Re: [Callers] Lines of 4/Long lines, and overuse thereof

I thnk there are an assortment of figures in contra dance that don't really count against your variety budget. (Kinda like if you put out an array of sandwiches people don't complain that there's no variety because they all have bread in them.) It's pointless to patrol your program removing duplicated instances of balances, swings, allemandes, right? I think long lines is pretty much in that category, and that you can also have a lot of circles, stars, and heys, and quite a few ladies chains and r&L thru before they get tiresome. (Although I personally get a little bored if I get several dances in an evening where the last four bars of B2 are a ladies chain to make the progression work.) (And I agree with Jack, and with you, that long lines make a reset/waypoint/moment-of-poise, and most dances need one of those so that everybody can get in synch. ) My issue with down the hall four in line is that there needs to be room to do it, which most places I call means it only really works early or late in the program, and it's too much to do twice in a row, so I now end up doing it no times or one time in an evening.) (I used to be annoyed by the Petronella clap, but given that I now rarely hear the whole hall hit a balance at the same time, I'm happy to hear everybody in the room synched precisely up on *something*, and this is a synch point that even new dancers can pick up by osmosis more or less instantly.) -- Alan On 9/2/2012 1:43 PM, Kalia Kliban wrote: