Folks,
I have more than 25 years in the MWSD activity, and have found all the
clubs I danced with, or called for, to be very friendly and open people.
Many clubs were couple oriented, but as society has changed, so have many
clubs. One club I belonged to years ago was a bit cliquish, and too
serious, at the advanced and challenge level, but that is no longer the
case. It was really just a few people.
MWSD has many problems, but it generally is not the dancers.
Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT
On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 12:55 PM, Ridge Kennedy srk3nn3dy(a)gmail.com
[trad-dance-callers] <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
I believe most MWSD clubs these days are a lot more open. My experiences
-- limited to dances in NYC and Somerset NJ -- is that everyone is
welcome. I've also been impressed by the people I know who do contra and
MWSD and I know how much many of them value their friendships through the
clubs. I suspect that bad experiences these days are either outliers or
the result of individuals behaving badly (though it sounds like, in
original post) organizers were abetting the behavior.
Anyway -- my contribution here is just to say that I think anyone dipping
a toe in MWSD is NOT likely to be met by some of the unfortunate kinds of
experience folks have had in the past.
Ridge
On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 11:00 AM, Sylvia Miskoe sylviasmiskoe(a)gmail.com
[trad-dance-callers] <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Many years ago I attended a square dance club in Upper MIchigan. I had
recently moved there and sought out dances. I was greeted with the
question, Where is your husband? When I said he was home, unwell, the lady
at the desk said Nobody will dance with you. I'm the caller's wife and
nobody dances with me. I did have partners that night and went with my
husband Once.
Years later I saw an ad for a public dance, called to confirm that it
was open. When I arrived I was grilled about lessons, partners. Then told
that since I had not had lessons I would not be able to keep up with the
dancers and would spoil their pleasure. My 30 years of New England squares
experience didn't count.
No wonder they are losing dancers.
Sylvia Miskoe, Concod NH
--
Ridge Kennedy [Exit 145]
www.ridgekennedy.com
When you stumble, make it part of the dance.