-If I'm going to a new hall, I ask the dance organizer beforehand about the hall. Is it longways? Square? Are there posts/pillars within the dance floor?
-Next I ask how full the hall gets. When the lines only fill up to 3/4 of the hall, you can still do pretty much any move. -Dance organizers with experience will often know specifics to tell a caller, and sometimes won't even wait for you to ask. It was a great help, before calling the Seattle Phinney Ridge dance for the first time, for organizer Tom Wimmer to tell me the hall is filled from end to end, so don't call any down-the-hall dances. Maybe in the first dance, but forget it afterwards... He was right! -Paul, I don't think a hey is a problem. Look at the shape from a bird's-eye view. It's a narrow line, and can be made narrower by dancers with experience. That move isn't a "space hog". -Luke, I think a 4-face-4 is a space hog in length, but can help in width. Although if you've been dancing with two lines for the rest of the night, I'm sure hoping hall width hasn't been a problem! -Down the hall, and 4-face-4, are the first things to go for me in space restricted halls. Most other moves can be made to fit, or fit better. Keith Tuxhorn, Austin My first suggestion would be to eliminate or highly restrict moves like a > full hey in these situations. What I would like is for people to make > suggestions of fun, flowing dances that are compact, especially in their > width. > I think having a "list" or some other organizing format, of these "compact > dances" would greatly enhance our toolboxes. What do you think? > > This list is truly amazing. Thank you everyone. > > warmest regards, > Paul > > > > > Hi Paul, > > Good topic, thanks for starting it. > > I remember being at a crowded dance in Montpelier with Nils Fredland > calling, and he did 4 face 4 dances. I was initially surprised, but it made > good use of the space. By merging two sets laterally it eliminated the > space > that would normally be between those sets and made folks aware of 7 other > dancers instead of 3 other dancers. > > I think it depends on the geometry of the hall, but 4 face 4 dances can be > good, non-obvious, efficient use of space. Just something to add to that > part of your tool-box. > > -- > Luke Donev > http://www.lukedonev.com > [email protected] > > > ----------
