Paul Barbara G. here. I would be very interested in this list you are suggesting about compact dances. I have had the occasion, as I'm sure many of us had, to change up my program once I was in the hall and saw how crowded it was getting. I have stopped in the middle of a walkthrough, to the surprise of several seasoned callers in the room, and changed the dance. I didn't know this was a "no no" but also I feel you are doing what is best for the dancers. I did it without a lot of fuss or explanation and it worked fine.
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Wilde <[email protected]> To: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, Mar 26, 2011 1:06 am Subject: Re: [Callers] Quadrille Formation and ONS Most esteemed colleagues, I danced at Rehoboth tonight and a most unusual and wonderful thing appened. Lisa Greenleaf walked us through a dance, saw that we were too rowded and that some of the moves were going to be especially ncomfortable, and told us to talk among ourselves while she picked out nother dance. I might add that this is a very popular dance, and 3 full ines are comfortable in the hall and 4 lines are definitely pushing the imit, especially if there are some dancers being a little over zealous or ot watching their set spacing. We've probably all been in this situation t least once as dancers. This is the first time I can ever remember someone changing a dance because t was too crowded for that particular set of moves. Occasionally we, as allers, switch dances after a walkthrough because what we first had in mind ight be looking a bit too challenging for the particular mix before us. But never can I remember a caller changing dances after a walkthrough ecause of space. Thank you Lisa. I would love to start a thread on this mostly overlooked (unless I missed omething earlier on), but very dear to my heart, topic. Far too often have been in a hall that was too tight for certain sequences, but it seems that aybe the caller came with a set program and wasn't willing to modify dance elections based on this most important criteria. Most dances are made up f a wide range of ages, and crowded halls where people are getting knocked round and bumped is uncomfortable, not all that much fun, and especially nfair to older dancers. My first suggestion would be to eliminate or highly restrict moves like a ull hey in these situations. What I would like is for people to make uggestions of fun, flowing dances that are compact, especially in their idth. think having a "list" or some other organizing format, of these "compact ances" would greatly enhance our toolboxes. What do you think? This list is truly amazing. Thank you everyone. warmest regards, aul ______________________________________________ allers mailing list [email protected] ttp://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
