[Callers] David's workshop gig in Japan

Hey, David, Here's an experience you may find instructive: Back when I was pretty darn new to this calling business, I was asked to call a dance for a mixed group of high school kids -- about 30 American and 60 Russian. The event was in Hardwick, VT in the high school gym and it was the Russian visitors who pulled things together for the American kids, who looked and acted like the last thing they wanted was to do some weird dancing to weirder fiddle tunes. As is often the case, there were more English speakers among the Russians than Russian speakers among the Americans, and very few American kids felt up to finding Russian partners -- it was usually the Russian girls who would put an American kid on the spot and claim him as a partner. Sounds like you won't have a mixed group, though--it might be all, or almost all, Japanese. To cut to the chase, there was an interpreter with the visitors, a blowsy woman with a voice any caller would be happy to have. She stood beside me and translated my instructions in what sounded like very succinct and clear terms. After forming the set and getting everyone's "hands joined in circles of four", I went down to the center set and used the "duck-duck-goose" method of showing who the ones and twos were, using gestures to indicate how they would interact then progress in opposite directions. Before I could get too smug about how their eager smiles and nods reflected on my own skills, I suddenly realized that the interpreter had shadowed me closely, mimicking my every move and gesture to everyone's great amusement and insight. I pantomimed arriving at the end of the set to find no more couples, turning around and waiting, and starting back up the set, the entire time still being copied by the interpreter. The whole deal took about three minutes, but it broke the ice and reluctance for everybody on the floor and the rest of the walkthrough was a piece of cake. The rest of the evening was a complete success, thanks to that interpreter. With her, it probably would have been possible to do well with a 100% Russian group. Without her, things that night might have had an entirely different outcome. The moral of the story for me was "act out more and speak less," and have a good interpreter if possible. Since you're dealing with festival-goers, you won't have to cope with outright aversion to even being there, but I suspect you'll be able to take the actual temperature of your group as soon as you see the manner in which they collect on the floor. Be ready to adapt on the fly. There have been many great suggestions in this email group about the best dances for beginners, and about the importance of choosing dances where the foursome maintains strong unambiguous physical connection as much as possible. You didn't mention the musical resources you'll have or won't have, and they will probably be as critical as anything else. A live band, I hope? Strongly-phrased tunes with steady rhythms seem more important than the actual choice of tunes or the band's level of virtuosity, but good music really does make for good dancing. If you have tunes with easily-noticed differences between the A and B parts, it'll make it easier for you to keep track of where you are in the process. Don't ask the band to play much slower than usual--it's much harder to dance in slow motion--but you don't want the band racing through the tunes in an attempt to make them seem more exciting. There will probably be many more good suggestions from the many truly talented contributors to this group, but I hope these will be of some value. Good luck! Chip Hedler (Norwich, VT!)