I've usually preferred a hand held mic most of the time, It just feels more natural to me and less "rock star" like. I like to move around a lot as I teach and call, so this usually works. Our local family dances rarely have more than 30 dancers, so I usually call from the set with no mic.
I recently had to use a headset to lead some Civil War dancing for 8th graders with the Dodworth Saxhorn Band. We had to have the dancers line up perpendicular to the band, so the head of the set was not near the conductor's mic. I borrowed a vocalist's headset to use. It worked really well, except the transmission unit kept coming lose as I capered around. There wasn't a good place on my costume to anchor it. Your choice. John B. Freeman Dancing Master The Dodworth Saxhorn Band
