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5 Things All Contra Flourishers Should Know

5/21/2012

 
As we've gone through our Friday Flourishes, we've been trying to make a point of indicating potential trouble spots and safety precautions. It occurs to me that a concentrated version of these might be useful to dancers who are just starting to explore flourishes, or who have been embellishing their contra dancing for a while now as a refresher (I know I've committed my share of dance floor sins). There's room for everybody.

1. Don't be a jerk.

If you're not going to read this entry any further, commit this phrase to memory and use it as your mantra. Cranking arms, twirling people who have said they'd really rather not, sending your neighbor on to their next neighbor really late, or pulling out flourishes in crowded rooms where it could endanger yourself, your partner, or someone in the next set is just plain not cool. This is part of how flourishers get a bad name; let's rise above the rep, shall we?

2. Be aware.

This is partly a reiteration of #1, but there are some specific points I think we should all remember:
  • Be situationally aware. Some dancers really get annoyed when other dancers twirl their neighbor in a circle left and thus break the connection between the partner pairs; some dancers are probably going to twirl your partner, too, and so you can create a really neat symmetry in the minor set if you do it too.  Some people love the drama of dips; other people find the idea unthinkable. Some people have a deep respect for the dance as written, and only as written; other people like to embellish. A lot of being a good flourisher is being able to adjust your dancing depending on who is coming at you. As you dance, you get to know the room. Use that information to enhance everyone's experience, not just yours, and respect it when someone's idea of fun may be different from yours. We wouldn't be dancing if we didn't love it.
  • Be temporally aware. Know where you are in the music. If you get an 8-beat swing, don't try to squish in a 12-beat swing flourish. If you've got a crazily long swing, you have more time to experiment and still be on time for the next figure.
  • Be spatially aware. This plays into dancing in crowded rooms as well as pulling off some of the more dramatic flourishes. Frequently when someone is twirling particularly fast or is getting inverted into a dramatic dip, they are putting all their trust into their guide (i.e., the lead) that they will have enough room to participate in the flourish safely. To those who are looking into dips: for most of them, bear in mind that you do not get to control the dipee's lower body beyond shifting its center of gravity; if they want to kick their legs up, they can't see the space behind the dipper, and neither can the dipper. Physics tells us that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Experience tells us that bruises (or worse) can result in the attempt.

3. If you are not sure that you can execute a flourish SAFELY, don't.

'Nuff. Said.

4. Try your best to be on time for figures.

It happens to all of us, flourisher and non-flourisher alike; somehow you miscount a beat and you realize that your minor set is two beats behind the room, or you have to make a really big step in to balance for a set of Petronella twirls because you and your partner drifted further afield than you thought. No one will ever think less of you for the occasional oops. If you are constantly too busy playing with that cute new dancer to get back in time for the all lines forward and back, or if you're constantly progressing your neighbor on to the next person three beats late for an eight-beat swing, people will (rightfully) get a little annoyed. If your partner didn't start twirling as quickly as you thought into a chain flourish, don't guide all six twirls that she usually does. For many contra dancers,  the dance has become a lead/follow dance form; that said, you're both still dancing with the rest of the room. See #1.

5. Remember it's just a dance.

Even for flourishers, it doesn't have to be all about the fanciest steps. You end up in a line packed with new dancers. For some reason you have completely flubbed a lead you thought you had down cold. It happens. You started dancing, presumably, because it was fun; and as long as you're not harming anyone else, the practical side of the anti-flourish argument loses water. (The theoretical side will likely always be there, and the best thing flourishers can do is acknowledge other dancers' feelings and respect their existence, even if we disagree.)

Think I missed something?

Sound off in the comments!
Perry
5/20/2012 09:11:23 pm

Ryan - SO glad that you are posting this! I think you basically hit the high points. I think that the default should be to be GENTLE with their fellow dancers, and flourish ONLY with people you KNOW for a fact enjoy it. Unfortunately, I think for some the default is to embellish and it confuses a lot of new dancers and oftentimes people aren't on time - or worse, don't even care about timing. Too often, I hear from others how folks at Glen Echo are too rough with other dancers - just met a charming lady on Friday who said basically that and was feeling quite sore and sat out half the evening. That should never EVER happen.

Gabe
5/21/2012 12:24:49 pm

I couldn't agree more with these sentiments. And I might add, philosophically, that you should flourish for the right reason: do not flourish to "show off" but rather to make for a more pleasant experience everyone around you! Your partner, your neighbor....everyone!

Robert
5/22/2012 06:00:55 am

Is it a flourish if you do it all the time?

Ryan (blogger) link
5/22/2012 02:03:46 pm

Interesting philosophical question, Robert.

At least here, I tend to use the term "flourish" the way I understand it to be used elsewhere in context -- that is, if it's a move that isn't actually called by the caller but is intentionally done by the dancers, it counts as a flourish. Ideally, they're done in such a way that lets the dancers still be on time for the next figure and still has them moving in at least somewhat similar manner to the rest of the set. (By this standard, doing a ricochet hey when a regular hey is called would count as a flourish; if the caller calls a ricochet hey, doing one is not a flourish. By this definition, a follow doing twirls instead of merely being escorted around her partner/neighbor once counts as a flourish, even if 80% of the room is doing it.)

Does that help?

Jaie Arianna link
5/22/2012 07:59:19 am

Thanks for posting this right before Seattle's FolkLife Festival! Huzzah!

As I mostly follow, I might add a reminder to the leads to twirl with the *right* amount of force, and catch your follow's hand so that you can both be in position. I've been twirled out too hard, and end up off balance and disoriented, which diminishes the dance. I love the dances where everyone is in synch, whether they embellish or not.

And, personally, well, I like to show off a little, too. (*flounce*)

Jaie

dest/jess(ie(/etc.
6/1/2012 11:32:27 am

Heh--I once heard a girl give a rather succinct explanation for why we catch a follow's hand or otherwise reorient them after a flourish: "A follow in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside lead." Even for something as simple as a regular twirl on a courtesy turn, i use my hand to help the follow stop at the right point and facing the right direction. It's part of good partner care.

Conversely, a note, particularly for good following: Try to work with the lead you have. Some leads like back-led flourishes, some don't. Some like a few, but When i follow, i tend to feel that my mantra should be "make it work," but it's true in leading as well. Try not to get so caught up in leading flourishes that you miss the chance to have a few led right back; dance is a conversation, after all.

And an additional comment i'd add: Be communally aware. Regardless of how people feel about this flourish or that one, there's something awfully lonely about dancing in a line full of folks so wrapped up in their partners that everyone else is just an intermission. I believe we flourishers are particularly prone to this trap; i mean, we don't mean to forget about the others, but it's just so nice when you've got a favorite partner and you can finally pull out all the stops...

That doesn't mean you need to do fourteen kinds of flourishes with everyone (or that you can't do them with your partner, for that matter). It just means that you want to find ways to welcome everyone else into your fun, whoever they are. Contra is both communal and coupled dance, after all. Flourishes or no, the absolute best are those times when i can see, in every neighbor's eyes, that sie is right there with me and there's nowhere else sie wants to be at that moment.


Comments are closed.
    This project has concluded as of mid-2013 (with an epilogue posted mid-2016) but we hope to see you soon on a contra dance floor! Meanwhile, head over to our Facebook page for upcoming techno contra events and other items of interest.

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    Author

    I dance with abandon. I play with glowsticks. I look for music that is conducive to one or both. I play behind cameras.  I write about all of the above. I'm based in Glen Echo's contra dance community outside of Washington, D.C., but I'm happy to go dance afield when I can. Lather, rinse, repeat. Always repeat.

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