Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005) • Hacker News Board

Re: Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005)

#21

Post by mcv » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 11:29 PM UTC

lambdaphagy wrote: post #19

viraptor wrote: post #10

> A cute trend, especially in Lindy Hop circles, is to wear vintage outfits from the 1930's and 40's. Some scenes in the US apparently went too far with that. When too many new people started coming in in their best vintage outfits, there were a few (current teachers) who made a point of going to competitions as casual as possible. > In the past it has been the tradition that men asked women to dance. But this custom…

It's not as clear to me that this development is fortunate. The customs of social dance have evolved over centuries, and I'm leery of doing away with things simply because we no longer understand them. I learned to contra dance in a groovy, gender-free group, and I found it frustrating for several reasons. Contra dance is designed for bodies that fit together, statistically, as men's and women's bodies do, and it was…

> I'm leery of doing away with things simply because we no longer understand them.

Ah, but we do understand them, we just disagree with them. People learn, traditions change, society advances.

It's fine that you may want to dance with women who want to dance with men, but not everybody may have the same preference. Besides, there might be a mismatch between the number of women and men.

Re: Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005)

#22

Post by viraptor » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 11:39 PM UTC

lambdaphagy wrote: post #19

viraptor wrote: post #10

> A cute trend, especially in Lindy Hop circles, is to wear vintage outfits from the 1930's and 40's. Some scenes in the US apparently went too far with that. When too many new people started coming in in their best vintage outfits, there were a few (current teachers) who made a point of going to competitions as casual as possible. > In the past it has been the tradition that men asked women to dance. But this custom…

It's not as clear to me that this development is fortunate. The customs of social dance have evolved over centuries, and I'm leery of doing away with things simply because we no longer understand them. I learned to contra dance in a groovy, gender-free group, and I found it frustrating for several reasons. Contra dance is designed for bodies that fit together, statistically, as men's and women's bodies do, and it was…

I'm not familiar with contra, so can't comment on the fitting part. Where I danced in social scenes, if you need a man's/woman's body specifically, (whatever that means...) that would mean you're either doing it wrong or in a really inappropriate way.

> The customs of social dance have evolved over centuries

The fun part is that in many cases they had to evolve first to gendered dancing, and now we're coming back. Which is what people are often not aware of and think it's somehow weird.

> It matters because I want to dance with women who want to dance with men.

And nobody can force you to do otherwise. I think it's a fortunate development that you can do that, or you can dance with everybody. You get more possibilities, not fewer. (And because it reduces the number of people without partners)

Re: Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005)

#23

Post by viraptor » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 1:45 AM UTC

megous wrote: post #17

bmer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment raises a relevant question for me: where is my downvote button? I have been using HN for a while, but can only see an upvote button? In the past, facing unproductive comments, I have taken out the time to write up why I feel it is unproductive, but I'd also like the ability to help blur it out.

In most species, dancing is about banging. (when they dance of course) Some birds will dance to signal their fitness to a female, right before reproduction. And the rules can be pretty intricate too. It probably is less of a signal in humans, though. But I can't say I haven't successfully mated a few times via dancing.

It's as much about banging as programming is: safe occupation, above average income, signalling good provider. Or any sport. Or any other activity if we start describing them that way. But if you join a social dance scene with that perspective, you're likely to just annoy lots of people. On average, they're not there for banging and have their own existing relationships. A cigar is sometimes just a cigar :-)

Re: Elements of Dance Etiquette (2005)

#24

Post by megous » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 11:11 AM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #23

megous wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most species, dancing is about banging. (when they dance of course) Some birds will dance to signal their fitness to a female, right before reproduction. And the rules can be pretty intricate too. It probably is less of a signal in humans, though. But I can't say I haven't successfully mated a few times via dancing.

It's as much about banging as programming is: safe occupation, above average income, signalling good provider. Or any sport. Or any other activity if we start describing them that way. But if you join a social dance scene with that perspective, you're likely to just annoy lots of people. On average, they're not there for banging and have their own existing relationships. A cigar is sometimes just a cigar :-)

Sure. I aggree.