Talk:Columbia University Swing Dancing Club

PC bias

This may be a bit outdated, but according to one participant: To satisfy the PC needs of the Columbia community, the instructors make frequent, awkward attempts to play down the inherent sexism of a dance in which the "follow" partner (which guys never volunteer for) is expected to do whatever steps their "lead" partner (which girls rarely volunteer for) leads them into. You'll often hear phrases like "Ladies, you must rise to the occasion of being led." The instructor also encourages men to try acting as the follow and women act as the lead.

my $.02: this is a misplaced PC-bashing paragraph. Put it somewhere else and leave the swing-dancing civillians out of it. Foobar 09:38, 29 October 2008 (EDT)

Response to PC bias:

Swing is generally a gender divided sport. There are cases of guys choosing to follow once they get the hang of leading, and vice versa, but in general, men choose not to spin and be dipped and women do. This is beyond CU Swing and just swing in general. In dance, there cannot be two leads; it doesn't work. There are clearly defined dancing roles, and follows learn to respond to what their body is being told and leads learn to clearly show them how to do the intended move.

The PC correctness comes from the few people who step out of their gender assigned dancing role, and choose to do the opposite moves. Then they don't respond to being addressed by the wrong gender.

Also a comment to the price change. CU Swing is a club sport. COLUMBIA requires any club sport to charge $30 a semester if they hire instructors. Since CU Swing provides instructors, they must charge $30.