Chairman's Corner -
Betsy Gotta
"In today's
world, many people like to categorize others. There are the
'Baby Boomers', 'Generation Xers', and many more categories
such as 'Mainstream dancers', 'Plus dancers', 'C dancers',
'Contra dancers who dance to recorded music', 'Traditional
dancers who dance only to live music' etc. We look only at
the differences and not at the similarities. Therefore, we
are not always accepting of the other type of dancing, or the
other type of dancer.
"A problem
that can occur if we do not understand another type of dancer
is lack of communication. A caller/prompter can run into
difficulties walking through a dance if they use language
that is not understood by the dancers to which the caller is
presenting the dance. What does she mean, you ask? At the
recent US and Canadian National Square Dance Conventions, I
watched dance leaders cause confusion simply because they
used terms that the dancers didn't understand. The population
they were addressing consisted mainly of Modern Western
Square Dancers. 'Traditional' Contra dance terms such as
'Form on', 'Hands 4 from the top', and 'Face below' were
unfamiliar to the dancers that were trying Contra for the 1st
or 2nd time. The callers who used square dance terms were
able to give success to the dancers because the dancers could
follow the calls.
"We, the
Contra callers, need to be Bi- or even Tri-lingual to help
the dancers. If we work mainly with experienced Contra
dancers, we need to know how to translate terms and
directions into square dance language in order to
successfully work with square dancers. We need to be able to
quickly explain the progression and the dance patterns to
dancers who are used to having a 'safe' home position in a
square. When I first introduced Contras to a group at a
Senior center, there was much confusion. The dance was
simple, used only calls with which the group was very
familiar and still the dancers got lost. It was one of the
dancers who explained the problem to me with the comment,
'There's no safe place to go home to.' At the same time, we
need to limit our explanations so that the more experienced
Contra dancers do not get frustrated with the length of the
teach. We also need to be able to explain terms to new
dancers if we use contras at a party night.
"To better
communicate, observe dance leaders at conventions. What terms
work for their explanations? What strategy worked for
teaching the dance? Ask the leader why they picked a certain
dance to present to that group at that hour. For example, I
do not like to use repetitive dances with 'Right and Left
Thru over and back' and 'Ladies Chain over and back' for
square dancers. My belief is that the square dancers need a
variety of calls because they have not yet felt the fun of
dancing to the music, so they find the repetition boring and
never 'get' Contra dancing. We are looking to 'sell' the fun
and beauty of Contra dancing, but if the dancers do not
succeed, they will not have fun. Be flexible and change your
term or explain what you mean. Be prepared with alternate
words. We can all learn from each other."
Betsy Gotta
Chairman
Also in the Quarterly
was a mention of Art Harvey calling his last contra dance on
December 21. Several cards were sent out by our Sunshine
Chairman Joan Smith. If you know someone who is going through
a tough time or a happy occasion, feel free to contact her at
smithgojo@aol.com
The plaque that holds
our bars from the past conventions is still missing. If
anyone has a clue as to where it has gone, please contact the
editors Jeff and Cathy Smith at csmith39@roadrunner.com They would also like more material to
include in the Quarterly.
The complete
membership list was published in the Quarterly.
Jeff Smith also included three contra dances - two written by
him, and the third written by T. Neil Smith.
The
International Association of Contra Callers, Inc.
