[Callers] an agnostic discussion

hi all, Richard said, i'm responding to these comments, which i especially *loved*. i specifically try to go out of my way to dance with at least one new dancer in an evening. the way this usually happens for me is i'll encounter someone in line and ascertain that it's their first (or second, or third...) time dancing. i'll smile, and tell them they did great, and then seek them out later in the evening and ask them to dance. they're usually dumbfounded -- but i smile (a lot) and teach them the two main things that matter to me about dancing, those being giving weight and smiling (you may have noticed that there's a theme here...). and then we'll dance, and i'll give lots and lots of positive feedback (more smiling and positive words), and ask them to come dancing again (and again). and if i see them at another dance, i'll make a point of trying to dance with them again. imho this should be a general practice among experienced dancers. as a newbie in the early 90s, i summoned up all my anti-shyness and boldly asked very experienced dancers to dance with me (i'm still not sure where i got the chutzpah for that!). as an experienced dancer now, i believe that dancing with others like me is one of the best ways for someone to fast-track through what can be the painful early stages of learning. and as a lover of dance and community, i want my dance community to thrive; and so i try to bring new dancers into the fold. dance i think that asking experienced folks to do something along these lines is essential to the survival of dance. this describes how i came to love english country dance in philly; i couldn't have sat out a dance if i had wanted to... cheers, melissa __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com