From: winston@ssrl01.slac.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: rec.folk-dancing
Subject: Re: contra-gypsies
Date: 8 Apr 92 01:28:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: ssrl01.1992Apr7.172848.1
Organization: SSRL, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab

In article <204534@unix.cis.pitt.edu>, UTWILL@UNC.BITNET (Tom Wills) writes:

[Acceptable description of gypsy and gypsy meltdown omitted.] 
[Tom's declarations of his dislike for this move omitted.]

As you'll be able to tell, I like gypsies.

>      To begin the discussion:  first of all, the move feels
> artificial.  I guess all dance moves are artificial in some
> way of thinking, but this one seems especially forced;  the
> socio-sexual interactions which are subtler in other moves,
> but charged with fully as much longing, seem in the gypsy to be
> done on command.

If you think a gypsy is artificial, try a teacup chain :-).

Are the socio-sexual interactions of grabbing hold of people and 
swinging with them subtler than those of walking around them looking
into their eyes?  You defined a gypsy as a swing without arms.  If a
swing is a gypsy with arms, it would seem to have all the features of
the gypsy plus physical contact.  Is this subtler?

>      It's a setup:  you are constrained at the caller's whim to
> engage in the imitation of desire.  This
> is not so bad when the dance calls for a gypsy between chosen
> partners (with whom you could agree to disobey and just swing)
> but is insulting when done with every neighbor down the pike.
> It then becomes an enactment of Hell, where a frozen grin and
> a stare replace real interaction.(Compare with the scene in
> "A Boy and His Dog" in which the hero is symbolically and
> surgically married to dozens of young maidens while he is
> strapped down.)

(Incidentally, I think this is a great metaphor.  I never expected to
see a reference to Harlan Ellison in rec.folk-dancing.)

To ride this pony a little further, does it stop being Hell when you add
physical contact to the frozen grin and the stare?  Don't you look at
people you're swinging with?  Aren't you equally obliged to imitate
desire when you've got someone in your arms as when you're walking
around them?

Maybe it's different where you dance, but I have never felt compelled to
deliver burning glances or longing gazes to every woman in the line. 
(Sometimes it's fun to do that, but it depends on the people, and you
have to remember that those gazes and glances don't necessarily mean
anything.)  What I do think I ought to give everyone is what Eric Black
called "honest eye contact."  

Look at the person you're gypsying with, and convey the message that
you notice them as a person and that you're glad that they're there, or
glad at least that you're both there enjoying the music, which had
better be true, since if they weren't there you'd be gypsying air. 
Friendly looks are just fine.

-- Alan

===============================================================================
 Alan Winston --- WINSTON@SSRL750.BITNET or  WINSTON@SSRL01.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
 Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford, California 415/926-3056
 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA  94309-0210
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Newsgroups: rec.folk-dancing