Re: [Callers] New callers material?

Hello William, I'd recommend adding Ted Sannella's books to your list of resources. The first two books provide a nice selection of dances, many of them less complex than some of the dances in Give and Take. I've found that one common problem that new callers have is selecting dances that are too hard for them to call well; they hope to make a big splash, showing that they can call hot dances that they have enjoyed dancing themselves, but all too often get tangled up in lengthy explanations orlet the timing slip on their calling. They would have done better to pick something more straightforward, teach it quickly, keep up with the calls, and get out of the way. In addition to Ted's collection of dances, what I like about his first two books (_Balance and Swing_ and _Swing the Next_) are his detailed notes on how he teaches the dance, sometimes offering specific wording, and a rationale for why he makes the choices he does. The careful reader can learn a lot about how to teach and how to program from reading Ted's comments. The third Ted publication, his notes on calling traditional New England squares, is valuable for many reasons. First, New England style squares are the easiest kind of squares for most callers to learn, and his notes, combined with the many squares presented in the first two books, are a helpful guide. Second, Ted pays a lot of attention attention to breaks, that bane of many contra callers. Finally, the booklet comes with a CD that offers 15 examples of Ted's calling. Callers wanting to call traditional New England style squares could do a lot worse than to pattern themselves on Ted Sannella's timing and diction. David Millstone