A couple of suggestions. Caveat: when I used to call regularly, I didn't have 50% newcomers.
If the first or second dance was written with a right-and-left, I would often substitute a promenade-across instead. In a right-and-left, the couple seconds of separation tends to throw off first-timers when they try to "reconnect" on the opposite side of the set for the courtesy turn. With a promenade, they are already in position for the turn. When giving credit at the end of the walkthrough, I'd then say "This is a variation of [name of dance] by [author of dance]. Second, for those times where one or two isolated foursomes were having real trouble "getting it" in the walkthrough, I would do the usual two walkthroughs and NOT bring them back to place. The idea here is to get those dancers dancing with people who got it right off the bat. I'm not sure how well this would translate to sets with widespread newbie confusion, but it may be something to consider. Mark Widmer, retired caller :-) Paris, TN (formerly of Princeton, NJ) > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Taco van Ieperen <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:01:21 -0600 > Subject: [Callers] Calling Clearly for Beginner Heavy Groups > Hi All, > > I've been thinking a lot about calling for beginner dancers. I've seen big > changes in the last few years where our dances now often have more than 50% > newcomers. > > As a relatively new caller. I have some observations and ideas, and I'd > love perspective from people who are more experienced. > > Walkthroughs: > > With experienced dancers, you can do an efficient walkthrough and teach a > figure in the context of the dance. With beginners, I've seen walkthroughs > fall apart because by the time you've explained a move and dealt with the > group that has gotten all scrambled, the dancers have completely forgotten > where they are in the walkthrough and where they started the dance. This is > leading me towards the idea of isolating new figures *before* the > walkthrough: If it's the first time doing a move, teach the move first, and > then do the walkthrough that includes this move. "This dance has a new > figure called a Robin's Chain. It works like this.... <chain stuff>. That > looks great. Now let's learn the dance...." > > Also, with experienced dancers, people "get it" during the dance, so you > can do two walkthroughs and even if some people are confused ii will > straighten itself out. With new dancers it feels much more important that > everyone succeed in the walkthroughs because confusion can get worse > instead of better. But at some point you can't keep doing walkthroughs. My > gut instinct is that if I teach the figures before and can't explain the > dance in two walkthroughs then I need to get better at walkthroughs or > teach easier dances. > > Thoughts? > > Caller Style: > > I really like making each call four counts as it provides > predictable rhythm to the calling: > > 1,2,3,4, WITH your | PARTner | BALance and | SWING > > For some calls I can give the destination location, or the destination > person: > "Robins, Chain, Across the, Set" > "Neighbor, Dosido, to NEW, Neighbor" > vs > "Robins, Chain, To your, Partner" > "Neighbor, DoSido, Once and a, half" > > To your partner seems more clear, but I can also see that having two > different people in the call could create confusion. Does one format work > better in your experience? > > Related, I find the most annoying figures to call are 1.5 figures. There's > just no way to say > "New Neighbor Allemande Left Once and a Half" in four beats. Also, > beginners struggle parsing 1.5x as trading places, especially across the > set. > > It seems like a lot of callers drop the Allemande and just shorten it to > "Left" or "Right". Which probably is fine after two clear walkthroughs. > > So, which do you prefer? Do you have other ideas? > Robins, Allemande, Left, Across > Robins, Left, to Trade, places > Robins, Left, Once, and a Half > Robins, Left, to Your, Partner > Robins, Do si, do, across > > Anyway, just thinking aloud and curious what other peoples thoughts are. > > Taco > > >
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