I have only occasionally used a cordless headset mike, but I found it to be quite liberating. I really enjoyed the opportunity to step down from the stage and walk between the lines of dancers. Apart from participating more directly in the excitement of the dance, it gave me a chance to see if there were any problems in one of the lines that required me to continue calling a couple more sets. I'm sure we have all had that experience of one line "getting the dance" very quickly while another line, usually populated by novices dancing with each other, is on the verge of falling apart. Very often that second line is the one farther from me on the stage and more difficult to observe. If I have a headset mike I will wait until the dance gets going before I venture out onto the floor, at a point where I don't feel the need to call specific moves very much. I honestly don't think the dancers would find it that unnerving to hear calls over the PA system when the caller isn't visible on the stage, unless they are very old and haven't had any experience with modern public address systems in other venues. And I think it would be extremely distracting to specifically advise the dancers to direct their attention to the floor when the caller is out there. I mean, the whole point is to get the dancers to focus on each other and forget that the caller is even present, so why go out of your way to remind them? Last weekend I called a dance where I was offered a handheld cordless mike, and it worked wonderfully. I was later told that several dancers enjoyed seeing me on the floor while they were dancing. Certainly no one suggested that I was stalking them. Finally, even though I have a voice that carries pretty well, I find it physically very stressful to call without a mike unless I'm calling in a very small room to a very small group. Calling without amplification just leads to shouting at the dancers, something I believe they would find far more irritating and distracting than listening to amplified calls while the caller is absent from the stage. Again, I have to say that our main purpose is to cause the dancers to lose themselves in the moment and forget that the caller is there. I admit that it's possible that Greg is used to calling at a very different, and perhaps smaller venue than I'm used to. Finally, I certainly agree that we should avoid giving specific instructions to a single dancer or small group during the dance, regardless of the kind of amplification available. I will occasionally do this during the walk-through, but by the time the dance has started I deal with problems like that by trying to call more clearly and consistently. -Lewis Land On 7/17/2011 10:09 AM, Greg McKenzie wrote: