21 Jan
2013
21 Jan
'13
9:42 a.m.
Greg,
For the dances where this is true, that's great. I have attended dances
where that's the value of the community, and I love dance organizations and
communities who foster that.
I've also been to a lot of dances where a specific culture of "we're here
to dance with a lot of people" is not the default case. That is, in fact,
the reason I brought up the "booking ahead" problem in the first place; I
recognize that there are exceptions, and you've pointed some out, but by
and large:
** Booking ahead is done because people want to dance with a small subset
of dancers who are their friends / the "cool, hip dancers" / etc. **
So I don't, as a caller, make the assumption that you present. Instead, I
believe that unless a dance specifically fosters a new-dancer-friendly,
inclusive environment, and goes out of its way to post signs / e-mails /
promote discussion with callers / etc, dancers will generally see a narrow
view of what's going on at the dance. It's up to organizers and callers, I
believe, to specifically shape the dance to a friendly environment ...
... if that's the dance's goal.
in dance,
Ron
On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 1:10 PM, Greg McKenzie <grekenzie(a)gmail.com> wrote:
My approach is to assume the best of the dancers and allow them to take the
initiative and rise to the occasion. I assume that all dancers at an open,
public contra dance are attracted to that venue--at least in part--by the
prospect of dancing with lots of folks new to them personally and new to
dancing contras. As a caller it is my responsibility to make that process
both easy and fun for them.
My experience is that this assumption always pays off. I am not saying it
works perfectly every time.