{"items": [{"author": "Danner", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436797686403379", "anchor": "fb-436797686403379", "service": "fb", "text": "The only thing I can add is an old Zen teaching, that mastery of one is also important, as it teaches about all the others.", "timestamp": "1363900569"}, {"author": "Ala\u017ftair", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436847276398420", "anchor": "fb-436847276398420", "service": "fb", "text": "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63X3GI_EMCI", "timestamp": "1363909090"}, {"author": "Daniel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436869006396247", "anchor": "fb-436869006396247", "service": "fb", "text": "Alistair, the best part of that video are his faces as he does it...", "timestamp": "1363912667"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436908029725678", "anchor": "fb-436908029725678", "service": "fb", "text": "Within contra dancing, there is more than gent and lady.  It's good to know that contra dancing is not couple dancing, it is set dancing, and you are dancing not only in the context of a couple, but in a circle of four and with other neighbors and other people in your set and surrounding sets.  And that only discusses the relationships on a coarse level, there is all kinds of physics and mechanics involved, various kinds of art and science.", "timestamp": "1363923434"}, {"author": "Daniel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436908646392283", "anchor": "fb-436908646392283", "service": "fb", "text": "Andrew -- yes, but a gent will at some point in the dance go through half of those positions throughout the set, and a lady the other half.  Is there something else being significantly left out?", "timestamp": "1363923614"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436911456392002", "anchor": "fb-436911456392002", "service": "fb", "text": "Yes, Daniel - there are many dancers who treat contra dance as a couple dance (as though it was swing or blues, etc), and they ignore everyone except their partner, either that or they only pay attention to their partner and their friends.  I'm not just talking about an individual moving physically through the space, I'm talking about the dynamics of interaction with people around you, and how the grand meat machine that is a hall full of contra dancers works.", "timestamp": "1363924467"}, {"author": "Danner", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=436992706383877", "anchor": "fb-436992706383877", "service": "fb", "text": "Andrew,, do you propose a separate part in order to learn the mechanics of the line? That sounds silly. The mechanics of the set are a deeper understanding of the ladies, gents, and callers role.", "timestamp": "1363950752"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437071216376026", "anchor": "fb-437071216376026", "service": "fb", "text": "Danner, I don't understand your question about a separate part.  I said that there are many interactions that are part of contra dancing that aren't between you and your partner, and it's likely that if you ignore these dynamics, that you are interfering with them.  Dancing without being aware of the dancers around you is equivalent to elbowing and stomping your way through a crowd of people.  Instead of being part of the flow of the dance, reckless unconscious dancing becomes an obstacle in the flow, and a hazard that other dancers have to beware of, similar to having to beware of an erratic driver on the road.", "timestamp": "1363963056"}, {"author": "Danner", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437073716375776", "anchor": "fb-437073716375776", "service": "fb", "text": "I understand this. Is this statement supposed to be a response to Jeff's original post, or just a general statement?I know it's a gripe, but I fail to see the relevance. If you aren't supposed to learn about set mechanics from a lady's, gent's, or caller's standpoint, where are you suggesting people learn about it? Personally, I learned set mechanics through the leader's and caller's role, being able to guide multiple people through a dance. If you don't learn set mechanics through the roles discussed, how do you expect people to grow into this deeper understanding? You don't expect a beginner to know all the set mechanics right off the bat, do you?", "timestamp": "1363963421"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437079169708564", "anchor": "fb-437079169708564", "service": "fb", "text": "Danner, I think my confusion about part is because part means at least two things here.  Jeff said \"lady and gent.\"  Those are clearly parts (roles) in a contra dance - at a basic level the only contra dancer roles (you might want to name them differently, but that's it).  But learning (the distinction between) lady and gent does not teach you parts (that word) of the dance that help you participate in the greater scope of the contra dance.  So in that sense, yes, there are other parts (roles) in a contra dance beside lady and gent.  There is neighbor, there is element of the wider pattern in space and time, etc.  These do not have much to do with the distinction between (partner) lady and gent, they are in another dimension.", "timestamp": "1363964650"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437080829708398", "anchor": "fb-437080829708398", "service": "fb", "text": "Re a beginner knowing all the set mechanics, no, I don't expect a beginner to know all the set mechanics.  With respect to beginners, the problem is that if they follow the calls as well as they can, and they don't dance aggressively, they will blend into flow of a dance quite readily.  But if they stray from the form without understanding it, to be distinctive, expressive, and creative, they will often dance in ways that are obstructive or even dangerous.", "timestamp": "1363964997"}, {"author": "Jordy", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437367833013031", "anchor": "fb-437367833013031", "service": "fb", "text": "So you're saying being distinctive, creative and expressive are bad things....", "timestamp": "1364015421"}, {"author": "Daniel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437555782994236", "anchor": "fb-437555782994236", "service": "fb", "text": "Jordy, I think he's trying to say that being distinctive, creative, and expressive WITHOUT understanding the impact that various changes have on the others around you is a bad thing.  Not that all expressive changes are problematic.<br><br>That said, I'm still not sure how this relates back to the original post.  These are all levels of understanding that can/should come from interacting with the dance in the various roles Jeff already listed, not things that come from any part he missed.  It just requires active attention while dancing/calling those roles.", "timestamp": "1364058955"}, {"author": "Carl", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437558679660613", "anchor": "fb-437558679660613", "service": "fb", "text": "\u2026<br>Yes, that.<br>I was once injured by the fellow ahead of me taking too much time to put too much spin on the woman I was about to receive. She came in way too fast and about a quarter-beat late, and I had to catch her. He sent me several like that in that one dance. My right wrist was sore for several days. A problem in my business. And this was an experienced dancer.", "timestamp": "1364059611"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437753416307806", "anchor": "fb-437753416307806", "service": "fb", "text": "Daniel and Carl, thank's for covering what I might have said, I was up having fun at DECDF and away from FB.  Indeed, I'm thinking that if blacksmith Carl is probably on the burlier/fitter end of the dancer spectrum, and if he's getting injured by the recklessness of his neighbors, and if other good healthy experienced dancers are getting injured by their reckless neighbors, that maybe it shows that we have a problem.And Jordy, no, I didn't mean what you wrote.  I used those words in a broader context that has a different meaning, a a meaning that I think I expressed clearly.", "timestamp": "1364101062"}, {"author": "Andrew", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/436753323074482?comment_id=437754242974390", "anchor": "fb-437754242974390", "service": "fb", "text": "Daniel R, I meant to convey that when Jeff wrote his note about the different aspects of dancing, caller, musician, organizer, etc... he described gaining insights about dancing from the lady/gent perspective, as a way of covering different facets of the dancer's role.  I intended to convey that while lady/gent is a good way to see two facets of contra dancing, that's  only the view of contra dancing as a couple dance, and I was saying that as a set dance, that there is quite a bit more to see (and many are quite blind to it).  That's all.", "timestamp": "1364101322"}]}