Re: [Callers] alternate formations

--- Mac wrote: This would include - but not be limited to: circles dances Sicilian circles Squares 4 facing 4 triple minors scatter mixers other?? --- end of quote --- also: triplets duple proper (including chestnuts and modern compositions in that formation) odd formation dances (e.g., seven-person, five couples, nine-person, 3 face 3, four couple set dances, and many more) I regularly include dances in different formations at my home dance. I think it makes for a much more interesting evening, and helps develop dancers' skills by introducing them to different choreographic figures and moods. Also, completely unfamiliar dances put folks on a more equal footing--I call them "equal opportunity for failure dances." ;-) The dancers who are regulars there know what to expect, and itgives me no small amount of pleasure when experienced dancers from elsewhere show up and automatically take hands four and cross over, only to get a warning from the locals, "You can't assume that here." Yes, the bulk of a typical night's program is duple improper and Becket, but every evening has a mixer, some squares and/or triplets, often a triple minor, and every so often an oddball dance just for the fun of it. I'm slowly increasing the proportion of squares, and recently have been introducing southern figures (Push Pa Shove Ma, Two Little Sisters, etc.) to this very northern crowd. They seem to enjoy it. The folks who want hard-core swing partner / swing neighbor in every dance either don't come, or come knowing that this will be a little different. David Millstone Lebanon, NH