Journey to Ixtlan

“Dancing in Color” is a poem about my home contra dance hall River Falls Lodge (https://www.facebook.com/sean.h.green/media_set?set=a.4030161239214.176945.1437109060&type=3). The orange strips mark the hall's four dance lines. My dance partners are the best!


Dancing in Color
Poem for Day 051 – 20150222

Let's dance in color,
orange strips mark the lines,
beneath the colored lights.
Lights reflect in your eyes,
looking straight into mine,
pools of dancing delight.

Twirl the skirt, round and round
faster than the eye can track,
fabric sewn for the task!
Could I be as fancy dressed?
I doubt it in my shorts and shirt!
You'll look good enough for both.

I'm glad you're my partner,
let's do contra, I'm all warmed up.
I've waited for this all night.
Neighbors will do their thing,
some time spent with them,
and then I'm back in your arms.

Swing my partner, swing the next,
circle left, then pull right through right,
that's how we'll progress.
We're contradancing tonight
you and me, and neighbors too,
beneath the colored lights.

© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved

I had some wonderful photos that I wanted to post to “Dancers of the Carolinas”. I don't know if you realize it guys, but you are so super sexy attractive alive when you are contradancing. Just saying! I wrote “Contradancing in Black and White” with specific pictures in mind.


Contradancing in Black and White
Bonus Poem for Day 92 – 20141224

Join me at the contradance
so we can strut our stuff
beneath the many lights
muted to a showing of black and white.

I'll spin you so,
your skirt flared in response.
Lovely legs are shown,
dress fluttering in the air just so.

I'll turn you around,
lift your hand into the air,
and we'll move to the next step
of our dance of eloquence.

Drape your arm across my back,
our faces turned to smile.
This dance is an enchantment,
heaven on earth as we progress.

I'll dip you and look into your eyes,
but wait, we have company,
a photographer stalks us there,
never mind, we will dance on.

We'll finish the night with a side dip.
Our eyes will meet in a knowing look.
No matter where we were before,
we are together here now.

© 2014. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

I've found that social dancing provides glimpses into how relationships should work. My latest ah-ha relates to the contradance swing. This swing is very similar to a ballroom swing, with the shoulders parallel with your partner and the arms held firm but not rigid. When swinging, the partners move as one. This sounds simple, but the rest of the story speaks to how relationships are handled.

Swings can include extra moves, with the twirl being the most common addition. The gent typically leads the lady into a twirl when starting or ending a swing. The time allowed for the overall swing dictates the amount of time taken up by these optional twirls. While the twirls come in several forms, the purpose is twofold: showing mastery of the dance by the gent and providing the lady with some spice in the swing.

So, we have a swing and we have the flourishes before and / or after the swing. What does this have to do with relationships? The swing is the mainstay of a dance relationship. It is the period of time that you are most connected to your partner. A typical set of moves is 64 beast long. Lots of things can happen during this 64 beats, with partner swing is only going to last 8 or 16 beats of this time. In the end, a swing with a dance partner you really enjoy is only a small part of the entire dance sequence. A swing is meant to be treasured, just as relationships. The time allocated to this is only a fraction of all the time available.

My realization was that the flourishes are a distraction. A swing only lasts for 8 or 16 beats of the available 64 beats, and then your dance partner leaves your arms. A twirl before and after a swing can reduce the swing to 8 or even 4 beats of music. This unwanted reduction of quality time with a partner is executed for the sake of twirls that are motivated by vanity or habit. Ah! Here is the heart of my thoughts. I was glad to learn how to do decent twirls, adding flourishes to my dance, but now I know they come at a price.

An informal poll of accomplished female dancers has informed me that the ladies would prefer to have a solid, well executed swing, over a series of dizzying flourishes. I agree with the poll results. I've come to treasure a swing that is smoothly executed by both parties. The smooth swing is a result of a mutual effort between the dancers. The swing is a dance relationship, and just as the flourishes can jar or shorten a swing, the flashy distractions of life can impact a social relationship.

Now I minimize the twirls I perform, especially if I very much enjoy being with a dance partner. I want to enjoy the heart of the swing and not rob myself of the moment by the unnecessary twirling about. A social relation should be given the same treatment. Every relationship has a place in which the partners are synchronized in their actions. The flourishes of life, as flashy as they may be, take away from the connection. A smooth swing is effortless. It appears simple, but the ease originates from a lot of cooperation and understanding on the part of the partners. Relationships are like this too. Appreciate the times that relationships are working well. Don't distract yourself with social equivalents of twirls.

The time you have available with your partner, be it in dance or elsewhere, is short relative to the rest of life. I've cut back on the twirls and the reward has been wonderful. Look to your personal life and see where you can focus on simplifying the flourishes while you focus on the magic of relationships.

 

I got a lesson about diversity this past weekend at Summer Soirée. What is diversity? Webster says it is “the quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc.”. Many forms is the vision I've had! Here is the scoop: I've been dancing contra for almost fourteen years now. I am pretty aware of the basic contra moves. I am also aware of other dance moves going on in my local contra dance community. Where the heck did they come from? I heard rumors they were associated with something called swing, but I didn't really know. Now I know where the non-contra dance forms originated.

