Martha asked if we had any stories about the dance last Friday night. So I figured I'd write a bit.
I thought Billy did a great job running the dance. I was sorry he didn't dance more often. I know how it is to host dances, making sure everyone's happy, answering all questions, and being the main caller, but then to be playing the music, too? Wow. Also the dances he choreographed were great. Especially one, I forget the name, but I loved it.
I called two English dances. The Physical Snob and Take a Dance. They all really seemed to like Physical Snob, but then most people usually do. I thought they did quite well at both of them.
There was one thing about the youth dance that I noticed, and I've noticed this at my own dances in Salem. The young people come with friends, but then they kind-of stay in their circles of acquaintances, and don't branch out much. I'm not sure how really to fix it, except maybe telling people to ask someone they've never met before to dance, or do a mixer, and have them dance with the person they end up with. Any suggestions? I've seen this doesn't really happen in the older group.
Any way, I had a great time at the youth contra Friday, then again tonight at the contra dance. I hope to do it again.
Good Night everyone.
~Kimberly
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
That Billy! He surely does do great stuff.
The problem of unsticking clumps of friends is likely to be tough.
The usual problem for contra dances is "Velcro Couples", neither of whom have danced much before, but who are too scared to let go of each other. One solution we have tried, often successfully, is to have two experienced dancers, one man and one woman, go chat them up a bit, then ask them to dance, joining the line as a foursome, but with the new lady with the experienced guy and vice versa.
I once challenged my daughter and her friends (twelve-year-olds who had formed a clique inside a choir they sang in), to form a "permeable membrane" around their group while the choir was on tour. Brownie point would be given for every new person they brought into the group or for every time I caught one of them talking to someone outside their group. The result was, that even though they were some of the youngest kids in the choir, they ended up being the "cool kids" that all the older (cooler) kids wanted to hang with. I was, frankly, amazed at this unexpected result, especially since they had specifically reached out to some of the shyer other kids...
It is possible, therefore, for adults to have an effect on the clumping behavior of young teens, and we callers are in the best possible position to have that effect. We should try to brainstorm some fun ways to get that to happen.
I offer this really stupid idea to get us started: Do a scatter mixer, but suggest that each couple decide whether they prefer red or blue (or fuschia or puce) and then, during the "change", only dance with other red or blue people until the end of the mixer. At the end of the mixer, take current partners and line up in "purple" contra lines, each foursome a mix of blues and reds. Do a dance with a TON of neighbor interaction.
M
E
"The usual problem for contra dances is "Velcro Couples", neither of whom have danced much before, but who are too scared to let go of each other. One solution we have tried, often successfully, is to have two experienced dancers, one man and one woman, go chat them up a bit, then ask them to dance, joining the line as a foursome, but with the new lady with the experienced guy and vice versa."
That is a GREAT idea!
Thanks.
Martha,
Some good ideas. In the mixer, though, how do you know what "color" the other dancers are? Would they wear an armband or something?
Cool story about your daughter and the choir.
BTW: With Billy putting together the evenings for the Youth Contras, and calling most of the dances the last two times, shouldn't he have earned the title of "caller" now, rather than just "fledgling?" Just wondering . . .
~Karen
Karen, you are absolutely right! Billy should definitely get promoted to caller.
I wonder if we should have some sort of ceremony when someone gets promoted to caller. And perhaps the gecko gets a mortarboard or something...(thinking)...How about a megaphone!
I'll work on it.
M
E
Oh, and about the colors - they'd have to ask which colors the other couples are!
I'm making this all up, of course, and there may be other dance/games that accomplish the same thing - allowing for a certain amount of silly personal decision-making which gets unrelated people onto teams, then doing something which mixes those teams - a way, in other words, to help people make new friends, but also a way to keep the process light and fun.
M
E
You know not only does Billy write good dances, he's developing a distinctive personal style.
There was one dance at the youth contra -- the title was something about mountain ridges -- in which one long line formed arches and the other line ducked through then everybody did a California Twirl. As soon as he described it in the walk through, I said to myself, "This is an original 'Billy'."
And who could forget the "Maytag" dance?
Dale
Thanks for the kind words and suggestions! Y'all are so right about the beginner friends tending to stick together. And the more experienced dancers have a tendency to seek each other out as well, leaving the begginers to themselves (I'm guilty of this). Perhaps one way of getting the beginners dancing with the veterans is to have a brief circle mixer and at the end say: "stay with your current partner and line up for a contra". Do you think that would be acceptable?
I've seen Mr. Ramsey keep you with the same partner.
In answer to Billy's last question: I think that would be a good thing to try, and see how the kids react. And I've actually asked some of the young people to dance and gotten turned down, so I've since stuck with the other "elders" except for mixers, in which the kids are perfectly well behaved with me. (They scare me some in their "wild" modes - another reason I usually give them some space.) So I think more mixers would be a good idea, too.
~Karen
I think it would work fine once in an evening to have people keep the same partners after a circle dance for a following contra, but you should probably make sure that the contra was not too intensely partner-centric.
At Childgrove, there is a whole posse of people who try to make sure that new people have experienced dancers to dance with - especially in the first half of the dance. This group developed over time, mimicking the behavior of some of the leaders in the group (dance leaders do not always have titles). Those same folks make sure they get to dance with other good dancers later in the evening, of course...
The good thing about the Youth Contra is that there will be some people who will catch on really fast, and if we can convince them, both by modeling the behavior and by what we say, that new people are to be valued, they will form the same kind of posse.
Here again, is where we callers have a bully pulpit - we just have to figure out ways to say such things without preaching. I think if we ourselves are gracefully welcoming (especially if we can do it with humor), we'll create the kind of safe environment where people feel comfortable being nice to each other while they're having fun.
Just like we do!
M
E
Post a Comment