'12
7:50 p.m.
On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 2:32 PM, Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu>wrote;wrote:
I was at a dance recently where the caller noticed
that there were
many new dancers and that it probably wouldn't work to just wait for
people to get into position. They told all the couples to stand with
the ladies in one line and the gents in another, to take hands for
from the top, and that this was proper formation. Then they introduced
1s and 2s and had all the ones cross over. But they didn't call any
proper or assymetric dances all night! Which is fine; I think they
chose good dances for the crowd. But why introduce the terminology?
Especially when there's so many other terms we want them to be
absorbing?
If nobody teaches it, then when someone does call one, half the people in
the hall will be starting at the stage like deer in headlights. Much like
why triplets, triple minors, and even squares, do not work well in the
Boston-area contra dance scene any more, even though they used to be called
frequently back in the VFW days.