Re: [Callers] Dance Debrief

Congratulations, Jack, on spending so much time thinking about your program. Such reflection will let you learn a lot. You wrote, " Usually I just mull over a dance afterwards, sometimes talking it out with another dancer. " If there's another caller in your area at about your same level of skill and experience, I'd recommend forming a caller buddy system with that person. Attend each othr's dances, get together at the break and afterwards to talk about what went well, what was problematic, what wording was effective and what was confusing... this can be a very helpful way to boost each of your skills. Pig/Mud dance: You asked "Other ideas??" The option that first occurs to me is "Choose another dance." Here you have a dance that inherently presents a challenge-- dancers must leave their partners to form stars. The only fixed points in the star are you and your shadow, along with two ever-changing other people, and the shadow relationship has not already been established at this point in the dance. If dancers do go in the wrong direction, even that shadow relationship will be made even more tenuous. You might end up with 5-person and 3 person stars, and while you as caller know that things will work out okay-- "as long as you go somewhere, turn a star and then swing your partner"-- dancers will certainly be discombobulated if they keep finding themselves in strange groupings. So, a harder than usual dance. Secondly, you mentioned that you had "a lower proportion of experienced dancers to beginners than usual." Third, you presented it as the last dance before the break. Many of us like to use that slot to call a fail-safe dance, so that dancers go into the break having had a confidence-building joyful experience. If I'm calling a harder-than-usual dance, I'll usually slot it as the next-to-last dance in the first set, or, depending on the crowd, as the first dance after the break. In my video "Sweet Talk," focusing on veteran caller Ralph Sweet, there's a segment in which Ralph dispenses advice for callers. He talks a little about programming choices, and in particular discuses a situation in which the caller comes into an evening with a particular dance firmly in mind" --- "I really want to do this dance tonight" and that's not a good attitude. "I've got to do this dance tonight", that's a baddy. "Will the dancers enjoy doing this dance tonight?" Then I'll do it. That's what you've got to think. --- Just my 2 cents... David Millstone