Subject: Re: Star Promenade - [thread morphing into: flourish vs courtesy] - Contra Callers

7 Feb 2012

Despite my youth, i may be a codger already... IMO, courtesy is(/should
be!) basic to the dance; style and flourish have their place, and i enjoy
them as well, but not at the expense of courtesy. I think it's possible
(/our responsibility?) as callers to emphasize this point without making
flourish unwelcome - particularly because lack of courtesy is the surest
way for flourish to become unwelcome among dancers, leading to those
problematic set dynamics. Recently i had an experience in a particularly
venerable venue where i took the time to teach the mechanics of  a gents
chain, and the militantly flourishistic dancers paid little heed, thus i
watched their line struggle the whole way through.

When it comes to petronella claps, i'm intrigued by that particular
flourish's ability to enhance or detract from courtesy and community
depending on how it's interpreted by the dancers. I personally find it
useful to suggest that dancers clap "to" their foursome (/new
neighbor/partner) as a means of both orienting them and focusing even the
flourish on the idea of dancing "together".

...
  Message: 5
 Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 15:41:32 -0500
 From: George Mercer &lt;geopmercer(a)gmail.com&gt;
 To: "Caller's discussion list" &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt;
 Subject: Re: [Callers] Star Promenade - communicate the feeling of a
        good    one?
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 Charles: I tend to agree and I may be becoming too much of a codger.  I
 don't want to discourage flourishes.  When I was younger I was quite up to
 putting on the style--it was almost a calling card.  But I learned almost
 from the beginning that I could do just about anything as long as I ended
 up where I was supposed to be--on time.  I agree that fun is central to the
 dance, but I also insist that courtesy is also essential.  I have the same
 issue with the nearly ubiquitous "Petronella clap."  I don't usually do it
 but don't care if others do.  It does, however, remain a flourish.
  Inevitably it is the first thing about a petronella twirl that newcomers
 pick up and almost as inevitably it contributes to unnecessary confusion
 for them. Clap away, twirl away, jump and shout, get down and get funky,
 but help the newcomers/inexperienced dancers learn to become experienced
 dancers.

 On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 3:18 PM, Charles Hannum &lt;root(a)ihack.net&gt; wrote:

 > There are different reasons that people contra dance.  I'm pretty sure
 > that for some, it really is about the flourishes, and the flirtiness
 > thereof, and therefore it's more important to them than being on time.
 >  Unless they are actually causing the set to fall apart, I'm not sure
 > this is per se a problem, nor if so what the solution would be without
 > discouraging some people from coming to the dance.
   > It seems to me that being too strict
about the dancing leads to
 > situations like we had several years ago locally, where a bunch of
 > dancers who had been dancing at a particular location for many years
 > were offended by all the wacky stuff the ?young people? were doing.
 > This is part of why, to this day, there is still a strong separation
 > of who dances in which lines.
   > The challenge for organizers and
callers is really to make the dance
 > welcoming to a variety of people, even though those people may want
 > somewhat different things from the dance.

 > On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 15:08, George Mercer &lt;geopmercer(a)gmail.com&gt;
 wrote:
  > I love a good star promenade and butterfly
whirl, but there are  inherent
  > issues that crop up at almost every dance. 
First and foremost is the
 > experienced dancers who are too busy doing their "flourishes" to 
actually
  > do the appropriate move (and are thereby
teaching inexperienced dancers
 > that the flourish is more important and more fun than the actual move)  or
   to do it
at the appropriate time and who just flat out don't understand  how
 > important it is to help the other dancers.  Callers are also part of  the
   problem. 
They almost never teach dancers that there is very little
 waiting/standing in a contra or square dance, even if someone else is  doing
 > the move [Think of baseball fielders beginning to move as the pitcher  is
  > making the release...even though they have
no diea wher the ball is  going
  > to be hit].  As to the star
promenade/butterfly whirl, the  non-allemander
   (now
there's a word) should be moving before the person he/she is going  to
 > promenade with gets there.  This happens on other moves as well--think  of
   all the
20 beat heys you've encountered.  We should also consider
 counseling new/inexperienced dancers that the music will help them to  know
  when to terminate a move and begin the next, and
that stopping early is
 almost always better than stopping late.  I mentioned this at a dance
 recently where I was calling and some of the dancers applauded. Callers  can
 > also help by making the call before the move, which we all know we  should
  > be doing anyway (though we all sometimes
fail to do).  It also very  rare
  > that I hear a caller/instructor remind
dancers that if they are late  for
 > or
 > > actually miss a move not to worry, but if at all possible to get on to
 > the
 > > next move in time.
 > > 