6 ms·

Contemporary dance performance about gender at European Rails Conference

29 points by elamadej 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- icambron 13y ago
  Sigh. I was worried I'd see this comment when I clicked "discuss". Look, I think having a dance performance at your tech conference is a bit silly. But so what? It's definitely not actively bad, it's not like it's somehow mandatory if you attend the conference, and a lot of people there might like it. Also, you seem to be saying, "this is a tech conference; no girl stuff allowed!" Just relax; not everything at every conference needs to revved up on testosterone.
  - mtrimpe 13y ago
    Indeed. I find it quite enlightening that even the medium of the message is raising concerns.
  - Vlaix 13y ago
    I don't really care about the medium itself (though it does seem out of place), but the object of the « performance » sends me back to everything I rabidly hate about our society. It makes me very grumpy.
AlexanderDhoore 13y ago
The word "Contemporary" always makes me cringe a little. It's such a fancy synonym for "Now". Anyway, I love ballet myself. I did ballet when I was a little boy (for about 8 years). I like going to ballet. Especially when my sisters perform in it. BUT this might be too much of a good thing. But, pff, who cares right? I hope you guys enjoy it! Fok all them haters.
- elamadej 13y ago
  "Contemporary dance" is actually the name of the dance technique: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_dance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_dance
pax 13y ago
Yeah? I'll see your 'Contemporary dance performance about gender' and raise with 'Anti-gay musical touring Malaysian universities' http://gu.com/p/3em7z http://gu.com/p/3em7z _____ I know, a bit off-topic and redditish, but it was serendipitously opened in the next tab
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- luma 13y ago
  If you're anti-gay, I think we can all acknowledge that you're a jerk, but one might helpfully suggest that putting on a musical to get that particular message across isn't the best plan ever hatched.
Nursie 13y ago
So what exactly are these conferences for? I was slightly supicious anyway - information about most tech is only a few clicks away these days so I'm not convinced they're a necessary part of an engineer's ongoing education. But now there are dance performances? And people get sent to these things on work time/money?
- elamadej 13y ago
  It's a performance for all developers who will be in Krakow (where both conferences takes place) around that time. It's an additional thing for those who want to experience art and boraden their perspective. Read the post, it explains it all, thanks!
  - Nursie 13y ago
    Hi, you may have misunderstood. I wasn't asking why there is a dance performance, though that does feed into it. I was asking what the conferences themselves are for. Why would I go to one or pay for an employee to go to one?
    - ndr 13y ago
      Meet people, talk and learn from them directly. Sit with them and do hack sprints. Conferences are awesome and you should try more apparently.
      - Nursie 13y ago
        So it's mostly about networking? I'm not disputing that conferencea could be fun, there are lots of fun things in the world. I was just wondering what they were actually useful for.
        ndr 13y ago
        From the personal point of view is fun, and you learn too. From the professional point of view you meet potential employers, employees or partner, and you learn too. Sometimes you go to tech talk that you would never watch at home because you "have other stuff to do", just because is between two other interesting talks... and it often happens that also that one is awesome and you are glad you didn't miss it at the end of the day.
darkmasta 13y ago
Is this website written with PHP or what? http://blog.railsberry.com/index.php http://blog.railsberry.com/index.php ???
ritiri 13y ago
Just more proof that feminism has infected the tech community as well. What a joke.
- 1as 13y ago
  This doesn't seem to be about feminism specifically (although your classification of an equality movement as an infection would certainly demand extraordinary evidence). It seems to be more about gender, and gender roles. There's a really big question here that I find interesting as a hacker: how much of what we call gender is biologically constructed, and how much is socially constructed? Obviously, say, having a penis is a direct function of biology, but what about something like girls' supposed preference for pink? This is almost certainly a social construct, and one that only arose in the early twentieth century [0]. And yet dressing little girls in pink has certainly influenced generations of us - do you know many guys who would be comfortable using a pink wallet? The big question becomes important when we look at an issue like girls being the minority in engineering/technology/business leadership/etc: how much of this is due to some inherent biology, and how much is due to a lack of role models or social expectation for young girls to show interest in these areas? [0]: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-originally-the-color-for-boys-and-blue-for-girls http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-origi...
