New subject: Gender Swapping - When?

11 Sep 2009

At regular public contra dances I don't switch genders.  If I see a 
swapped couple approaching I will often begin calling (if the caller 
has stopped calling) to help my partner, and others, avoid confusion.

Greg McKenzie

*********

At 06:57 AM 9/11/2009, Jack Mitchell wrote:
...
     One other thing I had thought about doing in a
workshop is to have a
    few people in each line with a red ball cap or a particular shirt or
    some other identifying mark, and challenge folks in the workshop to
    make sure that they're not swapping when they get to those particular
    people in the line.  At regular dances, I have particular local dancers
    that I know don't react well to switching parts -- mostly because it
    confuses them -- and I try to switch back when I see them coming.  I
    also attempt (mostly successfully) to make sure that I don't switch
    parts when one of the folks in the next couple is a new dancer.  The
    partner swing is a nice time to look ahead to see who the next couple
    is and quickly switch back if needed.
    Jack
    At 09:36 AM 9/11/2009, you wrote:

      Following up on Mark Galipeau's note:
      In a workshop, it may be good to offer a little context on when
      gender-role-swapping is appropriate (or inappropriate). For example,
      at most
      dance weekends your neighbors will welcome or at least understand.
      At many
      monthly dances, there are neighbors who may become confused either
      because
      they are new, rigidly devoted to traditional gender roles, or any
      number of
      other reasons. Some may even try to correct us (if they don't know
      us).
      Before swapping, I look ahead in the line to be sure that our next
      neighbors
      will be part of the "game" and not put off by it.
      (Mark indicates the idea of there being a time and a place for this,
      I
      merely offer an additional tip).
      --Jerome

 Message: 3
 Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 15:27:15 -0700 (PDT)
 From: Mark Galipeau &lt;red72impala(a)yahoo.com&gt;
 To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt;
 Subject: Re: [Callers] Gender Swapping
 Message-ID: &lt;964380.63567.qm(a)web83604.mail.sp1.yahoo.com&gt;
 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

 If the group is alert, what my dance partners and I occasionally       enjoy, is
  memorizing both roles in the dance, then each
iteration when there       is a
  swing your partner, we swap gender roles.
 ie: first swing I lead, then the next time we come back to swing       my partner
  immediately takes the lead role and swings me.?
Some dances are       challenging
  and if the grey matter is slow, or it is late in
the evening this       can really
  snafu the line.
 ?
 Chris Ricciotti has a great web resouce on Gender Free Contra on       this web
  site.
 [1]http://www.lcfd.org/Articles/GFManual/index.html
 ?
 Mark Galipeau
 Queer Contra Dancer
 We swing both ways, and then some.

       --
      Jerome Grisanti
      660-528-0858
      [2]http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
      For the good are always the merry,
      Save by an evil chance,
      And the merry love the fiddle
      And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
      _______________________________________________
      Callers mailing list
      Callers(a)sharedweight.net
      [3]http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

References

    1. http://www.lcfd.org/Articles/GFManual/index.html
    2. http://www.jeromegrisanti.com/
    3. http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers 

Re: [Callers] Gender Swapping - When?