Rather than doing extra walk thrus, I've even just had the group do a
couple of extra progressions to break up clumps of new dancers....1
walk thru....coupla extra progressions....2nd walk through and then
dance.
J
At 03:06 PM 1/26/2009, you wrote:
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
> [1]http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
> _______________________________________________
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> [email protected]
> [2]http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
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