Thread
Index
Briefings at Balls - a geographical perspective
Patricia_J_Donaldson.Henr801B
March 15, 1995, 10:56 p.m. (Message 1304)
Scanning the briefing arguments I've come to the following conclusions: People in areas where balls are typically unbriefed - California (esp. San Francisco area), parts of Canada and UK - prefer unbriefed balls. People in areas where balls are commonly briefed (other parts of US, esp. east coast) prefer briefing.
Pat Donaldson makes the following interesting observation:
> People in areas where balls are typically unbriefed - California (esp.
> San Francisco area), parts of Canada and UK - prefer unbriefed balls.
> People in areas where balls are commonly briefed (other parts of US,
> esp. east coast) prefer briefing.
I would also expect there to be strong correlations with the experience
of the dancer and perhaps their age (although these themselves might
obviously be strongly correlated). I'm intrigued. Can we actually get
some quantitative numbers on this rather than just guessing? I suspect
that I'm going to regret this, but if you're willing to send me the
following information I'll try to correlate it without publishing the
names of the respondents.
Briefings? Experience Level Location Age (optional)
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Notes:
[1] Y = pro-briefings/N = anti-briefings
[2] Experience in years
[3] Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced (presumably this is somewhat
correlated with [2], but not necessarily!)
[4] Country (& State within the USA at least)
[5] 10-19, 20-29, 30-39 etc. Feel free to omit this!
Actually, I'm sure Kent Smith from the Chicago Branch could devise a set
of questions far better than I can, but let's see what happens with
this.
Just to get things going, here's my profile:
Briefings? Experience Level Location Age (optional)
Y 19(gulp) A USA(CA) 40-49
And here's my email address etc.
David
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David R. Quarrie Lawrence Berkeley Lab MS 50B-3238
(NeXTmail ok) 1 Cyclotron Road
Internet: xxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx Berkeley, CA 94720
DECnet : lbl::drquarrie Tel: (510) 486-4868
BITNET : xxxxxxxxx@xxx Fax: (510) 486-4004
> > > People in areas where balls are typically unbriefed - California (esp. San > Francisco area), parts of Canada and UK - prefer unbriefed balls. People in > areas where balls are commonly briefed (other parts of US, esp. east coast) > prefer briefing. > > No, this isn't accurate. Many people in the S.F. area would prefer briefings. Questions: 1- Are there people in areas where they do brief who wish they did not? 2- Has anyone ever changed from prefering briefings to prefering no briefings (not counting temporary 'conversions' due to poor briefings. I was about to say that the only conclusion I could reach was that everyone prefered what they 'grew up' with (I'm a transplanted easterner stuck in the no-talk-thru-west), but Ellie B's message just popped in proving it is possible to convert to PRO-briefings. Is Ellie an exception, or is this common? SF no longer has FTWK (For Those Who Know, or maybe "Footwork") dances at the monthly parties, not sure when they dissappeared. Tis a shame, as I think they spice up an evening and usually work quite well, as long as they are announced well in advance. I think even most "give me briefings or give me death" (like myself) enjoy the occassional dive in and do it dance. So I'ld add this to my list of complaints about the no-briefings ball (equivalent to an entire evening of FTWK dances) - none of the dances is special in this way. Also , many people get up for every dance figuring "I got through the last one, so I can manage this one", and so the experienced dancers end up spending the whole evening helping people through the dances. (The emphasis is on the "whole evening" part. I enjoy dancing with new folks, it's rewarding, fun, and helps build the community. But I also like to occassionally cruise thru a fun dance in a set of experienced dancers.) -david newitt
On Wed, 15 Mar 1995 xxxxxxxx_x_xxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx wrote: > Scanning the briefing arguments I've come to the following conclusions: > > People in areas where balls are typically unbriefed - California (esp. San > Francisco area), parts of Canada and UK - prefer unbriefed balls. People in > areas where balls are commonly briefed (other parts of US, esp. east coast) > prefer briefing. > > Maybe this means that people who don't like briefings continue dancing in areas where dances are not briefed, and those who like briefings continue dancing in areas where there is briefing. So maybe we are losing half our dancers? More seriously, the problem with briefings IMHO is poor briefings. I would sometimes rather not even know the dance and just improvise for 32 bars than to endure the awful briefing...rambling, unphrased, extraneous information, etc. Regarding, Martin Mulligan's note on a TAC AGM in 1978, I was there too, also as a relatively new dancer. However, unlike Martin, I had not gotten any prior information that there would be no briefings! As someone else said, the adrenalin did indeed flow. And I too noticed that the teachers seemed quite human; their mistakes were just like mine. I vote for briefings, except for old chestnuts, which ought to be marked on the advance program as "will not be briefed." And I vote for good briefings... - Mel Briscoe, Alexandria VA
