28 Mar
2018
28 Mar
'18
10:43 a.m.
He’s right… and she’s right. How can they both be right?
Well… they ARE both right. There is no clear cut answer on this. People who feel strongly
on one side or the other may like to think there is a clear cut answer, but if one thing
seems clear to me by the amount of back and forth on this subject it’s that there are
differing valid opinions.
In the meantime, while we argue endlessly about whether to gypsy, walk-around,
face-to-face, vis-a-vis, spiral, gyre, turn by the eyes, whimsy, kipsy, tipsy, shmipsy -
or just avoid the move altogether, we lose why many came to contra dancing in the first
place. Contradances were a place where people would come to actually get away from all of
the controversies of life. It was a place where people from differing stripes with
differing beliefs (OK, maybe I’m being idealistic here - let’s not kid ourselves, it’s
mostly liberal whites!) can come together and leave the real world issues behind and just
dance and be friendly. And now? These controversies have made their presence known on the
dance floor. And it’s not just gypsies or no gypsies. It’s also questions of role
identification (men/women, ladies/gents, larks/ravens, jets/rubies) and whether people
should boycott dance weekends that gender balance.
Please don’t misunderstand me… I have very little fight in this game. I’m moving to the
point where I couldn’t care less about what we call moves or people. I’m just tired of
the endless discussions that go nowhere except to continue to divide people and make the
dance community cohesive. Maybe I’ve become an old fart who just wishes we could have the
dance community we had decades ago that wasn’t so fraught with divisiveness. Or maybe
there’s something to what I have written here. Maybe the decline in attendance at dances
across the country has less to do with terminology - and more to do with people not
wanting to be a part of yet another community that is becoming polarized. Do I have a
solution? Nope. And neither does anyone else, or else it would have been solved by now.
So maybe we should just cool it for awhile and see if maybe tolerance for personal
preferences might help make the community less contentious. Can we just get back to
dancing for the pure joy of it?
My two cents.
28 Mar
28 Mar
10:49 a.m.
New subject: [Callers] Politically Correct?
I have a friend who danced for the pure joy of it until he got sick of being asked why a
black man wanted to contra dance. I dance with more, purer joy now that fewer men “offer”
to split me up from my girlfriend when we join a line together.
I’d love everyone to dance for the pure joy of it, but the idea that we can get “back” to
that place, rather than move forward to it, is a myth.
Louise.
www.scissortail.org
On Mar 28, 2018, at 4:43 PM, Jeffrey Spero via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Can we just get back to dancing for the pure joy of it?
10:56 a.m.
New subject: [Callers] Politically Correct?
While Jeffrey makes a compelling point, I want to chime in with another
thought: *that not having these discussions is just as divisive (if not
more so) than having them*, just in ways that are harder for some sides of
the community to see. While people make (very valid) claims that long
discussions about terminology, altering words to singing squares, etc. are
alienating some more established members of the community, to *not* have
these discussions is to alienate many other folks, particularly people our
dance scene has done less well by in the past -- young people, people of
color, queer people, trans people... the list goes on.
And if it doesn't look to you like these people are being alienated, that
might be because the alienation started so early that they just never came
back to another contra dance, after they heard the caller using language
that made them deeply uncomfortable, or were "offered" a dance to split
them from their partner, or looked out on the crowd and didn't see anyone
who looked like them.
So yes, having these discussions may make some folks uncomfortable, and I
want to strive to minimize this discomfort; at the same time, many are made
deeply uncomfortable by the status quo, often it ways it's hard to see
(because often the response to this kind of discomfort is to leave the
community and not come back--so we have a pronounced sample bias). To
dismiss these conversations because they're divisive or uncomfortable is to
prioritize the unity and comfort of one group (the established contra
scene) over another (all those who might have been contradancers, were the
community more welcoming to them), and that doesn't sit right with me.
Cheers,
Maia
On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 11:43 AM, Jeffrey Spero via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
He’s right… and she’s right. How can they both be right?
Well… they ARE both right. There is no clear cut answer on this. People
who feel strongly on one side or the other may like to think there is a
clear cut answer, but if one thing seems clear to me by the amount of back
and forth on this subject it’s that there are differing valid opinions.
In the meantime, while we argue endlessly about whether to gypsy,
walk-around, face-to-face, vis-a-vis, spiral, gyre, turn by the eyes,
whimsy, kipsy, tipsy, shmipsy - or just avoid the move altogether, we lose
why many came to contra dancing in the first place. Contradances were a
place where people would come to actually get away from all of the
controversies of life. It was a place where people from differing stripes
with differing beliefs (OK, maybe I’m being idealistic here - let’s not kid
ourselves, it’s mostly liberal whites!) can come together and leave the
real world issues behind and just dance and be friendly. And now? These
controversies have made their presence known on the dance floor. And it’s
not just gypsies or no gypsies. It’s also questions of role identification
(men/women, ladies/gents, larks/ravens, jets/rubies) and whether people
should boycott dance weekends that gender balance.
Please don’t misunderstand me… I have very little fight in this game. I’m
moving to the point where I couldn’t care less about what we call moves or
people. I’m just tired of the endless discussions that go nowhere except
to continue to divide people and make the dance community cohesive. Maybe
I’ve become an old fart who just wishes we could have the dance community
we had decades ago that wasn’t so fraught with divisiveness. Or maybe
there’s something to what I have written here. Maybe the decline in
attendance at dances across the country has less to do with terminology -
and more to do with people not wanting to be a part of yet another
community that is becoming polarized. Do I have a solution? Nope. And
neither does anyone else, or else it would have been solved by now. So
maybe we should just cool it for awhile and see if maybe tolerance for
personal preferences might help make the community less contentious. Can we
just get back to dancing for the pure joy of it?
My two cents.
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
12:12 p.m.
New subject: [Callers] Politically Correct?
Louise has hit the nail on the head: "I’d love everyone to dance for the pure joy of
it, but the idea that we can get “back” to that place, rather than move forward to it, is
a myth." Me too (yup), and there is no easy path to get there. We must keep talking -
just like in the broader world of politics. Talking does/can get frustrating and circular,
but it also opens minds and keeps people thinking about how to be together better.
Meanwhile, together let's forge a path - maybe of many sortof parallel lanes - to move
forward to dancing in joy.
Dorcas Hand
Houston
-----Original Message-----
From: Callers <callers-bounces(a)lists.sharedweight.net> On Behalf Of Louise Siddons
via Callers
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 10:49 AM
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Politically Correct?
I have a friend who danced for the pure joy of it until he got sick of being asked why a
black man wanted to contra dance. I dance with more, purer joy now that fewer men “offer”
to split me up from my girlfriend when we join a line together.
I’d love everyone to dance for the pure joy of it, but the idea that we can get “back” to
that place, rather than move forward to it, is a myth.
Louise.
www.scissortail.org
On Mar 28, 2018, at 4:43 PM, Jeffrey Spero via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Can we just get back to dancing for the pure joy of it?
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
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3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Dorcas Hand -
Jeffrey Spero -
Louise Siddons -
Maia McCormick