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@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@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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