[Callers] Re: next steps between barn dance & contra, focus on fun figures

For how many months have you been holding these dances? I am assuming you are the caller. If you have at least 6 or 8 regulars, I would think, that after 3 or 4 sessions the core group should be familiar with all of allemande, chain, R&L across, courtesy turn, swing, balance and swing, circle, F&B, dosido, Star, balance, balance & swing, becket, down the hall and tuning alone or as a couple. If they don't yet know these, introduce 2 or 3 at your next dance. Gaps could be filled in for any newbies. California twirl is easily demonstrated. Many good contra dances exist that use only these. Heys are optional. I have called several evenings of dances without ever using a hey. Roll-away are not needed. This link (a list of easy and intermediate dances I once put together, occasionally augment, but never cleaned up) has many candidate dances, especially on the first several pages. http://aptsg.org/Dance/easy_dances.pdf I speculate that your not having enough experience teaching new dancers may also be relevant. Maybe you can get Steve Pike or Roger Diggle to call one of your dances, and you can study what they do and answer some specific questions.