I attended a workshop called “East Coast Swing”. Hank Morris and Tracy Bulostin walked us through some basic swing moves. I think this was officially the fourth time I had done swing dancing. Anyway, I learned some new movies and realized that I had seen the moves somewhere else. I had seen them at contra! Ah! Diversity of dance as different forms come together in the thing called contra. I spoke to a friend about this and they said that contra was pretty open to a bit of diversity. I am so tickled that I learned the swing moves.

Now I get to go back to my local contra dance hall and try out these new swing moves. I suspect they will serve me well in both contra and waltzing. Shoot, I tried a couple doing a waltz during the weekend and the results were promising! Color me excited. A little diversity is a good thing. A lot is probably a great thing. Let's see what we can do with this!

My home contradance hall has a phenomenon called “The Third Line”. This contra line is the gathering point for the more experienced dancers. At my home dance hall these experienced dancers are now younger and in the past they were older. There is a lot of mythology and frustration regarding the third line. There are also benefits, and a challenge to to-be experienced dancers!

There is myth that the third line is a new thing. I've been dancing at my hall for fourteen years, and I have to disagree with this statement. The third line has always existed. The placement used to be in the middle of the hall. Now it is to one side, perhaps coincidentally where I take photos.

Visiting callers experience frustration with the third line. A typical dance has three lines going, with two of the lines occupied by a mixture of experienced dancers. The third line can be longer than the other two. The visiting caller asks dancers to move from the third line to one of the other two. The experienced dancers resist, and the majority stays.

Why do the majority of experienced dancers stay in the third line? My home dance hall has strong core of experienced dancers, always has, and these dancers enjoy dancing together. Is the third line a clique thing? It is if the definition is “persons who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting “. The third line is there miniature version of an advanced dance.

It is only a guess on my part, but I suspect new dancers stay away from the more advanced line as they orientate to one of the other lines. I've seen a migration of dancers from the other lines to the third line. The migration has happened has the dancers' experience has grown and they've become more confident. Movement is not just one way. Kudos go to the experienced dancers who spread themselves around the room, sharing their knowledge. The impact is wonderful. I am tickled every weekend to see rank beginners transform into confident beginners, on their way to some amazing dancing.

A myth is that the third line has harmed my home contradance hall. I disagree with this statement. People have come and go over the years. The majority of dancers who were around ten years ago are not here now. The location of the third line has moved, and the dancers who inhabited it don't dance much now. The transformation of the dance community has a lot of factors, but the third line is not the primary cause. If anything, the third line promotes better dancing as it provides a haven for the experienced dancers, and a destination for the up and coming dancers.

A last myth is that the third line is exclusionary. It does fill up fast, but dancers of all skill levels are welcome. I am tickled to see beginning dancers take the plunge along with the experienced dancers. It is a wonderful way to learn! I've seen nobody turned away or told that they need to dance in another line. It is first come, first serve. Please, if you experience different, talk to myself or another board member at my home dance. Cliques exist to associate like people. They should not exist to exclude others! Enjoy our third line if you are there already, welcome newcomers, and remember the number one rule: have fun!

Contra (contradancing) is a social experience, and more so than I realized! There is the aspect of having as many as 12-13 dance partners in one evening. The dance experience is shared with each partner for about ten minutes, and during that time a multitude of neighbor couples are interacted with, with the partner shared and other dancers interacted with in brief exchanges of contra moves.

Boy that sounds sociable, enough to make Austin Powers raise an eyebrow, but there is more. I was talking to dancers who do both contra and swing, and I was told that contra is more sociable, with an emphasis on eye contact. Why? The swing community quickly identifies incoming contra dancers because of their intense eye gazing. Dancers were told to “tone down the stares” because the swing dancers were not used to the eye contact intensity. Blues may have contra beat on the intimacy scale with the up close and personal personal dances, but contra has blues and other dance genres socially trumped when it comes to the eyeball beat-down.

There are other social delineations between the dance forms. I am told that the Swing / Lindy style has dancers “doing their own thing” even while the partners cooperate. Blues dancing, and many other forms, the interaction is between one couple. There is no constant influx of new neighbor couples. Square dance, in some ways the most close form of dancing, only has three neighbor couples in each square. A contra line (guessing!) has 10-12 neighbor couples encountered in a single dance.

Bottom line, I love contra for the social experience. As an introverted extrovert, I really need to be pulled out of my shell. I blossom once interacting, and the incredible social experience of contra is the nudge I need.

This time of year, just before summer, is a bitter sweat time of year for me. Several of my contradancing friends are completing their schooling and moving on with life. A big kudos and well wishes goes out to them as they transition onward. This is the sweet part. The bitter part is knowing that their time in the contradancing community may be coming to an end.

My involvement with dancing and photography builds relationships between myself and the other dancers. I've really grown through the years because of the interaction. I've seen my fellow dancers also grow and mature in some wonderful ways. They've gone from novice dancers to real powerhouses. I've seen connections form between members of the community. I've been fortunate to document that connections. Sometimes I'm even captured on photo with my new friends!

These transitions enrich my life. People move on or up, and more people will appear. The cycle of bitter sweet relationships turns, and I am blessed for it.