I think this is a really great take! I would totally agree with you, especially about recognising that larks and robins are hard for people who are used to men and women. My intention is to use positional terms going forward, and I have done this for my last few contra gigs (I've always done this in ceilidh).
Regarding the dance you suggested, I think it becomes far easier once you have walked it through once - as the momentum means that it's obvious who should be starting the hey in A1. But that of course still leaves the initial challenge. To fix this, I would probably borrow from English country dance and define first corners as the two ladies/robins, and second corners as the two men/larks (note that English country dances are usually proper rather than improper so the two people in the first corner or second corner group are not the same role like they are in contra). What do you think? You could argue that's just using a different role term again...
Yeah this makes sense! It might be idealistic for me to envision a world where we don't care what side we are standing on with contra. That could take many, many years. I do think we need to find ways to make this dances extremely welcoming to everyone, and so whatever form that takes Larks/Robins, Positional, Corners, we are actively try to foster this and I am a fan of that mindset.
I think this is a really great take! I would totally agree with you, especially about recognising that larks and robins are hard for people who are used to men and women. My intention is to use positional terms going forward, and I have done this for my last few contra gigs (I've always done this in ceilidh).
Regarding the dance you suggested, I think it becomes far easier once you have walked it through once - as the momentum means that it's obvious who should be starting the hey in A1. But that of course still leaves the initial challenge. To fix this, I would probably borrow from English country dance and define first corners as the two ladies/robins, and second corners as the two men/larks (note that English country dances are usually proper rather than improper so the two people in the first corner or second corner group are not the same role like they are in contra). What do you think? You could argue that's just using a different role term again...
Hey Jack,
Yeah this makes sense! It might be idealistic for me to envision a world where we don't care what side we are standing on with contra. That could take many, many years. I do think we need to find ways to make this dances extremely welcoming to everyone, and so whatever form that takes Larks/Robins, Positional, Corners, we are actively try to foster this and I am a fan of that mindset.