Port and Starboard

September 17th, 2013
contra
Given that:
  • In contra dance anyone can dance either role.
  • The current role names suggest men should dance one role and women should dance the other.
  • To many dancers the traditionally male and female roles have a substantial lead/follow dynamic, while to others there is no or minimal role-based lead/follow.
I see:
  • Calling the roles "lady" and "gent" doesn't work for some dancers, and continues a pattern of men telling women what to do.
  • Calling the roles "lead" and follow" doesn't work for other dancers, and pushes contra toward becoming a full lead/follow dance.
  • The terms "port" and "starboard" have emerged as a clear favorite over many discussions.
So:
  • I've made up a set of my dance cards to use port/starboard (pdf).
  • When I'm booked to call dances I'll ask if it's ok for me to call this style.

Update 2015-02-27: If I were writing this now I would say jet/ruby or maybe lark/raven. The discussion's still going. Saying port/starboard was a clear favorite was probably wrong at the time, or at least only reflected a consensus among a small group of dancers who had been talking a lot amongst each other.

Comment via: google plus, facebook

Recent posts on blogs I like:

A Big Problem With The Going To Bed Book

One day my dad was reading this book called the "Going to Bed Book" to my sister Nora. The book is basically about a bunch of animals who are getting ready for bed on a boat. They go down the stairs, take a bath, hang their towels on the wall, find…

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts September 18, 2023

Investing in boundaries with young kids

Putting in some work to get the behavior you want The post Investing in boundaries with young kids appeared first on Otherwise.

via Otherwise August 15, 2023

Self-driving car bets

This month I lost a bunch of bets. Back in early 2016 I bet at even odds that self-driving ride sharing would be available in 10 US cities by July 2023. Then I made similar bets a dozen times because everyone disagreed with me. The first deployment to pot…

via The sideways view July 29, 2023

more     (via openring)