Regarding J L Korr's message observing that it's not always the caller's
fault, he is completely correct. The point Greg and I were trying to
make is that the caller is sort of like the conductor in an orchestra,
the person who is ultimately responsible for making everything go
smoothly and happen on time.
Things don't always go smoothly, of course. Where I call we often have a
group consisting of more than 50% newcomers, and when I tell them that
any mistakes in the dance are always the caller's fault, it's my way of
putting the newcomers at ease and making them feel welcome. Some people
that show up have never done any kind of dancing before, in their entire
lives (these are usually guys), and the prospect of community dancing
can be quite intimidating. Based on my own experience when I first
started contra dancing, I try to make it clear to the novices that we're
a very non-judgmental group, so even the most catastrophic missteps on
their part are ultimately my responsibility.
That said, at almost every dance I've called I have found myself rolling
my eyes at the sight of, for example, some dancer who has been showing
up regularly for /years/, and still has no sense of timing (again,
usually a guy), or the group of young, inexperienced dancers who insist
on dancing exclusively with each other, disrupting the entire line
because they seem to think contra is somewhat like break dancing. There
are plenty of times when incompetent dancers screw things up, and during
post-dance conversations with our other caller I will rant about them
unmercifully. But at the dance the best thing I can do is try to project
an air of confidence and let people know everything's going to be fine,
and fun. It's very similar to the attitude I tried to project when I was
raising teenage children.
One final comment: I sometimes find myself dancing in a venue where the
caller is very experienced and is obviously experimenting with new and
challenging dances, at a level that is clearly incompatible with the
experience level of most of the dancers in the hall. I think this is
very self-indulgent. We all need to grow as callers, but the best
callers can gauge the experience level of the group and call
appropriately. Some of my best calling experiences have involved calling
a dance that I've labeled "painfully easy", and afterward having a new
dancer come up to thank me for my calling and tell me what a wonderful
time they've had. That's really what it's all about. -Lewis Land
