[Callers] Re: "Assigning" roles in the beginners' lesson?

I might be on the extreme side of things, but in beginner lessons, I start in a circle and eventually have couples drop hands with neighbors and assign rights/robins, lefts/larks without asking for preference. Since they’re at a beginner lesson, I assume they’re here to learn from the beginning, which means that they are learning gender free dancing — not just stand in terms for roles, but dancing free of gendered assumptions. Also I get them in swing position fairly quickly, so if someone has a clear preference it becomes obvious and I have them switch roles if needed — it usually isn’t! In the dances in my area, this works since many beginners don’t seem to have much experience (or gender rigidity) in ballroom position. My bottom line is that I’d rather make someone who has previous gendered experience with ballroom position less comfortable than alienate trans, queer, or NB beginners by leaning back on others’ previously gendered experience. But, obviously this depends on what is the norm in your dance community and how long nongendered dance roles have been standard. In the Bay Area, it’s been years. Tanya H. Merchant On Sun, Mar 10, 2024 at 11:15 Mary Collins via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: