Re: [Callers] spiking the 'booking ahead'

So my original post asked for pointers, not to get into a religious discussion about booking ahead. I should have known better. It's a volatile topic, and I've heard many people speak out against caller intervention into dancer's personal affairs. I'm disappointed that there aren't more pointers about how to encourage dancing on the fly (or not booking ahead). However, since I've invoked this discussion, I might as well put in my two bits. I've heard : * it's manipulation - won't work for the long run and builds resentment (and the caller loses dancer trust/caller points) * it's not the caller's business who the dancer's dance with * some dancer's only do one dance in a row * manipulation might pair dancers who have antipathy toward each other * dancers come to dance with their friends. If they don't book ahead, they won't get to dance with them. Okay. I acknowledge the masses. Forcing partners after a circle mixer seems to be bad. I've heard numerous defenses for choosing your partner for future dances. But I do not hear discussion or acknowledgement about why booking ahead is detrimental to the community. Booking ahead * creates an 'elite' micro-community - those who are dancing, and those who are not. * makes it very challenging for those who are sitting out to get a dance partner * makes the dance intimidating and less welcoming for new dancers * clumps the levels of dance experience together, making it more challenging to call dances * creates an atmosphere of exclusivity * reduces the amount of social mixing, thereby reducing the primary reason people come to the dance - to meet people! I posit that booking ahead *IS* the domain of the caller, because it is detrimental to the long term health of the dance. However, I will acknowledge there are plenty of dance series where booking ahead has been the rule for many years, and they are still chugging along quite nicely, thank you very much.