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strathspey@strathspey.org:27671

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Alan Twhigg

Alan Twhigg

RE: Contra dancing

Oct. 2, 2001, 7:29 p.m. (Message 27671, in reply to message 27655)

From the differing opinions expressed on this thread,
it seems clear to me that one can't generalize about
contra dance groups, any more than one can about the
standards or social atmosphere of different SCD
gatherings. About the only common ground is that
contra places little or no emphasis on footwork and,
since the dances are usually called throughout, it is
a more approachable form for participation by new
dancers. The downside can be a large degree of
turnover in the dancing population that tends to
dilute the development of community and teamwork -
which are at least as important to some of us in SCD
groups as the emphasis on precision and technique.

My own experience with contra, some years back, was
sufficiently negative that I've never returned to it -
and this may be a local problem, as others who dance
in the SF Bay Area have expressed similar feelings. I
found it extremely cliquish, such that the group of
dancers in the choice top center portion of the hall
never left that area, but immediately switched
partners when one dance ended and another began. It
was also physically daunting, in a different way from
SCD - I took to wearing leather boots with reinforced
toes because I kept getting stepped on by people
wearing heels. To top it off, there tended to be a
slight excess of men at these dances, but it was not
PC for men to pair off for dances.


-Alan Twhigg.

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