Most of my experience with this comes from the ECD world rather than contra. That said...

1. As a caller, I teach to who is there regardless of how the dance is advertised. This means flexibility, ability to shift expectations, shift my program, work on my patience. Sometimes this means for a particular dance, from the mic I invite 'if you are new or struggled with the last dance, you'll have more fun watching this next one' and follow it by an easy dance. I may also need to encourage attitude adjustment if the 'advanced' dancers are being cranky (lots of ways to do this, not going to take the time right now). And, there are lots of ways to have an 'advanced' dance. Complicated choreography is one. Less teaching/prompting is another. Offering things such as (usually easy) no walk through dances is another. Relatively accessible dances with extra time to teach dancing well is another.

2. As organizers, what do you do to try and keep your advanced sessions... advanced? 

I'm with Julian on being against kicking people out. It is not the kind of community I want, can backfire in a big way, and make people really unhappy. I hadn't thought about the economic injustice aspect of it, so thanks for that.

I'm also fine with having advanced dances. And the messaging needs to be super clear. I wouldn't use words like 'advanced' or 'experienced' but rather outline the skills needed and the expectations, e.g., comfort with the following figures (ability to just do them), ability to recover quickly, ability to learn quickly, ability to dance without prompting...whatever your group decides are the features for the dance. Perhaps say what will and won't be taught, one walkthrough only with rolling start...

And not everyone will get the message. That's life.

3. As dancers (/organizers/callers), how do we elevate the dance level of our local communities? 

Practice kindness, teach/model attitude of 'mistakes are awesome - it's how you learn, it can lead to laughter if you let it', teach/model recovery skills.

Add skills workshops into the mix. Fun for skilled, unskilled, experienced, inexperienced dancers. Can be a special session prior to dance (or the first X amount of time of a regular dance) or at a special time/place. Can be about figures, social skills, dancing well...

In my mind, part of being an advanced dancer is the ability and joyful attitude to dance with anyone regardless of skill or expectation of why you came. That is another skill to teach.

Brooke Friendly 

Ashland OR

On Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 12:42 PM jim saxe via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

You can hear some thoughts from sixty years ago relating to topics in this thread in this recording of a 1962 Q&A session with the late great square dance caller Ed Gilmore:

        http://squaredancehistory.com/items/show/702

You might start by listening for a few minutes beginning from 17:53.

The early MWSD scene that Ed was involved with had some differences from our current contradance culture, including structure of clubs and classes among other things, so some things Ed says may not translate directly. Nonetheless, I believe Ed was a keen observer and an insightful thinker and worthy of a listen.

--Jim
(Santa Clara, CA)

> On Apr 17, 2023, at 9:57 AM, Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> I've given this some thought. I've been a dancer in this situation, and heard other organizers ask this question.
>
> I don't like the idea of asking someone to leave. I do think this is antithetical to my values as a dance organizer.
>
> I don't like the idea of gatekeeping and presuming I know how well a person may succeed not - especially since contra is a team sport.
>
> I also want to raise the idea of economic injustice - many folks carpool, or, in NYC it may be a pain to get to a location - even by mass transit a new person could really need the help of a friend. Especially if it's a person from out of town; having lived in and around NYC for a decade, it can be _daunting_. So I can totally see some experienced dancers wanting to bring a friend, and having them come later is not an option. Forcing them to come later may be easier for folks with financial means, which is why I'm saying this may touch on an issue of economic justice and privilege.
>
> An alternative I might have - and, totally with the benefit of hindsight and reflection:
>
> I think if I'm in this situation in the future, I will do the following:
> 1. Caution the dancer of the expected skill level.
> 2. Offer them to sit and enjoy the music for free / donation instead of required entry fee.
> 3. Recommend that if they're set on trying it out, to do so, but if they're not getting it, come hang out and stay, with fee refunded. (Like a satisfaction guarantee.)
>
> Ideally, if they do stay and sit, some dancers will need breaks and sit with them and make them feel welcome.
>
> In dance,
> Julian Blechner
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 16, 2023, 9:50 PM Maia McCormick via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> I attended an advanced dance this afternoon that was intermediate at best, and had a few raw beginners in there, and it got me wondering:
>
> 1. As callers, what do you do when a bunch of intermediate and/or beginner dancers show up to an advanced session?
> 2. As organizers, what do you do to try and keep your advanced sessions... advanced? (Either in messaging or at the dance itself?) Obviously I'm not advocating for kicking anyone out, but if a bunch of newbies show up at an advanced session, both they and the dancers who came for gnarly stuff are going to have a less-than-ideal time.
> 3. As dancers (/organizers/callers), how do we elevate the dance level of our local communities? I'm talking about increasing familiarity with some of the less common moves (contracorners, left hand chains, etc.) but also about building awareness of the dance and recovery skills, and technical things like giving satisfying weight, swinging correctly, guiding linemates into the next figure, etc.
>
> I welcome any thoughts and musings!
>
> Cheers,
> Maia (Brooklyn, NY)
> --
> Maia McCormick (she/her)
> 917.279.8194
> _______________________________________________
> Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net
> _______________________________________________
> Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net

_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net