3 Jan
2013
3 Jan
'13
8:08 p.m.
Greg,
I would agree with your idea that the leading/following comes from more
experienced dancers leading the newcomers, but I think that's tangential to
the discussion about what we call the roles. I don't believe anyone's
uniformly suggesting there's no "leading / following" in general, though,
yes, I realize simply stating, "Oh, there's no leading or following in
contra" is ambiguous and, technically speaking, you're correct. But I think
that's a matter of semantics; people saying that are speaking in the
context of roles between partners, and I don't think they're broadening it
to contra in general. (Though, it is an interesting thought to me to
consider how lead/follow is more of a community, whole-line-of-people thing
rather than a role thing. It probably has something to do with how I got
hooked into contra in the first place.)
In dance,
Ron
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Greg McKenzie <grekenzie(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Contra dance is not waltz, foxtrot, swing, or tango. It also does not have
"leader" and "follower" roles. But it most certainly does have leads
and
follows, lots of them.
This is an example of how the framings from couple dancing can be
problematic when discussing called community dancing, and contras in
particular. The couple dances mentioned above use a very restricted
meaning for their own purposes. In the English language "lead" and
"follow" have much broader meanings. Schools of fish, flocks of birds,
herds of deer, and groupings of many social insects all organize themselves
with individuals "leading" and "following" each other.
This is an important concept...particularly in social dance. To suggest
that people do not lead or follow in contra dance is to block any
discussion of how this remarkable dance form *works*. The core idea of
"sweeping newcomers into the dance" is predicated on the assumption that
the regulars are leading newcomers through the figures.
I hope that those of you who suggest contras are not a "lead/follow" dance
form will please "follow" my "lead" in this matter and allow us to
use the
common English meaning of the word to discuss a core concept that--I would
argue--is more central to contras than it is to Tango or other partner
dances.
This misunderstanding could have great impacts on this dance form. It
appears that many contra dance callers have accepted the notion that
"contras are not a lead/follow dance form" and the result is that they
insist on teaching from the mike when the regulars could quickly lead the
newcomers through the figures.
This is an unfortunate situation in the contra dance movement. We need to
recognize that it is the ability of the regulars to lead the newcomers that
makes this dance form so accessible.
I know that this does not match the restricted way you learned to use these
words. But please allow us to use common English to discuss this core
concept in contra dance.
Just a thought.
- Greg McKenzie
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