I often call at least one “no partner swing” dance during the evening, and this will happen during the first three dances. Most callers do this in the form of a “mixer” during the evening. I will often substitute a “no partner swing” contra dance because I see the entire evening as a “mixer”…particularly the first half of the evening. Another way to “minimize” partner swinging is to program dances in which only the ones have a partner swing. “Scout House Reel” for example, is an excellent first dance choice.
For some reason, and I'm really not sure why, I've shied away from "down the hall" dances as first dances, but you're right about Scout House Reel. It would be a great opener. It's got a simple progression, lots of hand contact, no weird fractions and lots of big group movements. Unruly Reunion (or if you circle R first, Monterey Detour) would fit that same set of criteria.
The strategy here is to limit what I call “partnering pressure” which I define as: “that feeling that one needs to find a particular kind of partner or any partner quickly.” By programming short slots with easy dances that allow minimal walk-throughs I can subtly create a sense that there will be many more partnering opportunities during the evening. This also reduces the apprehension of some dancers that they will get “stuck” with a “bad partner” for a long dance slot. In general this programming encourages more generous and community-minded partnering behaviors. It is, after all, a social event.
When you say "short slot", how long are you talking about? I know I tend to run dances shorter than other callers, so my time sense is probably a little off.
I have coded my database using the NEFFA dance planning matrix. This is a great tool, by the way.
Is this the one that shows up as "Rich Goss's Program Matrix Spreadsheet" on this page: http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/ ?
I print out my cards using Filemaker Pro and they are color-coded for difficulty level. I am in the process of creating a key on the back of the cards that will allow me to select from the NEFFA matrix criteria by looking at the backs of the cards—without using a computer—while at a dance.
Have you found that your concept of the difficulty levels for any given dance has evolved or changed as your calling skills and style have grown and changed over the years? I've certainly noticed a change with English dances I had tagged as "easy" or "hard" early on in my calling career. My ability to teach a dance well changes how hard it appears to the dancers. And in the obverse, a simple dance taught badly can seem really difficult. That's one reason I haven't put much energy into grading dances into categories of difficulty. I do tag dances that I know I can pull out for a ONS or a group of schoolkids or drunken tourists or wedding guests, but beyond that it's up to me to gauge the level of the room and teach accordingly. It's hard to quantify the level of difficulty.
Kalia
