Re: [Callers] Crowd noise during walk through

Jacqui, I notice that in your original message about dealing with crowd noise, you identify two somewhat separate, though related, issues: (1) (2) * * * * * * * * * * Re (1), I heartily agree with Greg and others who have advised allowing dancers some time to socialize and waiting for the conversational buzz to start tapering off before you start the walk-through. Greg has described a ritual of transitioning from socializing to the walk-through: Regardless of whether you do something like that, whether you use some other way of instructing dancers to take hands four and (if appropriate) to get into improper formation, or whether you're calling in a community where almost all dances are improper (or Becket) and dancers tend to line up in improper formation on their own, you may sometimes find yourself looking at floor where most dancers are waiting for the walk-through to start, but some haven't gotten into position. Typically there are some dancers partway down a set who, with no intention of malice or willful disobedience, haven't taken the initiative to get "hands four" to propagate beyond themselves. Perhaps there are new dancers dancing together, despite whatever attempts the caller and the experienced dancers have made to encourage mingling. Perhaps two people of the same sex are dancing as partners and haven't thought to do something to help the dancers below figure out which one is dancing in which role. Perhaps an unpartnered person is standing in or near the set and the dancers below can't tell whether that person is waiting for a partner to come back from the water fountain or whether the person has just come over to chat with someone and is about to go away. Perhaps someone is busy showing a partner or neighbor how to swing and is oblivious to the propagation of "hands four". Perhaps several of these things are going on at once. So what do you do? You could repeat the request for taking "hands four" (and/or the request for crossing over)--preferably not in an impatient voice-- and hope who has been wool gathering finally takes note of it and gets things moving. You could ask people to take hands four and to hold it until they see that the foursomes below them are starting to take hands four. Perhaps someone just above the blockage will take heed and help their neighbors get organized. You could pretend to start the walk-through, knowing that it will cause people in the bottom part of the hall to start clamoring for "hands four". You could request action in a way that doesn't pretend to start the walk-through. For example, "In your groups of four, circle once around to be sure you have space." (Larry Jrnning mentions this ploy in one of the _Contra COnnection_ columns.) You could ask the couples at the bottom of the set to raise their hands when the "hands four" has reached them. You could actually give the first move of the walk-through-- particularly if it's something that doesn't rearrange the dancers (e.g., long lines go forward and back), so that you don't have to deal with a situation where some dancer have moved to positions while other haven't yet taken "hands four". The last few of these options can all have the effect of getting dancers near the bottom of the set to insist that the dancers above them take hands four, so that the caller doesn't have to take on the role of whip-cracking cat-herder. Perhaps someone will even walk up the set to wherever the "hands four" got stalled and then walk back down the set counting off which dancers are 1s and which are 2s. By the way, having dancers do an action that involves joining hands (e.g., in long lines, go forward and back, or "circle once around to be sure you have space) can be a good way to get the to notice if two people of the same sex (or same gender role) are unexpectedly adjacent to each other. * * * * * * * * * * Re topic (2)--regaining the dancers' attention in the middle of the walk-through--I think the best thing is not to lose their attention in the first place. I'll post some ideas about that in a later message. I'm quite aware, though, that despite best efforts, a caller still may sometimes lose the attention of the dancers. So my pitch for prevention is not at all meant to derail discussion of your (Jacqui's) original question about what to do when that happens. --Jim On Aug 13, 2013, at 9:55 PM, Quiann2 wrote: