Import1

import1@lists2.sharedweight.net

2524 discussions

Re: [Callers] Local styles vs. consensus (Was: Another vote for "jets" and "rubies")

by Tony Parkes via Callers

Ron Blechner wrote: > With regards to Tony's question about the number of terms increasing in contra, a question: > I understand that squares used to be more commonly interspersed with contras at dances, correct? Yes, up until around 1975–1980, most New England series of my acquaintance were either 50/50 or mostly squares. Outside the Northeast, it depended on who a series’ first callers were and who they learned from. Some series were mostly or all contras, some were closer to 50/50. It’s my understanding that squares have all but disappeared from many of the latter. > Squares provide so many different moves that they need special teaching for individual dances. So are modern contras that much different? It depends on what kind of squares you have in mind. New England squares, by and large, are based on 19th-century quadrilles and draw from the same very short list of moves that pre-1970s contras did. (Between 1950 and roughly 1980, trad-revival New England callers started using a handful of modern SD terms such as “box the gnat,” probably no more than half a dozen.) Southern squares typically have a dominant figure (like “duck for the oyster”) that’s unique to that dance, just as the key moves in Petronella and Rory O’More were unique until the current contra revival. Naturally, a group unfamiliar with a specific Southern square will need a careful walkthrough (how careful depends on how complex the figure is; some are simpler than others). In some Southern communities, a dance set consists of 3 to 6 dominant figures that are called in random order, but 90+ percent of the crowd know the figures by heart. I can’t think of a square dance tradition that has “many different moves” compared to contras. That’s a hallmark of modern “Western” squares (aka club squares or federation squares). I think the modern contra vocabulary, with its recent explosion of terms, is starting to look more like modern “Western” squares than like either trad New England or trad Southern squares. > If I need to teach a box the gnat or a square-thru to a room with a number of new dancers, does it matter whether that move is taught for a contra or a square? Not at all. I’m not saying it’s inherently wrong to borrow terms from other dance forms, or even to invent new terms. But I do worry that the 80 percent of contra dancers who are neither beginners nor super-experienced will be expected to know more and more terms without much explanation. Either that or we’ll have to discard an old term for every one we add. When I started contra dancing in the mid-1960s, there were about 14 terms that an accomplished dancer needed to know. Between then and 2000, about 14 more were introduced, about half of them from modern SD. Since 2000, I’ve read about or encountered at least 17 more. I can only hope that the more complex ones are left as dominant figures, special features of a tiny handful of dances, and not added to the collective vocabulary. > I agree that the contras themselves have gotten more complex in the past few decades, but the overall choreography over time? I might like to hear more voices of long-time callers / dancers for perspective. Not sure what you mean here, Ron. I’m not getting the distinction between “the contras themselves” and “the overall choreography.” (I do agree that there are many more contras in general circulation of a type I consider complex; I have my doubts as to how many dancers prefer them.) Tony Parkes Billerica, Mass. www.hands4.com<http://www.hands4.com> New book: Square Dance Calling (ready Summer 2017)

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Local styles vs. consensus (Was: Another vote for "jets" and "rubies")

by Ron Blechner via Callers

Hearing the multiple-prompts-for-same-move topic framed in a new way has been helpful to me. I've enjoyed that local communities have different feels to them. I like that this discussion led to Tony and others indicating that term variations are part of the charm of local variations. With regards to Tony's question about the number of terms increasing in contra, a question: I understand that squares used to be more commonly interspersed with contras at dances, correct? Squares provide so many different moves that they need special teaching for individual dances. So are modern contras that much different? If I need to teach a box the gnat or a square-thru to a room with a number of new dancers, does it matter whether that move is taught for a contra or a square? I agree that the contras themselves have gotten more complex in the past few decades, but the overall choreography over time? I might like to hear more voices of long-time callers / dancers for perspective. Best regards, Ron Blechner On Jan 30, 2017 10:17 AM, "Tony Parkes via Callers" < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: Rich Hart wrote: << I'd also add to your two requirements (enjoyable and in a safe space), a third one. that is that our dances should also be welcoming to all, regardless of their position in life, and dance skills. As callers, we all try to chose dances and calls that are appropriate, and acceptable for the local dancers. That should not change.>> I deliberately kept my list of requirements short, because I’m not convinced there’s consensus on any others. You might think “welcoming to all, regardless of… dance skills” would be a no-brainer, but in reality, some series are (perceived as) far less welcoming than others. One could even argue (though I’m not arguing here) that this is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as there’s at least one series in every metropolitan area that nurtures beginners. I do want to say that I find it somewhat troubling when a series that doesn’t bill itself as “challenging” or “experienced” develops a reputation for freezing out newcomers. I agree that callers try to present programs that are “acceptable for the local dancers”; but that’s not the same as being “welcoming to all.” The local dancers may be quite sophisticated in their tastes and capacities, and it may be hard (though not impossible) to please them and still foster an inclusive atmosphere. The disparity between series attitudes may be a good thing, a bad thing, or some of each, but it’s the reality in many areas. Tony Parkes Billerica, Mass. www.hands4.com New book: Square Dance Calling (ready Summer 2017) _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Rich Sbardella via Callers

In the New England MWSD Community, there is one weekend a year that dances collect data. This method, although it has problems, is probable good at seeng long term trends. Rich Sbardella On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 12:51 PM, Ron Blechner via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > No, I haven't seen statistical analysis of this. Maybe it's worthwhile for > this to be polled out to various dances. > > Best regards, > Ron > > On Jan 30, 2017 10:54 AM, "Donna Hunt" <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com> wrote: > > Just getting back to this thread, lots to catch up on. > > Jeff and Ron: You both seem like the statisticians here. Is there any > data that reflects where in the country the LGBTQ gender-free dances are > and where the communities that use gender-free terminology are? > > Just curious. > > Ron: When you say that local dances attendance is down is there data > about that compared to dances where attendance is not down? Again, looking > for information country wide or even geographic area. > > Thanks > Donna Hunt > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > >

7 years, 11 months

[Callers] Folk Dance Books Available

by Jerome Grisanti via Callers

Recently, the university where my wife works got rid of their dance department, and my wife brought home to me multiple copies of a bunch of folk dance books, including: Folk Dances of the British Isles (Anne Schley Duggan, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge -- at least three copies) Folk Dances of European Countries (Anne Schley Duggan, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge -- at least three copies) Folk Dances of the United States and Mexico (Anne Schley Duggan, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge -- at least three copies) Folk Dances of Scandinavia (Anne Schley Duggan, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge -- at least three copies) The Teaching of Folk Dance Teaching of Ethnic Dance (Joukowsky) American Indian and Other Folk Dances (Shafter) Caller/Teacher Manual for the Extended Basics Program for American Square Dancing (Ruff) (Two books: Levels 1-3 and Beyond Level 3) Folk Dancing in High School and College (Grace I. Fox) Folk Dance Progressions (Lidster and Tamburini) AND, she wants me to clean up my dance library. Any help you can offer to move them to new homes (come and get them, I'll send them to you, etc.) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! --Jerome Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Dave Casserly via Callers

What if we made a Google doc with more vague categories where dances could self-report their attendance? Something like, a column for the state where the dance is located, a column for 2015 average attendance, all done in ranges of 1-50, 51-100, etc, and another column for 2017 attendance, with the same ranges? I think that would be useful for purposes of knowing how many dances are suffering declining attendance, and where those dances are, but wouldn't give out enough specific information to make organizers queasy about publicly releasing data. On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 1:35 PM, Jeff Kaufman via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > For attendance, what I would love to see is dances making their > attendance numbers fully public. Something like a googledocs > spreadsheet that anyone can view where you put in attendance numbers. > > (I've advocated for this, internally to BIDA, for years > (unsuccessfully). We do have a sheet like this, but it's not public.) > > On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 1:07 PM, Linda Leslie via Callers > <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > It may be that the Organizers’ List for Shared Weight may have this kind > of > > data. > > Linda > > > > On Jan 30, 2017, at 12:51 PM, Ron Blechner via Callers > > <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > > > No, I haven't seen statistical analysis of this. Maybe it's worthwhile > for > > this to be polled out to various dances. > > > > Best regards, > > Ron > > > > On Jan 30, 2017 10:54 AM, "Donna Hunt" <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com> wrote: > > > > Just getting back to this thread, lots to catch up on. > > > > Jeff and Ron: You both seem like the statisticians here. Is there any > data > > that reflects where in the country the LGBTQ gender-free dances are and > > where the communities that use gender-free terminology are? > > > > Just curious. > > > > Ron: When you say that local dances attendance is down is there data > about > > that compared to dances where attendance is not down? Again, looking for > > information country wide or even geographic area. > > > > Thanks > > Donna Hunt > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Linda Leslie via Callers

It may be that the Organizers’ List for Shared Weight may have this kind of data. Linda On Jan 30, 2017, at 12:51 PM, Ron Blechner via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > No, I haven't seen statistical analysis of this. Maybe it's worthwhile for this to be polled out to various dances. > > Best regards, > Ron > > On Jan 30, 2017 10:54 AM, "Donna Hunt" <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com> wrote: > Just getting back to this thread, lots to catch up on. > > Jeff and Ron: You both seem like the statisticians here. Is there any data that reflects where in the country the LGBTQ gender-free dances are and where the communities that use gender-free terminology are? > > Just curious. > > Ron: When you say that local dances attendance is down is there data about that compared to dances where attendance is not down? Again, looking for information country wide or even geographic area. > > Thanks > Donna Hunt > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Ron Blechner via Callers

No, I haven't seen statistical analysis of this. Maybe it's worthwhile for this to be polled out to various dances. Best regards, Ron On Jan 30, 2017 10:54 AM, "Donna Hunt" <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com> wrote: Just getting back to this thread, lots to catch up on. Jeff and Ron: You both seem like the statisticians here. Is there any data that reflects where in the country the LGBTQ gender-free dances are and where the communities that use gender-free terminology are? Just curious. Ron: When you say that local dances attendance is down is there data about that compared to dances where attendance is not down? Again, looking for information country wide or even geographic area. Thanks Donna Hunt

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Tony Parkes via Callers

Jeff Kaufman wrote: > The gender free dances are split into explicitly LGBTQ ones and ones that are gender free but not explicitly LGBTQ. I trust that the series in the second category are careful to mention their gender-free policy when (if) they invite new-to-the-series callers to come. No one likes awkward surprises. Tony Parkes Billerica, Mass. www.hands4.com New book: Square Dance Calling (ready Summer 2017)

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Donna Hunt via Callers

Just getting back to this thread, lots to catch up on. Jeff and Ron: You both seem like the statisticians here. Is there any data that reflects where in the country the LGBTQ gender-free dances are and where the communities that use gender-free terminology are? Just curious. Ron: When you say that local dances attendance is down is there data about that compared to dances where attendance is not down? Again, looking for information country wide or even geographic area. Thanks Donna Hunt -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Kaufman via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> To: Ron Blechner <contraron(a)gmail.com> Cc: callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Fri, Jan 27, 2017 2:26 pm Subject: Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies" On Fri, Jan 27, 2017 at 1:44 PM, Ron Blechner <contraron(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > If that's the case, one would assume there are also plenty of traditional > venue dancers who don't care either way. To that effect, genderfree roles > are not as scary as some have claimed. Sure, I think that's probably true. But I think the most likely possibility is "most people don't care that much" not "several thousand dancers want it". > > Dances using gents/ladies up and down the East coast are dwindling in > attendance. I'm hearing that from nearly every organizer I speak with. I'm not disputing this (though I also don't have firsthand evidence of it) I just don't think gender free terms are *causing* the attendance change, as opposed to both attendance changes and gender free naming being caused by an underlying factor. > I don't understand discounting new dances at all. If there was a demand for > a genderfree dance, and it was filled, how is that not proof of growth of > overall genderfree dancing? The dances that have been gender free for decades and the dances that have recently one gender free are pretty different. The older dances have a community, culture, and core that formed several decades ago to be LGBT/queer spaces, while the newer gender free dances are mostly mainstream dances in a modern mainstream that is much more queer friendly. Jeff _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Local styles vs. consensus (Was: Another vote for "jets" and "rubies")

by Tony Parkes via Callers

Rich Hart wrote: << I'd also add to your two requirements (enjoyable and in a safe space), a third one. that is that our dances should also be welcoming to all, regardless of their position in life, and dance skills. As callers, we all try to chose dances and calls that are appropriate, and acceptable for the local dancers. That should not change.>> I deliberately kept my list of requirements short, because I’m not convinced there’s consensus on any others. You might think “welcoming to all, regardless of… dance skills” would be a no-brainer, but in reality, some series are (perceived as) far less welcoming than others. One could even argue (though I’m not arguing here) that this is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as there’s at least one series in every metropolitan area that nurtures beginners. I do want to say that I find it somewhat troubling when a series that doesn’t bill itself as “challenging” or “experienced” develops a reputation for freezing out newcomers. I agree that callers try to present programs that are “acceptable for the local dancers”; but that’s not the same as being “welcoming to all.” The local dancers may be quite sophisticated in their tastes and capacities, and it may be hard (though not impossible) to please them and still foster an inclusive atmosphere. The disparity between series attitudes may be a good thing, a bad thing, or some of each, but it’s the reality in many areas. Tony Parkes Billerica, Mass. www.hands4.com<http://www.hands4.com> New book: Square Dance Calling (ready Summer 2017)

7 years, 11 months

Jump to page:

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Import1