17 Jul
2024
17 Jul
'24
6:21 p.m.
I don’t call them much because I only have one or two dances of that type
in my box, and I usually pass them by for more interesting dances.
I agree with Joe Harrington about inclusiveness and “service” dances. Don’t
we all? Or don’t we.
If there are people with whom you don’t want to swing, maybe you could
start a club and take applications. Maybe part of the application could be
that applicants have to swing the core group of dancers to be rated for
acceptance.
Or consider that for a 32-bar dance you might have to swing a shadow for
about 7 seconds for each iteration of the dance, and let’s say the dance
repeats 13 times; oh heavens, you’d have to spend a whole 91 seconds for
the whole dance swinging with that shadow. Just think of all the other
things you could have been doing with that 91 seconds. Life is short!
Jim
Columbia, MO (yeah, we’re out in the middle of the country far away from
the right and left coasts, so it takes us a few years to catch up on all
the trends)
On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 12:53 PM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Solid B. As a dancer I love them. They happen so
rarely that they’re a
treat. Are there really all that many people I actively DON’T want a swing
with? No.
Sure, I enjoy swinging with some more than others. But, I probably do 50x
as many “service dances” (as in, no, I didn’t really want to dance with
that person, but someone needs to, because we are an inclusive community,
and I didn’t have the heart to say no) as shadow swings. By stats, the
shadow swing will be much better than a service dance. Maybe I get one or
two shadow swings a year, vs. several service dances a night.
I’m just speaking my own thoughts about my personal dance experience,
here, and not saying others need to apply the same logic to themselves.
—jh—
On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 1:07 PM Gabrielle Taylor via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I recently danced in two dances with shadow
swings, one at NEFFA and one
at the experienced ("zesty") dance in Boulder, CO. In both dances, it
seemed like spending so much time with the shadow wound up making dancers
more confused, since if anyone got switched around then the dancers would
worry about finding their original shadow. Getting switched around is
especially common with experienced dances nowadays, since many dancers will
swap roles with their partners, and of course there's just the risk of
someone messing up. In addition, there's the concern that others brought
up, where it's a lot of interaction throughout the dance with a partner
that you didn't choose.
I'd personally stay away from them, unless you have an _extremely_
confident group of dancers or the dance just really needs the swing there.
Thanks,
Gabrielle Taylor
On Jul 17, 2024, at 08:39, Maia McCormick via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Prompted by some recent conversations, I’m curious how folks here feel
about shadow swings!
1. As a caller, do you:
A) not have an issue with shadow swings, and program them freely
B) not tend to program them just bc they don’t come up in your
repertoire, but have no issue with them
C) not program shadow swings as a matter of principle
D) some secret fourth thing (feel free to elaborate!)?
2. How do you feel about shadow swings as a dancer?
Will weigh in with my thoughts later, both to avoid biasing the
conversation from the outset, and also because I’m currently in transit 😅
Thanks for participating in the data gathering!
Cheers,
Maia
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194
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