Re: [Callers] sidelines

I would In my beginner sessions I make a point of demonstrating how to ask someone to dance. A lot of new dancers may not have done this since high school or earlier, and it's a very different ball of worms at a contra dance. It can be super simple (offer a hand, raise the eyebrows) or you can say "would you like to dance?" But it doesn't have to be a big deal. That can take some learning, so I like to give folks a head start on that very important process. And I describe the overall shape of the evening as well (when the breaks happens, whether there's a snack, is there always a polka before the second set...), since it's nice to have a bit of a clue about how things work. When I'm new at an event, I really appreciate knowing stuff like that. Which brings up an important learning opportunity for those of us who are old hands at contra and may have forgotten what it was like to be the new kids. Take a night or two and go to something completely alien, either a really different sort of social dance or a class in something you really aren't familiar with, and pay attention to what helps you feel more at home. Is it learning peoples names, or knowing where the bathroom is, or how the event is structured, or specifics of how you do the thing you're there to do, or something else entirely? Step outside your own comfort zone and be a beginner again. It's illuminating, and you might learn something really cool! Kalia