[SCA-Dance] The Creepy, the rude, and the weird

[Andrea Collis]

Here's another one.

As a tiny female, dancing "toss the wench" is not my favourite.  I know how
to jump, but some lords take it upon themselves to see how high they can get
me.  Now the trip up is fine, but the trip down can be less then
comfortable.  There was once this lord who held me by the waist and let me
down ever so slowly, which actually meant that instead of landing normally
(my knees are just fine), my waist was crushed while waiting to be released.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 11:24 AM, Monica Hultin <mhultin at mts.net> wrote:

> Re: Physically moving someone into place, in the English Country Dance
> group
> I belong to, I have a lot of beginners who like dancing with me because I
> will, if required, physically move them into position. However, if the set
> messes up, sometimes it's just easier to get everyone set up, skip some
> steps and come in correctly with the music.  (As opposed to playing
> catchup.)  There is one woman who absolutely hates being handled this way
> and it just gets her more confused, so understanding who appreciates being
> handled, and who can't is the trick.  At your group's regular dance
> practice, you know who these gentles are.  Dancing at Pennsic, probably
> not.
>
> However, when the dance is being run through, and you see someone is having
> a problem that can't be corrected by a few gentle words, don't be shy to
> ask
> the instructor to run through the directions again, or give your set a
> moment to work out what they're doing.  A simple, "our group needs to run
> through that again", as opposed to, "this person hasn't a clue", works well
> to avoid embarrassment.  And who knows, another set may have appreciate the
> refresher as well.
>
> Having said that...I haven't been to a ball regularly, but do any of them
> run on the assumption, we've taught the dances during the day, we are
> presenting dances of different range of difficulties throughout the
> evening,
> please just take part in the dances you know?  This way instructors give a
> quick synopsis of the dance, and off they go, that way more dances can be
> covered in an evening, instead of spending time reteaching each dance, and
> a
> handful of more difficult dances can be included.  If this is the case,
> please don't join into advanced dances you are unfamiliar with, instead sit
> and enjoy watching it and trying to figure out the choreography, so maybe
> at
> some point you can dance it.  Also, don't convince someone who doesn't know
> or can't pick up a difficult dance to do so, the domino effect to the set,
> (if it's progressive) can just lead to frustration to the other dancers,
> and
> embarrass the unfamiliar dancer.
>
> Monika
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sca-dance-bounces+mhultin=mts.net at sca-dance.org
> [mailto:sca-dance-bounces+mhultin <sca-dance-bounces%2Bmhultin>=mts.net@
> sca-dance.org]On Behalf Of Lindsy
> Fish
> Sent: July 22, 2009 12:11 AM
> To: SCA Dance
> Subject: Re: [SCA-Dance] The Creepy, the rude, and the weird
>
> I partially disagree with physically showing somone the right placement in
> the dance. I'm the kind of person who must be shown physically how to do
> things or they make no sense to me, and this sometimes (often times) means
> them saying, "Fish, like this!", taking hold of me, and repositioning me.
> I'm not offended by it, but I know some others are, so it's always best to
> ask permission unless you know the person's okay with it.
>
> What turns me off, etiquette-wise, is when everyone is larning a dance and
> a
> know it all tries to take over teaching in the middle of somoene else doing
> so.  Quietly explaining something to your confused partner is one thing
> (I've done it and seen it done several times) but being loud, boorish and
> disruptive about it is another.
>
> I hope this helps!
>
>                Lydia de Berce, called "Fish"
>
>
>
>
>
> "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to
> say it."
>                   S. G. Tallentyre, The Friends of Voltaire
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Niki <janeeve2001 at yahoo.com>
> To: sca-dance at sca-dance.org
> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 8:39:34 AM
> Subject: [SCA-Dance] The Creepy, the rude, and the weird
>
> Hi there,
>
> We've all been there and seen it - some dancer that either creeps us out or
> has such bad manners we feel we need to sterilize after dancing with them -
> or so weird we want to avoid dancing with them at all costs.
>
> So, I'm wondering:
>
> What did they do?
>
> What do you wish they had done instead?  Please list the obvious too.
>
> I'm doing a class at Pennsic, where I'm going to try to educate some people
> who just may not know better.  But, I want to make sure I have an
> appropriate amount of material as well.  It focuses on ECD, but I'm also
> interested in hearing other stories.
>
> Already on the agenda:
>
> Hand Holding - low (of course) and no death grips
> Eye contact - no bug eyes, staring at a persons chest does not eye contact
> make, and no staring the person down
> Reverancing - if nothing else - straight backs
>
> Lady Jane Milford, OM
>
>  ** Spruce up your resume to land the job you want. Need help finding that
> job? I can help with both: http://www.liveperson.com/future-specialist
>
>
>
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