2 Jun
2015
2 Jun
'15
3:21 a.m.
An approach to subtle gender free calling is to choose choreographies where both members
of the couple do the same thing. Really traditional contra dances often have this
feature, as well as lots of English dances which were not composed with that in mind.
Chorus Jigg is one of those naturally gender free ones:
1s down the outside and back
1s down the middle and back
1s turn contra corners
1s balance and swing.
Since Jim referred to having more dances than usual where 2s swing in the middle I
assumed he'd used this approach to at least some degree. This would restrict the
figure menu. You can do interrupted square thru but you can't do ladies chain. If
you're so gender free that you don't have rules you can't use swings to
progress and neighbor swings could be trouble. But you could call an evening without
specific gender reference to a group who already knew roles and where swings ends using
only partner, neighbor, 1s and 2s, and they might not notice that you never said gents and
ladies.
Alan
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 1, 2015, at 9:12 AM, Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Jim, as I look at your set of dances the first question that occurs to me is how you
dealt with the improper formation without reference to gender/dance-role.
Kalia
On 6/1/2015 8:14 AM, Jim Hemphill via Callers
wrote:
A friend told me about Brooke Friendly's style of calling ECD and that
was part of the inspiration for this contra program.
Jim
On Mon, Jun 1, 2015 at 9:24 AM, Roger Hayes <roger.hayes(a)gmail.com
<mailto:roger.hayes@gmail.com>> wrote:
Check out Brooke Friendly and Chris Sackett's English Country dances
- they use "geographic" terms, and structure the dances without
gender roles. It's different, but the dance does keep changing, it's
a live art.
http://www.brookefriendlydance.com/
Aside from Mr. Hemphill's effort recently here described, I know of
no comparable endeavor in contra dance choreography - I suppose
we're more traditional than ECD. Does anyone have info to share?
Roger Hayes
Jim - I don't think I am alone in wondering how you managed this
without telling the dancers. I take that to mean you didn't make it
gender free by the terminology you used (jets or whatever) but by
the kinds of dances you chose. I'd love to read more details about
what this entailed.
Please share more!
Amy
206 330 7408 <tel:206%20330%207408>
Amy(a)calleramy.com <mailto:Amy@calleramy.com>
On Jun 1, 2015, at 5:37 AM, Jim Hemphill via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
<mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
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http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net The recent discussions on this topic inspired
me to try an
experiment in gender free calling. Last night I called the
contra dance in St. Louis using gender free calling without
telling anyone. The experiment was a great success. I received
lots of positive feedback on the evenings dance. At the break
and after the dance I made a point to ask several dancers, some
were callers as well, if they noticed anything different or
unusual about the dances or how I taught them. One person
noticed that there were more dances that included a swing in the
center for couple 2 than usual. No one I talked to noticed that
the calls and teaching were gender free.
It took some extra time to construct a fun, diverse 3 hour
program, but it is certainly possible. Re-labeling the dancers is
not the only way to call gender free.
If you are interested in the program I used or the larger
collection of gender free dances I chose the program from, send me
an email, arcadian35(a)gmail.com <mailto:arcadian35@gmail.com>.
Thanks,
Jim Hemphill
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