Re: [Callers] slow down...

Jeff wrote: "My thinking is that dancers are there to dance, so that is what I am going to provide for them." What are the implications of this for those people who come to the dance as an opportunity to socialize with other members of their community? Yes, they want to dance-- they did come to the dance, after all, not to the turkey supper-- but having an opportunity to talk with friends and neighbors may be high on their list of reasons why they came. Even amounts of time (12, 14, 16) all that the top couple be in the for the last time of the dance. Assuming you're calling duple minor dances, which I suspect is the case, doesn't even amounts of time through the dance have the opposite effect, that the top couple is left standing out? # of times 1 Top couple is involved 2 New top couple is waiting out 3 Top couple involved again etc. I heartily agree with Jeff that I don't generally want a dance to run on too long, although there are exceptions: * If the band has a set of three tunes that they want to play, they may want more room to stretch out. Four times through a tune is often not enough for the musicians to show their stuff, and dancers do appreciate hearing a well-planned medley of tunes. * If there's a dance with a lot of newcomers present, sometimes it's worth running it longer so that they can feel successful. It may take them longer than more experienced dancers to catch on to the choreography of a particular dance, and then once they've got it, it's nice to give 'em a chance to just dance. * Similarly, if there's a dance that is unequal (#1s have more activity than #2s, for example), I might run it longer so that more couples get a chance to be #1s. (Of course, another way to achieve that effect is to ask for shorter sets, but not all dance series have dancers who will agree to such a request from the caller.) * I think the main reason I'd keep dances shorter, though-- and this is just one of many reasons why I like to include triplets, or a mixer, or a square, or some other odd formation dance-- is that shorter repetitions means dancers have more opportunity to switch around. David Millstone