"during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 minutes swinging"
Tangent: I thought "that can't be right" but a little playing with numbers and I think it is. My back of the envelope: guess ~12 dances, each ~17 times through, with ~20 beats of swinging per dance. That's 4k beats of swinging, which at 118bpm is 35min. Another way to think of it is that in a 3hr evening half of your time is dancing and a third of that is swinging. Jeff On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 4:49 PM John Sweeney via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Since, during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 > minutes swinging, surely it would be better to teach the dancers how to > swing properly. > > > > Apart from the slight variation in the position of one of your arms the > swing should be symmetrical. And nobody should be giving any of their > weight to the other person. (I hate the term “give weight” – it is grossly > misunderstood.) > > > > I am quite happy to provide a gentle counterbalance to your mass, but > please look after your own weight! > > > > When teaching the buzz-step I always get the dancers to do it individually > so that they learn to keep their own balance. Too many dancers thinking > that throwing their weight in some random direction will make the swing go > faster – it won’t – only your feet can make the swing go faster. > > > > Lots more at http://contrafusion.co.uk/SwingWorkshop.html > > > > :-) > > > > Happy dancing, > > John > > > > John Sweeney, Dancer, England j...@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 > 940 574 > > http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music > Ceilidhs > > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent > > > http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs > > > > > > *From:* Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> > *Sent:* 21 November 2022 21:02 > *To:* Alexandra Deis-Lauby <adeisla...@gmail.com> > *Cc:* Shared Weight Callers' Listserv <call...@lists.sharedweight.net> > *Subject:* [Callers] Re: How to have the beginners choose roles > > > > I appreciate the care that goes into option #3, and also really like > Becky's comment about some of the asymmetries that occur on the dancefloor > as a result of the culture (i.e., that robins may encounter more twirling > than larks). Another piece of cultural asymmetry I've encountered is that, > in some communities, dancers are used to the dancer in the left-hand > position carrying more of the weight in the swing — as a small person with > bad joints, I find it more difficult to dance the left-hand role where this > is a factor. Depending on how much time you have, reflecting on these > differences in the roles' physicality seems like a kind and useful addition. > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net > To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >
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