[Callers] Genderless calling

[Angela DeCarlis via Callers]

Wow, I was ready for a horror story; I'm so glad that everyone, including
you and the band, ended up having a great time! Good show!

Somewhat relevantly:

Q: What did the family of cows have for dinner?
A: Hay for Four!

Nyuck nyuck nyuck,
-Angela

On Jul 31, 2017 12:59 PM, "Amy Wimmer via Callers" <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I recently had the opportunity to call a contra to a group of rank
> beginners in a difficult situation: outdoors, on sloping concrete, without
> amplification for either myself or the band, to people not expecting a
> dance, with a band mostly unfamiliar with either contra or fiddle tunes,
> who had no opportunity to practice or choose tunes. It was a staff party
> with a barnyard theme. Granted, this particular good of people is
> accustomed to being spontaneous and silly at times, most are in their 20's,
> and it's a liberal, accepting group.
>
> The organizers wanted to use the terms "cows" and "chickens" instead of
> any other usual terms for dancers. When they arrived at the party each
> person chose a name tag with either a cow or a chicken on it. They didn't
> know it, but this determined which role they'd play in the dance. I
> arbitrarily chose to "put the chicken on the right, because the chicken is
> always right." (I keep chickens, and they ARE always right)
>
> There was not time for much of a lesson, either. It'd have been much
> easier if everyone had joined the dance at the beginning. All said, just
> about everyone had a really great time, myself included. The band was hyped
> up to try another dance evening later in the week, though that never
> materialized.
>
> I never mentioned gender in any way. That part just seemed to not matter.
> They were dancing with their friends. It didn't matter that they weren't
> experts or even very good.
>
> I was heartened and encouraged to try something like this again, perhaps
> with more widely used dancer terms.
>
> -Amy
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/callers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20170731/c43a0028/attachment.htm>