On Wed, 15 Mar 1995, Mel Briscoe wrote, in part: > Regarding, Martin Mulligan's note on a TAC AGM in 1978, I was there too, > also as a relatively new dancer. However, unlike Martin, I had not > gotten any prior information that there would be no briefings! As > someone else said, the adrenalin did indeed flow. And I too noticed that > the teachers seemed quite human; their mistakes were just like mine. > > > - Mel Briscoe, Alexandria VA Well, I was there too, and as a not-so-new dancer. I remember the incredible floor -- it's where the Boston Ball is held today, first weekend in May. I also remember that TAC AGM Sat. night dance. There was a tournee on it, and my partner and I were in the set with the examiners, one of whom was at that time the Chairman of the RSCDS. My partner, an experienced dancer of many years, was so nervous he grabbed my right thumb, and we did the tournee with him desparately clutching that thumb. I did nothing. I said nothing. I smiled and secretly hoped I'd have a thumb at the end of the dance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Priscilla Burrage (xxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx) Vermont USA (xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xxx)
At our "St.Andrews Ball" in Austin, we usually have the dance program marked with designations for a few specific types. Unmarked dances are briefed. The types that are marked are: beginners' choice, where the beginner/intermediate dancers are supposed to "ask the best dancer in the house", and not to be refused unless they have already been asked (NOT pre-booked!) by another beginner. not-briefed, which are usually more difficult dances, for people who have come prepared to dance them without a brief. Only one or two of those dances appear on the program. several beginners' choice dances appear on the program. The dances are marked on the programs that are sent out, so that everyone should be aware of the unbriefed dances ahead of time and have prepared for them if they want to dance them. on the discussion of briefing vs nonbriefing, I prefer only slightly the nonbriefing, because you CAN get more dances in in an evening when the hall or the musicians are booked until a specific "witching hour" when you are required/forced to stop. This DOES happen in Scotland, at least, and, if you spend an extra 1 minute/dance briefing, and you have an 18 dance program, it can literally mean the difference between a 16 dance program and a 20 dance program. However, it means you need to have the program in advance and do your homework. There is a special skill (one which I thought I'd never acquire) in being able to look at a crib in a minute while lines are forming and be able to dance a fairly complicated dance (remember, you studied it well before), but I did learn it, and having it, I like to use it! However, what I like most, is going ANYWHERE, and dancing AS THEY DO IT THERE!! Briefed or unbriefed, more socializing or more dancing. I've had wonderful fun in all of the discussed situations (and a few really BAD experiences because of some personality clashes in both situations) so I'm not a vociferous advocate for either. It's the dancers in a particular locality that have to put up with their own style of dancing (briefed or unbriefed) and who have the right and responsibility to make their own decisions about what they like or don't like. There should not be any "what WE do is better than what THEY do"...you should just go and enjoy the opportunity to dance in a different environment with different people. Unfortunately, it's not always like that, but I try to bleep over the politics and enjoy the local preferences as best I can. paul
Brief: Y; Exp: 18; Level: A; Loc: MB, Canada; Age: 51 Perhaps I should say that I am in favour of BRIEFings; I wonder whether some people's opposition has to do with having stood through complete descriptions of a dance, teaching points included, before the band actually got to play. Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how this comes out. Peter McClure Winnipeg, MB, Canada xxxxxx@xxx.xxxxxxxxx.xx
Regarding the FTWK (For Those Who Know) dances in SF, I recall a ball in Boston a few years ago when two of the dances on the programme were clearly marked in the booklet: "These dances will not be briefed". I wonder why they don't do that anymore? Any Boston dancers out there in the know? Norah Link