[Callers] Jets / rubies genderfree terms redux: gems?

[Ron Blechner via Callers]

" I haven't enjoyed the "gender neutral" dance events"

With utmost respect, then discussing gender neutral terms is probably not
so relevant to your interests.
On May 29, 2015 7:00 PM, "Neal Schlein via Callers" <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Okay, this is from a square dance/contra caller: I'd go crazy if I was
> stuck with a single set of terms, no matter what they were.  The rhyming
> potential for the calls is lost.
>
> Anyway, I still think it is more than just a matter of terminology.
>
> All we are doing is swapping words; everyone knows they are stand-ins and
> what they are stand-ins for.  In essence, we are just obscuring the
> original choreographic intent of gendered figures and dances, not calling
> gender neutral dances.  (Plus, anything written within the last 30 years is
> a copyrighted work and technically we require permission to make changes,
> perform it publicly, OR make derivative works.  Not that anyone really
> cares.)
>
> Personally, I haven't enjoyed the "gender neutral" dance events I've been
> to--not because I think it's a bad idea or dislike dancing with men, but
> because the callers were taking historical dances with built-in and
> intentional gender differences and simply ignoring them.  Particularly in
> older ECD, it is one thing to intentionally dance the lady's role and
> another to ignore that there WAS a role.  It impoverishes the dance as a
> whole.
>
> Some older dances happen to work well as gendered or ungendered dances,
> but to me a truly gender-neutral dance is constructed to intentionally be
> that way.  For example, the following:
>
> Gender-Swapped
> By Neal Schlein, 5/29/15
> Duple gender-less contra
> Music: Probably something highly phrased, like Irish
> A1: 1's step into center and handy hand turn neighbor 2 times
> A1: End with everyone facing down the hall, 4 in line, and go down the hall
> A2: Face the center of the line, pass thru, leads u-Turn and swing, any
> type (end in same spot where started swing, 1's on outside, facing up the
> hall)
> B1: Come up the hall
> B1: Bend the line and circle full
> B2: 1's gypsy full and slow cast down while the 2's gypsy or swing 1 and
> 1/2 to end in starting line; 1s come into the center.
>
> It's not the best timing in the B2, but if I did that right....
>
>    - With improper and gendered lines, it dances normally the first time
>    through--standard swings, everything.  The second time, the 1's will be on
>    the opposite side of the set, meaning half of the dance is same-gender and
>    half is opposite.
>    - With PROPER gendered lines, that is exactly reversed.
>    - With gender-neutral lines--it is completely random, but it doesn't
>    matter because...
>
> The dance itself is gender-neutral: it doesn't need gender or
> gender-substitute terms for teaching any of the figures or the sequence in
> any formation.  The choreography was selected to force interaction of
> identical sorts with all participating genders and positions.
>
> .
>
> Neal Schlein
>
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