Box 30

The struggle to find relevant material continues. I checked several of the sites in the Ball State Archives and found nothing I could use. There were pictures of statues dancing, paintings of dancing, a few articles mentioning music, and a lot of things that I couldn't see how it related to dancing, ballroom, or swing (the search terms I used for this search)

week 10 ref

The first 4 words everyone got correct. They are pretty self-explanatory . The leader leads the follower follows likewise with Fred and Ginger. Serpentine confused them all. If you see the dance step it is easy to see the where the name comes from but having not seen it they just have to guess. Progressive was the only other one that seemed to confuse everyone. They assumed it referred to improvement in dancing, or a quicker pace. The remaining few words were hit and miss.

week 10

Leader

Follower

Fred

Ginger

Serpentine

Progressive

Stationary

Barbie arms

Promenade

box 25

Almost all of the vocabulary specialized for my culture is used in giving directions to the couples.

Leader: The male member of the dance couple, also called the Fred.

Follower: The female member of the dance couple, also known as the Ginger.

Barbie arms: the rigid frame needed to keep the dancers in the correct position.

Serpentine step: A diagonal step used in the Foxtrot

Progressive: Any dance in which to couple moves (progresses) around the dance floor.

Stationary: Any dance in which the couple stays mainly in one place.

Promenade: A step in which the couple faces the same direction instead of facing each other.

Box 18

The Pillars are our enemies. As we practice the dances we move around the room quite a bit. Since we are new at this it is not always that easy to remember how to steer around objects and people. People eventually will move. The pillars will not. There are 3 of them on each side of the dance floor and they are always getting in the way. Even on dances that are not progressive(moving across the floor) we often find ourselves having to stop and reposition ourselves on the floor to avoid colliding with one of these menaces.

Box 16

None of the people coming to class seem to talk outside. We all rush into the church as fast as we can. I really don't know why. The parking lot is small with several vehicles already there from various other activities. As the church is located downtown there are buildings all around. If I am facing away from the church the old newspaper building is right in front of me. there is a broken down looking parking lot beside that which has two smaller buildings on it. Furthest from me is the old whitinger building. It too seems a bit worn but I think that is mostly from the choice of paint. It is a not altogether unattractive shade of washed out blue, but as it has been cloudy more often than not and edging towards night that cool seems even more faded and grey. The only real open veiw is to my right where another larger parking lot faces this one, to the left is Muncie music, with the pale grey stoned church looming behind me. There is nothing particularly nice or particularlly ugly about the building, but with all the grey, emptiness around it seems somewhat barren. I guess I do know why we all go inside to the warmth and light so quickly.

week 7

I really am struggling to find a plan. I am narrowing in on a goal but as there is so little information on the position I am focusing on it is difficult to know how to go about it. I think I need to find other places that will have dancing to see how it works there. I also think more interviews will help. There are just not many places where large groups of ballroom or swing dancers get together around here.

Week 6

So far I have noticed a lot of laughing and joking between the dancers, both with our partners and with whom ever happens to be near us. The one thing I have not found is a way to really be a part of this group without a partner. My partners have come and gone and I have even danced with myself on several occasions. This is probably worse in my class as we joined as couples than it would be in places with a larger group of dancers. I have even heard that some studios advertise 'singles classes'. Unfortunately I have not found any around this area.

week 5

I've had several sources presented to me in my dance class itself. I have gotten a dvd from each class, a cd of some of the music, and several papers outlining how to lead. I have also found articles on the benefits of dancing and some books on the history/culture. I haven't found anything really showing how a single person can find a place in this culture.

week 4

Academic sources are books by experts, academic journals, research papers and things like that. There are a few reasons why instructors tend to prefer academic sources. The information is more likely to be accurate and the sources have been verified than others. They are also likely to be more detailed in their coverage of the subject as they are intended for readers familiar with it. Reflections, literary reviews and such could use non academic sources. News papers, fiction books, and standard websites are examples of non academic sources.

Week 3

The response is normally positive. Most people seem to think it's cool that I'm learning to dance. There are a few questions and normally a bit of surprise that I'm doing this on my own.

There is not any real set type of person for my subculture. We have everything from high school students to retirees. We have people in really good shape, and some in very bad shape. On average it seems to be middle aged in decent health. Of course besides myself everyone is part of a couple.

Contributions

the community, at least in this area, is small. From the sampling I have had most of the people who have tried it liked it but it is difficult finding places to dance. For myself it is hard just finding a partner, even if I get one for class if I go someplace outside of class the odds of running into a girl that can do the dances is slim. So my contribution is simply exposure. I hope that as more people learn about it and see how fun it can be that more people will take it up. For the classs they will be introduced to something I don't think any of them have done before.

week 8

Almost all of my research has focused on either the purposes the dances fill(or filled in the past) or the benefits of dancing. The people in my group seem to really demonstrate the second focus. There is a bit of the social ramifications shown in the classes but mainly everyone is having fun and improving, so they just see the benefits.

I am still a student as I was when I started, two major changes have occured since then. First I have learned a lot and in my opinion am one of the better dancers in the class. The biggest and worst change is I have lost my partner. I have taken class alone repeatedly and even though I really like dancing it is hard to learn on my own and just plain lonely at times.