I have seen something similar and have been taught this by my mentors...do the walk through several times so as to move those beginners into different groups of 4 and/or ask one group of 4 to move to a different line "to balance the sets". This way you move them around but without drawing attention to their inexperience and getting them into a better position to learn the movements with more experienced dancers.
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 1:25 PM, Jerome Grisanti <[email protected]>wrote: > I recently had the following exchange on a different list with Michael > Shapiro (guitarist with U4): > > Michael wrote: > > >>> U4 just played the SwingShift weekend in Lexington/Berea. The caller > was > Barbara Groh. She did something that I think most callers should do, but I > haven't seen before. After the sets were formed and people had done the > hand > four, she then broke up the beginners sets that had formed at the end of > the > lines. She asked then to move forward and intersperse themselves with the > more advanced dancers (so that they were more toward the beggining of the > line and the foursomes were not all beginners). > > She was also good at letting the music be heard ... > > I wrote: > > >> Regarding the caller asking sets to reform in order to spread the less > experienced dancers throughout the hall, much tact is required. Generally, > callers strive to avoid calling attention to particular dancers other than > when asking people to watch a demonstration, but asking people to change > sets can have the effect of making them feel like there is attention on > them. In addition, newish dancers want to dance with people they know, even > if those friends may also be newish dancers. > > >> Speaking to the entire crowd, I do encourage experienced dancers to > share > their experience by asking someone they've never met to dance at least once > in the evening, and praise the community for being so welcoming to newcomer > dancers. So while I might be thinking "let's break up this clump of > confusion," it would not be good to say something that draws attention to > "you people right here." > > >> I have asked, off mic, for a set of experienced dancers to offer to > repartner with a set of inexperienced dancers down the line. > > > To this list, I ask: > > I'd be interested in the wording that Barbara Groh used (which I'm assuming > was quite gentle). I'm also guessing other callers on this list have > developed tactful ways to address this issue. > > Thanks, > > Jerome > > > -- > Jerome Grisanti > 660-528-0858 > http://www.jeromegrisanti.com > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
