[Callers] Re: Cures for the Claps?

As a dancer, I usually prefer not to clap myself, but I usually don't mind if other people clap for normal Petronellas. As a caller, I usually tell the dancers that claps are optional, but when it's a cure-for-the-claps type dance I do strongly encourage them *not* to clap and I point out how the spin is designed to flow directly into the next move. In those cases, I also usually ask the musicians to play smoother music so that the *music* doesn't encourage clapping. And as a musician, I actually *love* when I can predict when the dancers will clap, and can play with that (breaks, etc.). In Seattle we've had a recent trend of some dancers expanding the Petronella claps - deliberately clapping early or late or on off-beats (but still rhythmic, just *playing with expectations*), to the point where sometimes you can hear clapping on every beat throughout the move, even if every individual dancer is only doing two claps. It's fun as a novelty (even though it breaks the circle connection even more), and I do occasionally participate, but only if the dance is otherwise very simple, and only if the music seems to want it. I've seen that kind of thing come and go in other scenes before, too, so I'm not *too* worried about it taking over as an all-the-time thing. All of that said, I completely agree with Maia that (a) clapping on Rory O'More moves (and box circulates!) is trending up, and also (b) in my opinion this is basically ALWAYS bad because it basically ALWAYS detracts from reconnecting to the new wave in time to redirect into a satisfying balance. One of the workshop ideas that I've been developing is on wavy line balances and connections, and I think this is one of the points that I'll try to hit! To answer Maia's original question, I can absolutely see how that "it's always bad because it detracts from reconnecting" opinion could also apply to Petronellas in exactly the same way. I would posit that by now we are so used to the claps in that specific context, that we don't think about how much less rushed the connect-and-balance action *could* be if we instead actively reconnected *before *we balance the ring again. I suspect that's the root of the curmudgeonliness of some (or most?) of the folks who object to claps on principal - many of them may be long-time dancers who *do* remember what we're missing. And on the other hand, I would *also* argue that since I define a balance (generally) as two steps together to create a compression connection that peaks on beat 2 (followed by two steps apart to create a tension connection that peaks on beat 4, to be ready to spring into whatever comes next), it doesn't actually matter whether your hands are connected before beat 1 unless you *need* tension before beat 1 to help you get *into* the balance together on one and two (as in Rory waves, where you need to stop & redirect your outward momentum so that you can begin to balance together). Whereas when you're reconnecting in a Petronella circle, or going into a regular balance and swing, you generally don't have so much momentum from the spin that you need the new connection in order to redirect into the balance. In those cases I think it's *fine* to just start moving towards each other on 1, as long as you have that compression connection by the time beat 2 arrives. OK I have definitely rambled enough here! Hope any of this is useful and/or food for thought. Koren Wake (Seattle WA, dancer, caller, musician) On Thu, May 23, 2024 at 9:36 AM David Chandler via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net