Plus Class Winding Down

[bjarvis]

Being mildly ill yesterday wasn't pleasant but I went to our Plus class anyway. kent4str could teach it without me but I was transporting the sound system so I at least had to be present if otherwise useless.

I'm sure I was spectacularly unenthusiastic on the microphone for our regular patter. Being mildly sick, however, gives one leave say a few things more forcefully than one otherwise would, and I took advantage. I have three pet peeves with some of our current class. I've cut them a lot of slack but they even if they decide not to fix this themselves, they have to know these will be affect the other dancers.

Pet Peeve #1: Not listening. Yeah, we're a social group and I'm all for getting together to chat about any topic you'd like, but if I'm describing a new call or telling you why a call just crashed a square, pay attention!

Pet Peeve #2: Not knowing how to count. 1/4 is not 2/4. 1/4 is not 3/4. 1/4 is not 4/4. 1/4 is not 5/4. 1/4 is not infinity. When the call includes a single hinge or a cast off 3/4 and I've cued you the count, you should be counting instead of day dreaming. I can tell the difference between occasionally blanking on the formation and casting away indefinitely as you wait for someone else to stop you. One is understandable; the other is not.

Pet Peeve #3: Not remembering who is your adjacent dancer. When I've told you explicitly to memorize the face of the person who is holding your right hand because you'll end the call holding that same person's hand, do it. Don't just nod and look at the shiny object in the corridor. You can bet your ass when you're done wandering in the wilderness I'm going to ask you whose hand you were holding when you started; if you can't tell me, we'll all know you screwed up.

I don't want to seem overly harsh, however; they're actually a pretty good bunch. In fact, they've surprised me on a number of calls.

A couple of weeks ago, 'load the boat' was causing crashes everywhere (the centers' part, naturally). We workshopped everyone doing the centers' part several times that session; while we repeated that in later sessions, some people were absent. Last night, 'load the boat' was a little stiff in the warm-up but they were sailing through it by the close of the class. Yay!

I was worried about 'all 8 spin the top' but once they saw the flow, all was well. Some folks get confused between 'flip the diamond' and 'cut the diamond' but this class has them down cold; the worst issue they had was remembering to pass right shoulders for a facing diamond circulate.

'Coordinate' (last week) and 'crossfire' this week were sluggish but that's more an issue of unfamiliarity than of definitions. Practise will smooth this out.

'Relay the deucey' still has some issues but we were able to get it moving by the end of the class. More workshopping next week should help further.

Comments

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was starting to think that as I was composing my rant. I don't want the dancers to not have fun but at the same time each needs to focus (a) on the call at hand along with any cuing the caller may offer, (b) on one's own position & role in the square, and (c) to a lesser degree on the other folks in the square.

Very experienced dancers may need only a fraction of their overall attention span to keep up with the square but newbies in a lesson or workshop should be fully focused.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Yes, we want the dancers to have fun - ALL of them. One person not paying attention can cause 7 others, who were having fun before, to suddenly not have fun.

It's all about being fair to the majority.