28 Jan
2008
28 Jan
'08
1:14 p.m.
I occasionally call dances with a shadow swing, but I would NEVER call a
dance with no partner swing. Many times in my 35 years of dancing, I have
had an evening where I FINALLY got to dance with some special partner, only
to have the disappointment of doing a dance with no partner swing. What a
letdown!
Any caller in my area who calls dances without partner swings is either
going to hear about it from one or more dancers, or at least be grumbled
about behind their backs. It's probably not a big deal in a roomful of
beginners, but I think that most experienced dancers feel cheated if they
don't get to swing their partner.
In fact, there has been much discussion in our dance community (really, all
over the Southeast) as to whether "unequal" dances (where only the 1's
swing) are "acceptable," given that there are so many great "equal"
dances
available. Of course, this would knock out a whole bunch of the old,
traditional contras...
Have I opened a huge can of worms here?
~Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg McKenzie" <gregmck(a)earthlink.net>
To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 2:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Shadow swings and Irrational Hypocrisy
Friends,
It seems that having folks who really dislike swinging together at a
community dance is bad news...with, or without shadow swings. I know
it happens, but callers can work to create a more gracious and
generous atmosphere. It would feel odd to plan an evening program
while considering the needs of people who wish to avoid contact at a
social dance.
Chris, I wonder; how would you feel about a dance with a shadow
swing, and a neighbor swing, but with NO partner swing? I suspect
that many of us call a dance or two each night with no partner
swing. Would you protest more if there were one partner-swing-free
dance with a shadow swing? (And would that be "rational hypocrisy?)
Also, how many dances a night do you call that have no partner swing?
Just wondering,
Greg
*********
At 02:35 PM 1/24/2008, Chris wrote:
I currently don't have any dances with shadow
swings in my
repertoire, by choice.
Part of that is to avoid the situation where you're forcing two
people to swing together who Really Don't Want To Swing
Over and Over. And they'll let you know it, whether it's a
breakup, or one person's someone that they don't want to
dance with. (In my first community I went to, there was
one person like this. It would drive which lines people went
into, people would refuse sometimes to neighbor swing
with said person, and it really corrupted the whole partner-
asking dynamic of the dance. So I'm shaped by an extreme.)
There's the secondary reason that it's not as interesting as
it's the same person over and over and over. And you've
already got your partner over and over and over, with the
partner swing I need to pander to. So that cuts out still more
neighbor interaction. It's why I strongly prefer neighbor grand
right and lefts to shadow grand right and lefts, for instance.
A shadow can be a convenient marker to create the effect
of a lose-and-find partner sequence, so they do have their
uses.
Yet I call a dance with a shadow swing about one night
of every three. They're the four-face-fours where you swing
your corner. So I fully admit to irrational hypocrisy.
-Chris Page
San Diego
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