[Callers] Catching the Onus

Aahz wrote: Actually,…I don’t think anyone should place an onus on anybody at a social event. Unfortunately the fact is that sometimes onuses just “fall” in the dance hall. Nobody knows where they fall *from* but I suspect they are up there—perhaps somewhere near the light fixtures. Often the onus falls upon the dancers. That’s not good. Onuses are not attractive and dancers don’t like them. I try to keep those guys off the dancers if at all possible. I think that having onuses falling in a dance hall is a bad idea. When an onus falls on a dancer, for instance, it can be very disturbing for the dancer and makes it harder for them to concentrate on anything else but that damned onus. Once an onus gets on a dancer they are not easy to get rid of. And, fact is, that there are a lot of folks who won’t even want to dance with you once you’ve got an onus on you. And who could blame them. If one onus falls then it’s a good bet that there’s another one up there, lurking, and the critter is likely to fall on the same dancer again. It is safer to stay away from a dancer who has an ornery onus on them. Some folks even stay away from the spot in the hall where an onus fell on a dancer on account of there are probably more of them up there. Once onuses start falling in a dance hall everybody gets a little edgy. Nobody wants an onus to get on them. Onuses can hurt when they hit a dancer. But the caller can do something about the onuses. A good caller can catch an onus before it falls on a dancer. A live microphone is an effective onus-catching device. By being a leader the caller can take responsibility and apologize for whatever the onus is about and that is how the caller can catch the onus before somebody is injured or hurt. I was not calling before we had microphones. Back then maybe leaders could catch onuses without a mike…if they had a strong voice. But the pa system sure helps with onus catching. Masters of Ceremony have to catch onuses all the time. It’s part of their professional responsibility The caller can catch most onuses before they hit the dance floor. Even better they should catch them before one even hits the stage, where the musicians are. And they should certainly try to catch an onus before it hits a sound engineer. Years ago I saw a rock performer drop an onus on a sound engineer and it was an ugly thing. The singer was inebriated and didn’t like the sound he was getting so he dropped a particularly onerous onus smack dab on the sound engineer’s head. Man! When that onus hit him the guy lost it. He shut down the pa system, screamed a few descriptive words at the singer, and stomped out of the hall in a huff. It took a half hour to get the sound system working again and the singer’s performance was not well received after that. I would never drop an onus on the sound guy. The night I attended my first contra dance the lovely woman who dragged me there told me that I should not worry because, if anyone makes a mistake everybody knows that it’s always the caller’s fault. That’s when I realized that the caller is the Chief Onus-Catcher in the hall. The caller catches the onus by stepping up, taking responsibility, and being a leader. But it’s not just the caller’s professional responsibility. It’s also the smartest thing a caller can do. When the dancers realize that somebody is catching the onuses they can relax and focus on dancing and having fun. The dancers are not stupid either. Some of them will realize that the caller has a high opinion of the dancers and expects more from them. If you want to be a true “Folk Hero” start catching falling onuses at the dances you call. The dancers will love you for that. Some will follow that example and take more personal responsibility themselves. And many will work harder to make the caller look good. Everybody wins when the onuses are kept out of the dance hall. - Greg McKenzie West Coast, USA