Re: [Callers] Inclusivemess & Older Dancers

I recently attended a dance event which attracted participants from multiple states and provinces and which lasted several days, attended by 200+  almost exclusively experienced dancers.    Several dancers had challenges. One dancer  was blind. However this individual  had excellent mobility and dance memory, and knew exactly where and how place her/his hands so other dancers could take hold and orient her/him  as needed.  S/he quickly and fluidly responded to any physical direction, whether by taking this dancer's hand or by someone placing hands on this dancer's shoulders in order to provide proper orientation.   Another woman had much difficulty with any lateral movement.  Despite knowing exactly when to face where and where one should be, his/her getting there was almost always a challenge, and nearly all figures had to be abbreviated   Two other dancers, although physically mobile, had noticeable difficulty in orientation.    Seemed like they were having initial signs of mental deterioration (more likely I think, especially for the one who usually danced with the same person) and/or in need of a hearing aid. The callers did not make any adjustments for these four individuals, but all the other dancers diligently, graciously and enthusiastically ensured the challenged dancers enjoyed the dances within their abilities.   Michael Fuerst      802 N Broadway      Urbana IL 61801       217-239-5844 ________________________________ From: Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2013 1:39 PM Subject: Re: [Callers] Inclusivemess & Older Dancers On 1/5/2013 5:48 AM, Donald Perley wrote:   These are good ideas and I have used them in my dance class for seniors.  Swings can be tricky since there is both the need for a certain amount of speed to get around at least once in the allotted time and the problem with dizziness that even a little turning can cause. Sometimes the dancers may need to skip the swing, if they have trouble getting around even once and just prepare for the next figure.  However, most of my participants can get around at least once, so a slow walking swing works OK.  Since many swings, especially with neighbors, end up with the dancers trading places turning half-way and then opening up to face the appropriate direction could work in some circumstances.   One thing I have run into with a few dancers is problems with orientation.  There was one dancer in one of my classes who always seemed to end up facing the wrong direction, no matter what figure came before.  I learned to say things like, "If your new neighbor (or whomever) isn't right in front of you, they are probably right behind you."  This seemed to be helpful at least some of the time.  Luckily this wasn't an issue with most of the dancers and they were able to help the ones who had some troubles. Jonathan ----- Jonathan Sivier Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances jsivier AT illinois DOT edu Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html ----- Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? A: It depends on what dance you call! _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers