Whoops. My bad. I apologize for the "dance gypsy".
Would have been best if I hadn't used that word.
Personally I think positively of the word "gypsy".
But my sister lived and worked with some of them in England decades
ago
and can speak authoritatively about how vehemently they feel about
this word.
We might best understand it if we had a contra move called the
"N_____"
that involved some shake and jive step.
We know to be extremely careful with the "N" word.
In the United States we're not attuned to the "G" word.
But I gather, from my sister, they have similar affect.
Somewhere in this mess of words I hold onto the BELOW WORDS value of
contra dance.
By that I mean the physical act of contra dancing binds us together
(and not words).
We don't ask what political party someone belongs to before dancing
with them.
Ditto beliefs about God.
I think that's important.
From that perspective getting lost in the words can be a tangent.
(Is this email wordy enough?)
-Heitzso
only slightly related
question: Why is it offensive to call a dance figure a gypsy
but not offensive to be a dance gypsy?