>Here's a thought I've been toying with for a while:
>
>A term we use in knitting to identify which way yarn twists is
"N-wise or
>Z-wise"
>
>(think of a piece of yarn, look at the slanty lines the plies make,
look at
>the center slashes of an N, then a Z. See it?)
>
>How many moves could be identified this way?
>
>"Facing up and down, the first corners on the N diagonal, allemande
once and
>a half."
>"Facing across, Z diagonals start a hey by the left"
>"Facing across, N's diagonal chain"
>
>As one who's life has been a little gender-role-freeish, I feel
politically
>entitled to come out and say I DON't like the band/bare thing, just
because
>the verbiage is less than euphonious to my ears. That said, I don't
have any
>better ideas .... yet. But I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
>
>In many dances the roles of the "gent" and "lady" are NOT the same
-- one is
>a little more active, one is more reactive.
>In any given pair of people, one PERson is often more active than
the other.
>It's the interplay of these two things (when do they match, support
each
>other? When do they work in opposition?) that make dances so
unexpectedly
>yummy.
>There must be a way to acknowledge and embrace this -- if we get too
neutral
>we'll lose the story lines that make some of our best dances come to
life.
>
>Hmmm.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Martha Edwards
<meedwa...@westendweb.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>>As always, Alan, your wisdom astounds.
>>
>>I'd probably like "bands and bares" if I (still) lived in Jamaica
Plain,
>>which I did from about 1978 to, oh, 1985 or so, BUT...
>>
>>But (she whined) I'm just not used to it, and it seems so...weird.
Sigh.
>>
>>But I've gotten used to weirder things, so maybe there's hope for
this one
>>as well. I'll try to catch a JP dance or two next time I'm in Boston.
>>
>>M
>>E
>>
>>On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 1:17 AM, Alan Winston - SSRL Central
Computing <
>>wins...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Martha wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>If we callers can get used to "right line" and "left line" being
>>>>
>>>>
>>>backwards
>>>
>>>
>>>>from the way we view it, that might work. I rather like the idea of
>>>>architectural details being an indicator (in our hall it would be
>>>>
>>>>
>>"street
>>
>>
>>>>side" and "naked lady side", named for the lovely head/bust statues
>>>>
>>>>
>>which
>>
>>
>>>>adorn the fireplace on the other side of the hall).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>I've been calling gender-free English sporadically for about 10
years,
>>>
>>>
>>most
>>
>>
>>>recently in Jamaica Plain this September. Doing this teaches you to
>>>
>>>
>>think
>>
>>
>>>about the dances globally. There's all kinds of not-that-old dance
>>>instructions which say "first man turns second woman", which, first,
>>>implies
>>>active man and passive woman when we don't want to dance that way,
and
>>>second,
>>>has a lot of syllables. "First corners turn right hand", and you've
>>>directed
>>>both to actively do something.
>>>
>>>In English, there are a lot of dances where both members of a
couple are
>>>doing
>>>the same thing, and you can nicely get through all the
instructions with
>>>"1s",
>>>"2s", "1st corners", "2nd corners". For gender-free, I usually
try to
>>>program
>>>mostly dances where I can do that.
>>>
>>>But there are some lovely dances where you can't do that, and nobody
>>>
>>>
>>seems
>>
>>
>>>to
>>>have much trouble with identifying lines by landmarks. In Jamaica
Plain,
>>>it's
>>>the clock and the window.
>>>
>>>So life is good on the gender-free English side. Nobody needs to
wear a
>>>marker, you belong to the couple you're lined up in, you're on the
side
>>>
>>>
>>you
>>
>>
>>>stood on this time - and the roles are very similar, and nobody
feels the
>>>need
>>>to swap during the dance, but if they did, it wouldn't be very
confusing
>>>because there's no expectation of a particular gender in a particular
>>>
>>>
>>side.
>>
>>
>>>(And, indeed, even gendered English skews so much more female that
people
>>>largely get over expecting plumbing that matches the role.)
