This surfaces every few years. It also seems to be a regional problem. I remember a dancer about five years ago who was expelled from the NYC dance, New Jersey Dance and Princeton (those were the dances I remember) I am wondering if CDSS could come up with a policy on this and a booklet.
A dancer whose behavior causes repeated complaints of dancers being made uncomfortable can be excluded from our dances. Merle On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 8:34 PM, Timothy Swartz <[email protected]>wrote: > Orin-- > Our contra dance dealt with a very similar situation a few years ago. I > am concerned that this may be the same person, in fact. But regardless of > the person involved, it is important to deal with the problems, as this may > have a very severe impact on the dance community, of course as well as the > individuals involved. > Our volunteer dance-organizing committee had many meetings after we started > getting complaints about the problems created by the individual dancer. > Our basic instincts are to keep our dance open to all, and to allow for > individual differences. However, we also have to recognize that we are a > public institution, and that we are responsible for *all* the dancers. We > can't guarantee that all will have a good time, but we have a > responsibility to keep the behavior of a single person from hurting the > experience of others. > In our experience, the same set of behaviors was repeated: he preyed on > young women, often new-comers to the dance, and his leering and dominating > behavior was so unpleasant that some stopped coming to dances. Thanks to > some who did come and complain to us, as members of the Contra Dance > Umbrella (CDU) organizing community, we finally took some action. This > started with a couple of us talking directly to the problem dancer, and > though we got some level of verbal agreement from him, that he would pay > attention to what the women with whom he was dancing had rights to not be > agressively twirled, and so on. However, none of this made a difference > over the long term. > After we started talking about this among the CDU, some of us wanted to try > to talk further to him, and had phone and in-person conversations. None of > these seemed to have any impact. More importantly, in the long run, it > forced our committee to come up with a policy to deal with "inappropriate > behavior" which I'm attaching to this email. This was largely based on a > policy we found on-line from the Princeton NJ Country Dancers; we do not > claim to be inventing this from whole cloth. > The essence of our policy is that we decided we had to base it on > complaints from others, not from a "set of rules" that we would try to > enforce. We felt it was not possible to define "inappropriate behavior", > even though we all felt we could identify it. Our response is therefore > triggered by complaints, as you will see. It gives some measure of "due > process" to the situation, because of our commitment to fairness, and > wanting to avoid the risk of a false accusation. But it also takes > seriously the *feeling* of discomfort and invasion of personal space that > has such an impact on dancers subjected to inappropriate behavior, and it > spells out some concrete steps we will take after receiving a complaint. > The privacy of the complainant is protected, as is the identity of the > accused person. The policy calls for escalating sanctions if the behavior > continues, up to banning the dancer from the dance. We consulted with our > local (rural) police department during this process, and confirmed that we > do have the right to ask someone to leave, if their behavior is > inappropriate, and to call the police department to remove the person as a > trespasser if the request is not honored. This is not something we want to > have to do! But it is helpful to know that we are on firm legal ground if > we need to call in the troops. > The need to rely on a complaint remains a weakness of this approach, as it > requires someone who is traumatized to come forward. The corollary is that > it is important for committee members to be identifiable, and to make > efforts to publicize the fact that we will take action if someone feels > uncomfortable, to encourage people to come forward. We have made some > serious strides, including wearing buttons at dances which identify us, and > posting pictures of the CDU in the Grange Hall where our dances are held. > Some of us have further ideas, including posting notices in the restrooms > about the recourse available in case of problems. There may be more things > we can and should do. > > This experience was still fresh in our minds when the "Puttin' on the > Dance" organizers' conference was held in the fall of 2011, put on by the > CDSS. At that conference, one of the workshops was about just this > problem, led by Chris Weiler. At that workshop, 3 of us from the CDU gave > out copies of this policy, and took part in a long discussion about the > various issues involved--the civil rights of people accused of > "inappropriate behavior" and also the rights of people to come and dance > and feel safe. In the end, I felt quite comfortable with the policy as we > formulated it--with the concerns noted above about having to wait for > complaints. I don't feel we have the perfect answer--but it is > considerably better than having no answer at all, as we did before we were > confronted with the problem dancer. We heard at least a few stories of the > dances which were largely destroyed by the discomfort invoked by a single > problem dancer. We know we are not the only dance community which has had > to deal with this sort of problem, and that the individual with whom we > were dealing is not the only one. We've talked since with many callers > who know many more stories about the problems which can be caused by an > individual, more obvious sometimes from their vantage point than from the > dance floor. > I found the sense of solidarity which I got from talking with other > organizers at the conference an enormous help, as well as the endorsement > of our policy by many of those we spoke with. I encourage others to take > advantage of opportunities like that, and of the interactions available on > this forum, which I found out about as a result of that conference. > > The end of the story of our interactions with our particular problem came > when we sent a formal letter, via registered mail to the person involved, > stating that he would be banned if another complaint was received and > substantiated. We sent this from a PO box rented for the purpose, where > the receipt which proved that he got it was received. We have not had the > person show up since. I'm sorry if he has surfaced elsewhere, though I > can't say I'm surprised. Good for you for taking this issue > seriously--it is not easy, but it is necessary. For our committee, it was > a growth experience, making us take our responsibility to heart. Best > wishes to all! > > Tim Swartz > (note--these are my individual thoughts, not an official response from the > CDU) > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers > > -- *Merle McEldowney* *212-933-0290*
