Re: [Callers] Mentorship for Choreographers

Martha's calling parties sounds like a great tool for new callers as well as new dances. Too often I have attended an open, public contra dance and heard a local caller announce that they will be calling the next dance at a festival, or dance camp, and want to "try it out" at our event before they present it to the, more sophisticated, special event attendees. This has always seemed so strange--that they would inflict this unknown quantity on our local, public dance where we have welcomed non-dancers to join us for a social event. Better that the festival crowd should be the ones to try it out. The "calling parties" sounds like an even better venue for this kind of "try-out" dance. - Greg McKenzie