>>>
>>>
>>>I think things are different in modern contra choreography.
Because so
>>>many of
>>>the dances are improper and the roles are typically different
(although
>>>
>>>
>>men
>>
>>
>>>can
>>>get chained), it's often helpful to have some kind of signifier.
>>>
>>>Line up for an improper contra. The 'nominal men' are in second
corner
>>>places,
>>>the 'nominal women' are in first corner places. "Clocks" would be
first
>>>woman
>>>and second man, which is not so useful - typically if they're
going to do
>>>something, the windows are going to do it too, in modern contra
dancing,
>>>
>>>
>>so
>>
>>
>>>you
>>>might as well say "neighbors balance and swing" and get on with it.
>>>
>>>
>>>Heather and Rose english/scottish style would have you say "right
file"
>>>
>>>
>>for
>>
>>
>>>*that* line and "left file" for *that* line, which sometimes
degenerates
>>>
>>>
>>to
>>
>>
>>>"righties" and "lefties". Too many syllables, requires knowing right
>>>
>>>
>>from
>>
>>
>>>left, requires remembering which line you were in when the dance
started,
>>>etc.
>>>
>>>So I don't think that the geographical suggestion is any help for
contra,
>>>and I
>>>don't think that the suggestion that people should just deal with
whoever
>>>they
>>>come across and not fuss about what sex they're supposed to be
(which I
>>>heartily endorse!) is actually any help with solving the problem that
>>>"bands"
>>>and "bares" solves. The idea is to have a clear way to assign a
role,
>>>which
>>>role doesn't have a sex-linked component, so people know where they
>>>
>>>
>>should
>>
>>
>>>be
>>>standing in an improper contra, and so they know who the caller is
>>>
>>>
>>talking
>>
>>
>>>to.
>>>This also gives the caller _some_ chance of being able to see if the
>>>
>>>
>>right
>>
>>
>>>people are in the right places, which you don't get without external
>>>markers.
>>>
>>>If you want to dance the band role one dance and the bare arm the
next,
>>>
>>>
>>you
>>
>>
>>>take off the armband. If you want to switch roles with your
partner in
>>>
>>>
>>the
>>
>>
>>>middle of the dance, you can trade the band.
>>>
>>>So *for gender-free contra dance*, bands and bares - put on by the
dancer
>>>themself, by conscious decision, for each dance - make lots of sense,
>>>
>>>
>>don't
>>
>>
>>>enforce gender roles like a tie or a fedora or a head-scarf, don't
push
>>>
>>>
>>the
>>
>>
>>>agenda down the throat as much as arbitrary designations ("hippos and
>>>butterflies"), and are overall a Good Thing that Really Works.
Honest.
>>> I've
>>>seen it.
>>>
>>>While I'm pontificating:
>>>
>>>While I support the right of people to change roles in the middle
of the
>>>dance
>>>at gendered contra if they want to, and think everybody ought to just
>>>
>>>
>>swing
>>
>>
>>>whoever they get (if you're dancing a woman's role at the moment you
>>>
>>>
>>ought
>>
>>
>>>to
>>>take the woman's position in the swing), I also think people who
insist
>>>
>>>
>>on
>>
>>
>>>doing that when it freaks out their neighbors are valuing their
own fun
>>>more
>>>highly than the comfort of other people there and are behaving in an
>>>anti-communitarian way - which is their perfect right, but it's
not an
>>>unalloyed good.
>>>
>>>
>>>And some of the people who are freaked out are freaked out because if
>>>somebody
>>>they're not expecting comes at them they think somebody (maybe
them) are
>>>
>>>
>>in
>>
>>
>>>the
>>>wrong place and their anxiety level goes up. Not homophobia - just
>>>
>>>
>>hanging
>>
>>
>>>onto the dance by their fingernails. That's a good thing to be
aware of
>>>when
>>>you're swapping sides in gendered contra land.
>>>
>>>-- Alan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>--
>>For the good are always the merry,
>>Save by an evil chance,
>>And the merry love the fiddle
>>And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
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