Re: [Callers] ideas for callers about sidelines

Dear Jill, I encourage you and the Board members to go to the archives from the Puttin' On the Dance conference that was held in the Fall of 2011. The link is: http://www.puttinonthedance.org/post-conference/archive/ The organizers of this conference have generously shared their findings with all of us. You will find lots of great advice about organizing dances in general, and how to foster a dance community in particular. It is so disappointing that dancers may have left your local dance because of not being able to find partners! And while there are some things that the caller can do, much also depends on the dance community and how inviting they are to the new dancers. Just a few thoughts about each of these: Caller: 1) At the end of a dance, warmly encourage dancers to invite those sitting out to join the next dance; I believe the responsibility for this is more with those who have already been dancing. Those who are sitting out may be too shy, or not know the social "rules", and may not jump in readily 2) Choose a dance that does not need just one partner, for example, a three facing three dance. 3) Related to this: Have a number of dances in your repertoire that have minimal need for gender designation. 4) Do a scatter mixer dance, and encourage the dancers to invite someone into the dance at any point in the fun. Dancers/Board: The Board that organizes the dance should develop ways to encourage the participation of newcomers. 1) For example: "dance angels"....dancers who may or may not have a visible button indicating that they are more than happy to dance with new folks. 2) Have a special meeting to which the dancers are invited to brain storm ways in which the dance can be more new dancer friendly. This will help dancers develop a sense of ownership of the dance, and may give the Board some ideas that would uniquely work for your dance group. Good luck with helping your dance community grow! warmly, Linda On Jan 16, 2013, at 10:22 AM, jill allen wrote: