See, this is what I mean, when I get advice from some callers that say one thing and advice from other callers that say the complete opposite.
I figure that there are lots of different people on the floor. Some people LIKE squares, believe it or not. Whenever I see squares called, yeah, there are some people who head for the sidelines, but generally I see dancers on the floor having a good time. So I learned some time ago that for everyone who grumbles about a square being called, there are 10 others who love it.
As for insisting that every dance has two swings AND the neighbor swing MUST come before the partner swing, that seems to be a personal preference rather than a hard and fast rule. I think that most dancers don't really care which one comes first. I went to a dance weekend this past weekend where there were more than a few dances with no neighbor swing, and it appeared that everyone had a great time dancing.
I have long been taught that variety is the spice of life, and people do enjoy squares mixed in with a contra, as well as varied choreography. Varied choreography makes the dance interesting. Hard and fast rules limit the choreography that you can do and excludes many all-time great dances that might have a neighbor swing or a partner swing first (like Joyride and Ramsay Chase). And let's not even talking about throwing in an occasional chestnut in there - we have to get rid of all those wonderful dances because they are "boring" by today's standards. (Except to those folks who love them of course!)
Perry
From: Cary Ravitz via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
To: Shared_Weight_Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] More on Programming
Why swings in every dance - because that is a huge part of the
contra experience, a swing with the person that you asked to dance.
Why
should the partner swing follow the neighbor swing - because this is an
art form, not an exercise routine. The storyline of a contra is the
uniting of partners, not the the breaking up of partners (that's my preference anyway). And in
practical terms, I want to be with my partner at the end of a dance to
thank them quickly before finding another partner.
"Squares are just like contras, only you have to listen" - this is not correct.
Some things that people to not like about squares -
less movement/music connection due to lack of strict phrasing
having to listen to the caller breaks the movement/music connection
teaching time
mixer squares breaks the partner connection
visiting squares leave people "out of the dance" for long periods.
I find squares and contras completely different.