So ... social engineering, in a way that stake's a caller's reputation. Fair enough. I can see how that can be valuable if that's one's goal.
It's better than shadow dances where you have more time with your shadow than your partner - that's a personal gripe of mine as a dancer. Follow-up question: Should a caller announce it as, essentially, a mixer with a trail-buddy, and/or are there distinct pros / cons for / against doing so? In dance, Ron T Blechner On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 6:01 PM, Greg McKenzie <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks to all,. > > Ron asked: > > > Asking seriously: > > > > Why? > > > > WARNING: The following discussion assumes that most of human > behavior--including decision-making--is performed subconsciously. This > fact has been established for many years by numerous studies and much > observation. My experience is that there are many callers--as well as many > other lay people--who reject the basic research of cognitive science out of > hand and who reject any suggestion that they, and other dancers, will be > influenced by anything that they are not consciously aware of. If you > sincerely believe that all of your own actions are based solely upon > rational, conscious thought you should stop reading now and delete this > message. The information below will be seen as meaningless gibberish to > you. It could cause your head to explode. Don't do it! This is not a > debatable point. We are also often unaware of the subconscious reasons for > decisions that we, ourselves, regard as conscious and rational. > > Good calling is subtle stuff. > > Like mixers, dances with less partner interaction will contribute to an > environment where the partnering decisions made by dancers become less > significant. After only one or two dance slots with little partner > interaction, at least some of the regulars will "pick up" on the feeling > that finding that "special" partner is not such a big deal right now. > Combined with other subtle hints and actions this strategy by the caller > will encourage or allow more generous partnering decisions in the hall. > > I refer to this feeling--that finding a particular kind of partner is > important, or the feeling that finding a partner *quickly *is important--as > "partnering pressure." There are numerous factors that increase partnering > pressure. A gender imbalance, for example, will increase partnering > pressure for both genders. Poor audio quality--which makes it difficult to > understand the caller, and which consequently makes dancing with first-time > dancers less satisfying--is another. There are many more factors that > affect partnering pressure. > > High partnering pressure can cause a cliquish atmosphere in the hall. It > can encourage "center set syndrome" and it can interfere with efforts to > integrate newcomers into the hall. Lower partnering pressure is a > situation that almost all dancers will welcome and it is a worthy goal of > good callers. > > The caller can work to lower partnering pressure using a number of > different strategies. Programming dances with specific qualities is one > such strategy. Choosing dances that minimize the importance of partner > interaction is one of those programming strategies. It will have little > effect on its own. But when used in conjunction with a number of other > actions it can foster a more community-spirited atmosphere. I use numerous > strategies when I see symptoms of high partnering pressure: People lining > up very quickly; center set syndrome, lots of folks "saving a place in > line" while their partner gets some water, etc. > > The programming strategies are best used early in the evening because it > takes one or two dance slots for dancers to "get" the sense that your > partner is not the only person you are dancing with and that the folks > partnered with first-timers are having as much fun as--or even more fun > than--everyone else. > > I want easy dances that will build the confidence of all of the dancers and > create a sense that everyone will have a good time no matter; where in the > hall they are dancing, the skill level of their partner, or their own skill > level. I try to program dances like this during the first half of the > evening. I try to avoid dances with no partner swing at all because they > engender complaints. But I will try to reduce the importance of partnering > decisions in the early part of the evening. > > It is not the best strategy for this purpose. It is only one of many. You > need a toolkit of strategies to integrate the hall successfully. > > Anyway, that's the way I do it. > > Your Pal, > > Greg McKenzie > > ******************** > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