  - hacker789 13y ago
    There's a particularly strong brand of post-modern, third-wave feminism that uses words "equality" and "egalitarian" as pejoratives. Really. I'm not even talking about the self-labeled "radfems"—the ones who say that no heterosexual sex is truly consensual. Though those monsters clearly exist, too. Hackers don't know foolish it is to give in to third-wave-feminist bullying. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into. My remarks aren't commentary on this particular contemporary dance; I'm simply responding to the labeling of feminism an equality movement.
mtrimpe 13y ago
I for one absolutely love this initiative. If I wasn't bootstrapping my company I would fly over this weekend just to be there. Issues of gender are generally really hard to capture in words and lend themselves much more to being relayed through the other senses, like voice and body language. I'm sure it will be a learning experience for everyone who decides to attend.
- elamadej 13y ago
  THANKS! And it's really just fun & a better alternative to "just" exploring the town / eating /drinking on a day before the conference (not that there's anything wrong with those, we just like to think people have good alternatives.)
Vlaix 13y ago
One more reason not to attend Rails-related stuff.
ndr 13y ago
I find this not constructive at all, to put it nicely. So if there was a field with a low male participation would you set up a male bodybuilder show? Or a half naked men dancing show? These are just extreme examples but it's to make a point. You want more female in tech? Instead of paying dancer go to mid school to show kids how cool is to program. If you do a good job also young girls will give tech a try.
- smasia 13y ago
  Please, read the article, not just look at the pictures. And RailsBerry is one of main sponsors of RailsGirlsKrakow, happening in Krakow just 2 days before it. And Applicake (the organizer of RailsBerry) is one of main sponsors of WebMuses -> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.483519771671476.107837.367995243223930&type=3 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.483519771671476.10....
iuguy 13y ago
My first thought was, "What does this have to do with Rails?" Then I realised that at 44Con[1] we have a daily Gin O'Clock break with Gin and Tonics all round. To be fair, the purposes of Gin O'Clock are to give us time to join the two theatres for the final talk of the day, to promote networking in the sponsor area and also to provide something very quirky and British at the conference. The bottom line is that the organiser wants to put it in, let them put it in and try it. If the attendees like it, great. If they don't, then they should say so. If it puts you off attending you should tell them (as long as you were going to attend originally). [1] - http://www.44con.com/ http://www.44con.com/
- elamadej 13y ago
  It's a day before the conference for those who are in Krakow (where the conference take place) and want some alternatives. We're really thrilled to share art and part of our culture with everyone who's willing to experience more.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Argorak 13y ago
I think there are some misunderstandings. As far as I can tell, this is an optional part of the conference where you can go on the day before if you want to do something beyond just the "professional" stuff. I like the idea - its a local theatre with an interesting program relevant to current hot topics in the industry, why not show your city from your best side? If you don't want to go, whats the point of being angry about it? Why waste breath on something optional?
maked00 13y ago
Contemporary dance is to now what 'modern dance' was to the 50s and 60s, just bad dancers putting on really bad productions everyone wants to forget as soon as possible.
zwischenzug 13y ago
Is this really deemed appropriate material for this board? There's no substantive discussion of women in tech there, just "here's a contemporary dance about a subject". So what? There's literally nothing in there I'm interested in, and I've wasted time looking at it trying to figure out why I should be. Beyond that, I find the idea of enticing geeks to gawp at physically fit women gyrating to the subject of gender differences in tech more than a little ironic. Unless their purpose is to exploit the stereotype. In which case, get off HN!
altera 13y ago
Does any of those girls has a Github account?
mnicole 13y ago
Near-naked women hanging from ropes at IGDA? It's all in good fun! Booth babes on conferences floors? Get over it, that's marketing! Interpretive dance not at all even associated with the event, just being encouraged because it's something worth seeing and it's somewhat-related to gender issues? Stupid, worthless! Way to objectify women more! Jesus christ you guys. Thanks for encouraging the arts, Ela :)

