Wasatch Wiggle: Dick Riger's Utah Report
Hi Folks: A few thoughts on Contra Dancing that I'd like to share with all of you, no matter how I make them sound they are meant to be positive because they were inspired by a great trip: physical, not drug induced.
The event was the Wasatch Wiggle and it was held at the Wasatch Mountain Club in Brighton, UT. How I got there is a story in itself but let us say that I would not argue with the way that Merri R. described it (true, humorous, and a first for me).
I've been trying to get to Contra dances in other places during my travels for the last four or five years and so far only succeeded once before. That was in Florida; another story. The WW was unique in that it was my first out of state dance camp. It was a small one of sixty five dancers or so. It was smoothly run and quite good by any standard in my opinion, based on our camps. Our camps, I've been to six Memorial Day and three (?) Boo, have nothing to be ashamed of, in fact they may be better all said and done.
I talked at some length with other dancers both during and after the camp and we tended to agree on several major points. They are in no particular order here. The women out numbered the men even tho gender balance was watched carefully from the get go. They allowed several of the hosting groups girls in only if they would ONLY dance as men. Attractive girls get asked to dance: ALL Contra dancing girls are attracive: ergo some imbalance: ergo some unhappy girls. Especially out of towners. However, better for me: almost always a partner available.
The hall could have been rearranged a little better to allow more dancing space, it was tight sometimes. Also dancers tended to bunch up towards the top of the floor. We don't seem to do that. Men, more than the girls, tended to be late in finishing Heys, moreso on Hey for four. This really cut into the balance of the following Balance and Swing. I mentioned it in humor to several of the stronger dancing guys but to no avail during the camp that I could see. Strong can be wrong !!! Some of the Swings by "strong men dancers" also created space issues some of the time. Spin like a dervish is fine if it doesn't wobble too far from home space, it did. All in all it was a fun trip and a good camp, we have nothing to be ashamed of with our camps. What I did see that prompts these comments was a group like ours that has many good dancers and many new ones. They had a lot of out of town dancers also of varying skill and experience, a truly mixed lot. But, no one that I talked to came from a place that had intermediate classes available in their yearly offerings of events. Special dances, clinics, halftime shows, somewhere, anywhere, somehow, anyhow ?
Them, us, where, how has, will be, this done ? I'll keep on traveling and looking for dances and maybe my luck will improve and I'll get to more and might find that some group has solved this same issue. To be able to dance with many other groups is a goal of mine, to have fun and to learn, and see how they do it over there somewhere else. Here in the southwest the scenery is great no matter I go, so that's not an issue. Health, happiness, and good dancing to all. riger
The event was the Wasatch Wiggle and it was held at the Wasatch Mountain Club in Brighton, UT. How I got there is a story in itself but let us say that I would not argue with the way that Merri R. described it (true, humorous, and a first for me).
I've been trying to get to Contra dances in other places during my travels for the last four or five years and so far only succeeded once before. That was in Florida; another story. The WW was unique in that it was my first out of state dance camp. It was a small one of sixty five dancers or so. It was smoothly run and quite good by any standard in my opinion, based on our camps. Our camps, I've been to six Memorial Day and three (?) Boo, have nothing to be ashamed of, in fact they may be better all said and done.
I talked at some length with other dancers both during and after the camp and we tended to agree on several major points. They are in no particular order here. The women out numbered the men even tho gender balance was watched carefully from the get go. They allowed several of the hosting groups girls in only if they would ONLY dance as men. Attractive girls get asked to dance: ALL Contra dancing girls are attracive: ergo some imbalance: ergo some unhappy girls. Especially out of towners. However, better for me: almost always a partner available.
The hall could have been rearranged a little better to allow more dancing space, it was tight sometimes. Also dancers tended to bunch up towards the top of the floor. We don't seem to do that. Men, more than the girls, tended to be late in finishing Heys, moreso on Hey for four. This really cut into the balance of the following Balance and Swing. I mentioned it in humor to several of the stronger dancing guys but to no avail during the camp that I could see. Strong can be wrong !!! Some of the Swings by "strong men dancers" also created space issues some of the time. Spin like a dervish is fine if it doesn't wobble too far from home space, it did. All in all it was a fun trip and a good camp, we have nothing to be ashamed of with our camps. What I did see that prompts these comments was a group like ours that has many good dancers and many new ones. They had a lot of out of town dancers also of varying skill and experience, a truly mixed lot. But, no one that I talked to came from a place that had intermediate classes available in their yearly offerings of events. Special dances, clinics, halftime shows, somewhere, anywhere, somehow, anyhow ?
Them, us, where, how has, will be, this done ? I'll keep on traveling and looking for dances and maybe my luck will improve and I'll get to more and might find that some group has solved this same issue. To be able to dance with many other groups is a goal of mine, to have fun and to learn, and see how they do it over there somewhere else. Here in the southwest the scenery is great no matter I go, so that's not an issue. Health, happiness, and good dancing to all. riger
posted by NM FolkMADS at 12:44 PM
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