--- Rickey Holt wrote: I have just come back from a wonderful caller's workshop --- end of quote --- I'm guessing that this was the intermediate callers' workshop sponsored by Country Dance and Song Society and led by Lisa Greenleaf and Brad Foster. [Insert pitch here for everyone to join or renew their CDSS membership.] Rickey, I'm sure many of us on the list would love to hear more details about the workshop and what made it so successful from your point of view. I'll pass on your first set of questions and instead will turn to the second: order to commit my weight to the dance. The sort of motion you describe strikes me as more applicable to English country dance, done well and vigorously, than to American contras and squares. At least in New England style dancing, the weight is back farther, with the the heels often touching before the toes, a walking gait or a flat footed shuffle, depending on your own style. In ECD, by contrast, the weight is on the balls of the feet. I've heard many ECD leaders talk about leaning forward until you have to take a step, and using that sort of driving motion to propel you through your steps. When you look at early photos of dancers trained by Cecil Sharp, you see them leaning at what strikes us now as almost impossible angles. Now, granted, this sort of energetic movement isn't what you see in all dancers-- in the UK, apparently, they grapple with the norm being what some have termed the "Playford plod"-- but there are American dancers who do bring that zest to their English country dancing. New England style contra dancing, in contrast, when dancers go beyond the initial flailing about in all directions phase, has a smooth, almost level motion, not a lot of hopping or bouncing about. Granted, this can be with lots of energy or it can be more sedate, depending on the choreography of the dance and the music being played. At least that's how the movement goes in my vision of how things should be. ;-) David Millstone