St. Louis does it similarly to what Linda describes. We have several dancers who are bound to be canonized. We have tried to build it into the ethos that on of the marks of a good dancer is there skill at helping challenged dancers and their neighbors have a good time. You will almost never see a new dancer sit out in the first half unless they ask to. Not only does it help them feel welcome, but it also helps assure they have someone with the skill to assist them.

Bob Green
St. Louis

(pardon if this is a duplicate, but I think it was rejected as I sent it from the wrong account the first time

On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 3:54 PM, Linda Leslie via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
A while back, we had the same sort of challenge at one of the local dances.  About a dozen of us from the dance community got together to problem solve. The group decided that if one of us made sure that the challenged dancer had a partner for each dance, that it would be good for the entire dance. The less-than-satisfying dance experience would only last for 10 minutes or so, but improve the experience for the rest of folks in the set. Our reward: the continuous smile on the challenged dancer’s face more than made up for any perceived loss of “quality” dance time.  This gesture made a lot of difference, making the dance more pleasurable for all involved.