[Callers] Including Mobility Challenged Dancers

[jim saxe]

There are some adjustments that people can make to compensate to inability to move quickly, for example allemanding just halfway instead of once and a half; swinging just halfway around instead of once and a half or twice and a half (or zero times instead of once, twice, or more); skipping a move like do-si-do instead of rushing to catch up if you arrive late to start it; faking arches if a nominally arching dancers can't comfortably raise their arms or nominally ducking dancers can't comfortably duck.  Recognizing opportunities for such adjustments may be easy for someone who is familiar with the dance form and generally mentally sharp, but not so easy for someone who is unfamiliar with the dancing or who has challenges besides limited mobility, such as difficulties with spatial orientation.  It can be helpful if the caller points out opportunities for adjustment, both for the benefit of the challenged dancer(s) and for the benefit of other dancers who may be in position to offer guidance.  The caller might also say explicitly that it's ok for someone to drop out if they feel their stamina flagging, even in the middle of a dance and even if there's nobody ready to step in and take their place.

At some point--and obviously I have no idea whether the people Don's been told about are at that point--people can be so slow-moving and so unsteady and have so little ability to compensate or to accept assistance from other dancers, that they become a danger to themselves, and possibly to others, on the dance floor, on account of increasing likelihood of falls and increasing likelihood of serious injury if a fall occurs.  I'm picturing, for example, an unsteady dancer suddenly grabbing at another dancer for support in a situation where the second dancer happens to be moving quickly away from the place where the unsteady dancer is reaching, or where the second dancer is completely not expecting to be called on to provide such support, or where the second dancer is someone nearly as unsteady as the first dancer.

--Jim

> On Sep 11, 2019, at 2:37 PM, Don Veino via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> I've got clarification back from the organizer and there's no specific challenges over slower and potentially unstable movement. Thanks for the ideas shared! I'll likely be well sorted for the event.