I appreciate your sharing, Cynthia---this gave me a good laugh. With many
dances attracting a large percentage of high school and college kids these
days, I see more and more youthful antics while I'm calling....the young men
holding onto their oversized baggy pants with one hand while they dance; the
"Grateful Dead" dance moves or the breakdance or hiphop moves thrown in; and
the leaping, hopping, cartwheeling, and rolling around on the floor at the
break (or perhaps during the walkthroughs and the dances as well).
One thing I noticed while calling in Charleston, SC, recently (where 90% of
the crowd was under 21) was that most of the dancers were barefoot. This
seems to be the trend for younger dancers. I think their timing would
improve if they wore shoes, because they'd be able to hear the rhythm
better. There was very little foot percussion at that dance. (personally, I
think it's also aesthetically more pleasing to hear the feet, but I'm old
school) It's also a safety issue when there are shoed and shoeless people
dancing in the same room.
But I was wondering what, if anything, I should say about it. I didn't want
to come across as bossy, preachy, old-fashioned, or whatever. Any ideas on
this?
~Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cynthia Phinney" <[email protected]>
To: "Callers Shared Weight" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 12:07 PM
Subject: [Callers] A funny incident
Ah, the impacts of technology. I was recently calling for a contradance at
the Maine Social Forum. It was a crowd of primarily beginners, with only a
smattering of experienced folks. During one of the dances, one young man
got
a cell phone call. He stepped out of line to take the call! His partner
carried on for a moment or two, but then the line started to break down. I
had to jump into the line and grab his partner - calling while we danced -
to keep it going. It worked. Fortunately I'd had a little practice on this
at another dance earlier this summer when an elderly gentleman simply
decided to step out and sit down during a - thankfully - very simple
dance -
and I had done the same thing rather than stop or let the line crumble.
Just wanted to "share"
:-)
-cynthia
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