[Squaredancing] Clips from trad-dance-callers at yahoogroups.com

[squarekopp at gmx.de]

Sylvia M.:
I was almost excluded once and excluded once.  The first time was many 
years 
ago, I had just moved to a new location, my husband and I were told about  
the square dance.  He didn't feel well so I went alone.  The caller's  wife 
greeted me and said that no one would dance with me as I was alone.   She
knew 
from experience, no one danced with her.  I stuck it out and  people were
nice 
enough to dance with me but I had the feeling that were I a  genuine single
I 
would not have been welcomed back.

The 2nd time was a dance advertized in the newspaper.  I phoned for  
directions and said I had a lot of experience with square dancing.  When I 
arrived I 
was quizzed as to my experience, how many lessons I had had (35 years  of 
general square dancing didn't qualify), and gently told that I would not be 
able 
to keep up, I would not have fun and the others in my square would not have 

fun and I could come back after I had had lessons.  I never got past the  
admissions table.

The local mwsd club is crying for members but they are not willing to 
accept 
anyone who hasn't signed up for their weekly series of lessons.

Clark B.:
I believe that any MWSD club would be happy to have anyone dancing 
there who can do the moves and not break down the square.  The way that 
99% of dancers attain that ability is to go through lessons (or class) 
which meets once a week for 30 weeks.  I know this goes against trad 
squares and contras ability to welcome newcomers in at every dance.  It 
may be hard to believe that there is so much to learn or that just 
doing traditional squares and contras for 35 years one wouldn't 
encounter and learn all that needs to be learned.

Trust me, the best long time experienced traditional square dancer 
wouldn't have a chance dancing at a Plus level MWSD dance.  Each dance 
is like a no walkthru contra with a vocabulary of 100 moves of which 
you only know 30.  If you hit something you didn't know 1 call in 10 
you could recover, but hitting something unknown every other call is 
disaster.

Sylvia M:
The mwsd club in my area offers 2 free evenings in the fall and I went to  
one.  If I had no other dance outlet I would have been more enthusiastic 
but 
they really want people to sign up for their weekly lessons and I could not 

attend every lesson.

I  have a regular playing job the 2nd Wednesday of each month and often have
a  
Wednesday night meeting.  That takes care of 50% of the lesson time and I 
don't 
think it would be fair to sign up knowing that I would only make at most 
half of 
the lessons.

Heiner Fischle:
Any comments?