4 Dec
2011
4 Dec
'11
3:56 p.m.
I think standardization is a good thing, in all forms of engineering.
Personally, I stick to calling dances that require only a small set of
standardized figures. My goal is to keep this art form available to the
most people possible. I know that I, personally, would not have kept
dancing contras if a lot of new calls had been thrown at me every time I
attended. My goal is to keep that venue open to the general non-dancing
public.
So I would not use the call. I have a number of dances in my collection
that I no longer use because they contain calls that could cause "mild
confusion" for some dancers. Of course, almost all of the dances I call
are open to the general public.
- Greg McKenzie
*************
On Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 6:33 AM, Bob Peterson <bobp(a)contracorner.com> wrote:
Recently someone posted a dance sequence and rather
then hijack that
thread I'm starting a new one.
Right hand turn, Left hand turn
Two hand turn, No hand turn (do-si-do)
Balance and swing
Promenade and slip the clutch (ladies turn right and meet the next gent)
Outside of modern square dancing you can define slip the clutch any way
you like, of course, but within MSD, a slip the clutch requires both
dancers in the couple to already be facing in opposite directions. What
would be borrowed here from MSD is a "ladies rollback while the gents move
forward".
What's good here is the definition for this rare contra call is included.
What's bad is this exactly not the definition in squares. I know slip the
clutch sounds cooler and is shorter to say.
Its likely this was misobserved, misremembered or a coincidence of
invention. It could even be a very old definition that diverged in the two
dance styles. It's still going to (mildly) confuse the handful of people
who dance both contras and MSD-they'll either mess up or hesitate. I can
dance a contra to whatever words the caller wants to use as the caller
defines it, but if this were undefined and sprung on me, say in a medley,
I'd do something the contra caller did not intend. So again I'm glad the
definition is included in the choreography.
(Here's and easy reference to the rollback and slip the clutch calls from
MSD: http://www.mit.edu/~tech-squares/lessons/lesson6.html. There are
more precise definitions at the callerlab site.)
What do you think?
\bob
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers