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

Wed Jul 22 12:39:38 EDT 2009

I have seen females come away from dancing "toss the wench" with bruises because of overly-enthusiastic males.  I've seen bruising after dancing "Strip the Willow", as well.

Arming in ECD: men--don't move in and encircle the ladies about the waist while "arming".  It is called "arming", not "waisting".  But, it is also not called "caressing arming", either <shudder>.

Rebecca

> Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:46:38 -0400
> From: andrea.collis at gmail.com
> CC: sca-dance at sca-dance.org
> Subject: Re: [SCA-Dance] The Creepy, the rude, and the weird
> 
> 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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