Hi Jeff,

              Yes, it’s true! Approximately 30 minutes of swinging per evening was the conclusion on this forum after many discussions, many years ago.

              That’s why I ALWAYS spend time teaching first-timers how to swing (I have seen some atrocious teaching by dancers who think they know how to do it!).

            Happy dancing,                         

                   John                                  

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs                       

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs

From: Jeff Kaufman <jeff@alum.swarthmore.edu>
Sent: 23 November 2022 14:31
To: John Sweeney <john@modernjive.com>
Cc: Shared Weight Callers' Listserv <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Re: How to have the beginners choose roles

"during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 minutes swinging"

Tangent: I thought "that can't be right" but a little playing with numbers and I think it is.  My back of the envelope: guess ~12 dances, each ~17 times through, with ~20 beats of swinging per dance.  That's 4k beats of swinging, which at 118bpm is 35min.  Another way to think of it is that in a 3hr evening half of your time is dancing and a third of that is swinging.

Jeff

On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 4:49 PM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Since, during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 minutes swinging, surely it would be better to teach the dancers how to swing properly.

Apart from the slight variation in the position of one of your arms the swing should be symmetrical.  And nobody should be giving any of their weight to the other person. (I hate the term “give weight” – it is grossly misunderstood.)

I am quite happy to provide a gentle counterbalance to your mass, but please look after your own weight!

When teaching the buzz-step I always get the dancers to do it individually so that they learn to keep their own balance.  Too many dancers thinking that throwing their weight in some random direction will make the swing go faster – it won’t – only your feet can make the swing go faster.

Lots more at http://contrafusion.co.uk/SwingWorkshop.html

:-)

            Happy dancing,                         

                   John                                  

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs                       

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs

From: Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: 21 November 2022 21:02
To: Alexandra Deis-Lauby <adeislauby@gmail.com>
Cc: Shared Weight Callers' Listserv <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Re: How to have the beginners choose roles

I appreciate the care that goes into option #3, and also really like Becky's comment about some of the asymmetries that occur on the dancefloor as a result of the culture (i.e., that robins may encounter more twirling than larks). Another piece of cultural asymmetry I've encountered is that, in some communities, dancers are used to the dancer in the left-hand position carrying more of the weight in the swing — as a small person with bad joints, I find it more difficult to dance the left-hand role where this is a factor. Depending on how much time you have, reflecting on these differences in the roles' physicality seems like a kind and useful addition.

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