29 points by elamadej 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

icambron 13y ago
Sigh. I was worried I'd see this comment when I clicked "discuss". Look, I think having a dance performance at your tech conference is a bit silly. But so what? It's definitely not actively bad, it's not like it's somehow mandatory if you attend the conference, and a lot of people there might like it. Also, you seem to be saying, "this is a tech conference; no girl stuff allowed!" Just relax; not everything at every conference needs to revved up on testosterone.
- mtrimpe 13y ago
  Indeed. I find it quite enlightening that even the medium of the message is raising concerns.
- Vlaix 13y ago
  I don't really care about the medium itself (though it does seem out of place), but the object of the « performance » sends me back to everything I rabidly hate about our society. It makes me very grumpy.

AlexanderDhoore 13y ago

The word "Contemporary" always makes me cringe a little. It's such a fancy synonym for "Now". Anyway, I love ballet myself. I did ballet when I was a little boy (for about 8 years). I like going to ballet. Especially when my sisters perform in it. BUT this might be too much of a good thing. But, pff, who cares right? I hope you guys enjoy it! Fok all them haters.

elamadej 13y ago
"Contemporary dance" is actually the name of the dance technique: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_dance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_dance

pax 13y ago

Yeah? I'll see your 'Contemporary dance performance about gender' and raise with 'Anti-gay musical touring Malaysian universities' http://gu.com/p/3em7z http://gu.com/p/3em7z _____ I know, a bit off-topic and redditish, but it was serendipitously opened in the next tab

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
luma 13y ago
If you're anti-gay, I think we can all acknowledge that you're a jerk, but one might helpfully suggest that putting on a musical to get that particular message across isn't the best plan ever hatched.

Nursie 13y ago

So what exactly are these conferences for? I was slightly supicious anyway - information about most tech is only a few clicks away these days so I'm not convinced they're a necessary part of an engineer's ongoing education. But now there are dance performances? And people get sent to these things on work time/money?

elamadej 13y ago
It's a performance for all developers who will be in Krakow (where both conferences takes place) around that time. It's an additional thing for those who want to experience art and boraden their perspective. Read the post, it explains it all, thanks!
- Nursie 13y ago
  Hi, you may have misunderstood. I wasn't asking why there is a dance performance, though that does feed into it. I was asking what the conferences themselves are for. Why would I go to one or pay for an employee to go to one?
  - ndr 13y ago
    Meet people, talk and learn from them directly. Sit with them and do hack sprints. Conferences are awesome and you should try more apparently.
    - Nursie 13y ago
      So it's mostly about networking? I'm not disputing that conferencea could be fun, there are lots of fun things in the world. I was just wondering what they were actually useful for.
      - ndr 13y ago
        From the personal point of view is fun, and you learn too. From the professional point of view you meet potential employers, employees or partner, and you learn too. Sometimes you go to tech talk that you would never watch at home because you "have other stuff to do", just because is between two other interesting talks... and it often happens that also that one is awesome and you are glad you didn't miss it at the end of the day.

darkmasta 13y ago

Is this website written with PHP or what? http://blog.railsberry.com/index.php http://blog.railsberry.com/index.php ???

ritiri 13y ago

Just more proof that feminism has infected the tech community as well. What a joke.

1as 13y ago
This doesn't seem to be about feminism specifically (although your classification of an equality movement as an infection would certainly demand extraordinary evidence). It seems to be more about gender, and gender roles. There's a really big question here that I find interesting as a hacker: how much of what we call gender is biologically constructed, and how much is socially constructed? Obviously, say, having a penis is a direct function of biology, but what about something like girls' supposed preference for pink? This is almost certainly a social construct, and one that only arose in the early twentieth century [0]. And yet dressing little girls in pink has certainly influenced generations of us - do you know many guys who would be comfortable using a pink wallet? The big question becomes important when we look at an issue like girls being the minority in engineering/technology/business leadership/etc: how much of this is due to some inherent biology, and how much is due to a lack of role models or social expectation for young girls to show interest in these areas? [0]: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-originally-the-color-for-boys-and-blue-for-girls http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-origi...
- hacker789 13y ago
  There's a particularly strong brand of post-modern, third-wave feminism that uses words "equality" and "egalitarian" as pejoratives. Really. I'm not even talking about the self-labeled "radfems"—the ones who say that no heterosexual sex is truly consensual. Though those monsters clearly exist, too. Hackers don't know foolish it is to give in to third-wave-feminist bullying. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into. My remarks aren't commentary on this particular contemporary dance; I'm simply responding to the labeling of feminism an equality movement.

