Social circle of dancers extending past dance time, after dance hangouts, making friends. On Sep 23, 2013 6:07 PM, "Mark Stowe" <mkstowe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Research suggests that we humans are happiest when we are succeeding at > something that we can just barely accomplish. I have been contradancing > for 38 years and I keep inventing and learning new flourishes, dips/ swing > move interjections, putting in extra spins, running between lines and > conspiring with fellow dancers to alter order and gender and create new > interactions with defacto trail buddies that 'weren't in the dance'. The > only limit to challenging yourself is not straying into being late and > staying within the bounds of what your particular fellow dancer will enjoy > which means that there is constant strategic intellectual exercise as well. > The happiness of contradancers is infective and the inclusiveness is > inspiring. > > As a biologist I believe (with all due modesty and suspicion of teleology) > that life evolved for ~4 billion years on earth precisely so that there > could be contradancing :). > > > On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 4:51 PM, Sam Whited <s...@samwhited.com> wrote: > > > On 09/23/2013 06:12 AM, Jeanette Mill wrote: > > > Simply answer the question - what made you addicted to contra? > > > > When I first started, it was probably the fact that I couldn't stop > > smiling the entire time I was dancing (or for several hours afterwards). > > I was terrible, kept breaking the line, didn't understand half the > > caller's instructions, etc. but I still couldn't stop smiling. > > > > It might also be the fact that I `just got' the swing (even if I didn't > > get most of the other moves). People asked me how long I'd been dancing, > > and told me what a great swing I had even though I'd never actually been > > to a dance before; it was nice to know that contra was actually simple > > enough that all I had to do was walk around someone and they'd think I > > was relatively good at it unlike, say, Swing dancing (my other favorite > > form of dance) which took me days and days to even get the basic down. > > I've seen this in a lot of other new dancers since then; I ask them how > > long they've been dancing only to find that this is their first time and > > they `just get' what I now know as the concept of `giving weight'. > > > > After I had danced for a while and branched out into other kinds of > > dancing, I realized that I also liked contra because no one takes it too > > seriously (well, a few people I know do, but I make a point of not > > dancing with them). You can cock about, experiment, break half the line, > > or just make something up and as long as you can run back and swing your > > partner when the caller says too it will all be okay and you'll have a > > good time (I know a lot of people will disagree with that one; but it's > > one of the things that makes me love contra, so there you are). > > > > I also love the fact that you sweat a lot. I tried ECD a couple of > > times, and while I enjoyed the people, and thought a lot of the dances > > were really interesting, I couldn't help but wonder why I'd want to do > > something that didn't leave me sweaty and breathless afterwards. Lots of > > people I know love that sort of thing, but it wasn't for me. It felt too > > `delicate' (there are also lots of other issues that made me not > > especially love ECD, but they're rather offtopic). > > > > Contra is like driving a Pagani Zonda that's thinking of new and > > interesting ways of killing you every 5 seconds, and some other forms of > > dance are like driving an old VW Bug: they don't go above 50 MPH, have > > the engine on the wrong end of the car, and were conceived by Hitler > > (that analogy made more sense in my head before I started typing it > > out...). > > > > —Sam > > > > -- > > Sam Whited > > pub 4096R/EC2C9934 > > https://samwhited.com/contact > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > call...@sharedweight.net > > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > call...@sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