mtrimpe 13y ago

I for one absolutely love this initiative. If I wasn't bootstrapping my company I would fly over this weekend just to be there. Issues of gender are generally really hard to capture in words and lend themselves much more to being relayed through the other senses, like voice and body language. I'm sure it will be a learning experience for everyone who decides to attend.

elamadej 13y ago
THANKS! And it's really just fun & a better alternative to "just" exploring the town / eating /drinking on a day before the conference (not that there's anything wrong with those, we just like to think people have good alternatives.)

Vlaix 13y ago

One more reason not to attend Rails-related stuff.

ndr 13y ago

I find this not constructive at all, to put it nicely. So if there was a field with a low male participation would you set up a male bodybuilder show? Or a half naked men dancing show? These are just extreme examples but it's to make a point. You want more female in tech? Instead of paying dancer go to mid school to show kids how cool is to program. If you do a good job also young girls will give tech a try.

smasia 13y ago
Please, read the article, not just look at the pictures. And RailsBerry is one of main sponsors of RailsGirlsKrakow, happening in Krakow just 2 days before it. And Applicake (the organizer of RailsBerry) is one of main sponsors of WebMuses -> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.483519771671476.107837.367995243223930&type=3 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.483519771671476.10....

iuguy 13y ago

My first thought was, "What does this have to do with Rails?" Then I realised that at 44Con[1] we have a daily Gin O'Clock break with Gin and Tonics all round. To be fair, the purposes of Gin O'Clock are to give us time to join the two theatres for the final talk of the day, to promote networking in the sponsor area and also to provide something very quirky and British at the conference. The bottom line is that the organiser wants to put it in, let them put it in and try it. If the attendees like it, great. If they don't, then they should say so. If it puts you off attending you should tell them (as long as you were going to attend originally). [1] - http://www.44con.com/ http://www.44con.com/

elamadej 13y ago
It's a day before the conference for those who are in Krakow (where the conference take place) and want some alternatives. We're really thrilled to share art and part of our culture with everyone who's willing to experience more.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

Argorak 13y ago

I think there are some misunderstandings. As far as I can tell, this is an optional part of the conference where you can go on the day before if you want to do something beyond just the "professional" stuff. I like the idea - its a local theatre with an interesting program relevant to current hot topics in the industry, why not show your city from your best side? If you don't want to go, whats the point of being angry about it? Why waste breath on something optional?

maked00 13y ago

Contemporary dance is to now what 'modern dance' was to the 50s and 60s, just bad dancers putting on really bad productions everyone wants to forget as soon as possible.

zwischenzug 13y ago

Is this really deemed appropriate material for this board? There's no substantive discussion of women in tech there, just "here's a contemporary dance about a subject". So what? There's literally nothing in there I'm interested in, and I've wasted time looking at it trying to figure out why I should be. Beyond that, I find the idea of enticing geeks to gawp at physically fit women gyrating to the subject of gender differences in tech more than a little ironic. Unless their purpose is to exploit the stereotype. In which case, get off HN!

altera 13y ago

Does any of those girls has a Github account?

mnicole 13y ago

Near-naked women hanging from ropes at IGDA? It's all in good fun! Booth babes on conferences floors? Get over it, that's marketing! Interpretive dance not at all even associated with the event, just being encouraged because it's something worth seeing and it's somewhat-related to gender issues? Stupid, worthless! Way to objectify women more! Jesus christ you guys. Thanks for encouraging the arts, Ela :)