Hello, Here are a few ideas that I use here in New Hampshire. 1. First, this is a dance, not a classroom. the emphasis should always be on fun, not teaching. For this reason, I try to spend most of the time dancing, not teaching or walking through a dance. Here are some of the ways I try to do this with whoever shows up. 2. Pick the right dance. This is the most important rule of all. If you get the dance right it will be fun for everyone there. (the only very experienced dancer in a group that is all beginners might argue with this). Very simple dance are needed for all beginners. They are usually happy with just getting forward and back right! With a lot of beginners, introduce moves throughout the evening. Start with just a few of the easiest ones. No improper dances at the beginning, for example. 3. The best mix is when you have about 80% advanced dancers for a regular dance. Remind the regular dancers that there are beginners present - welcome the beginners to the dance at the beginning. Start with simpler dances that have a lot of body contact. If a beginner is promenading with an advanced dancer, they will see exactly where to go. 4. Remind experienced dances that a beginner might be a little lost. If a beginner is looking the other way, tap him/her on the shoulder to tell them "here I am!" Also remind experienced dancers to gently direct/push a beginner in the right direction when you are finished with them. Remind the new dancers that someone may gently push or pull him/her in the right direction. Thank him/her for the help. Emphasis gently. 5. Remind both that an experienced dancers will take someone's hand or arm for a star, alamain, or swing if they are a little hesitant. Again, thank them for the help. 6. As long as the beginners make up less than half the dancers, strongly suggest that experienced dancers not dance with each other, but with a beginner. this is one of the best ways to bring a beginner into the dance. They then have someone to answer questions, guide them, and teach them right next to them. Two people who come as a couple and only dance with each other are often the slowest to learn how to dance. 7. In a workshop for beginners, it sometimes helps to do a circle dance, as you can cover many of the moves, without having to worry about lines , end effects, etc. Things to emphasize in a workshop include, giving weight in a swing or alamainde, man on the left/lady on the right, mans hand on the bottom/lady's on the top, progressions, proper/improper/becket dances. Again including experienced dancers in the workshop helps a lot because the beginner can try it with an "expert" 8. During a dance, advanced dancers can talk to a beginner to tell him/her what to expect next: "Now on to the next", "lean back - give a little more weight", "use your right (or left) hand here", etc. I'm not sure if this is what you want or not, but I do hope it helps, Richard Hart

here's what i do, and i'm pretty happy with my routine. all comments/questions are welcome. ************ ask people if they've ever been to a dance before. explain that it's a party - we're just here to have fun. say: if you've ever turned on the stereo in your house and walked around in time to the music, well, that's what we're going to do tonight. sometimes you walk around by yourself, sometimes with somebody else, sometimes you're just waiting for it to be your turn to walk around in time to the music... teach swing first. demo balance/swing. everybody gets a partner. take hands as if for two-hand turn, talk about giving weight. two hands together, everybody turn to your own left - right feet close to partner's right feet, etc., etc. walk forward - nobody ever walks backwards or slides sideways during swing. now teach ballroom hold - emphasize that ladies put their hands behind gents' shoulder and hold on - ladies are responsible for carrying their own weight during the swing, otherwise guys' arms will fall off by the end of the evening. i NEVER teach a buzz step to beginners - just tell them to walk. but i demo swing with someone where i walk and they buzz - it works fine. tell them to just walk - at some point they'll feel how the buzz step works and they should go ahead and try it out. explain to ladies what to do if semi-experienced show-off guys try to twirl them or swing too fast. teach balance. have everyone turn same direction as you, say something like: people will do lots of things for a balance. here's one that's guaranteed not to injure anyone. step forward on right, then left. back on left, back with right. repeat three times. face partner, balance. demo b/s again - then have them do it while you call it, as if during dance. tell them you will always let them know which way to end the swing during a walkthru, and that means the "pointy hands". have them swing and face down, swing and face up, swing and face you. note that if they end with "pointy hands" facing correct direction and let go those hands, ladies will always be on the right ("ladies always go on the right because ladies are always right", it's easy to remember, etc., etc. - anything entertaining/humerous can go here - just say something so that they will REMEMBER that LADIES GO ON THE RIGHT). practice the swing until you think they've really got it. line 'em up, explain hands four, ones and twos, etc. whole numbers mean you always end where you start - have them circle left 1x, circle right 1x. face N, face P, face N, face P - emphasize orientation. teach DSD, allemande. DSD 1x with P, end where started. DSD 1x with N. repeat. teach allemande. alle P 1x, alle N 1x - always end where started. now get into fractions - DSD N 1 1/2 - change places - say hello to new N. circle L 1x, circle R 1x, DSD P 1x, alle R N 1 1/2, FACE NEW NEIGHBOR. repeat this with some variations several times so they understand progression. teach long lines f/b. teach promenade - LADIES NOTE which direction they turn. teach R/L thru - LADIES turn same direction!! be very clear about courtesy turn. repeat these three or four times. note that promenade and r/l thru are figures that allow COUPLES to trade places. a chain allows LADIES to trade places. teach ladies chain - LADIES TURN SAME DIRECTION, SAME COURTESY TURN. call "dance" (do lots of swings!) - various figures that cause people to progress occasionally, just the few things you've taught. just repeat these few figures until they're really comfortable. tell everyone they're officially contra dancers now, explain hands four/walkthru/new partners/etc. if anything goes wrong, it's th caller's fault (of course, if it works, the caller also gets all the credit :-). encourage them to ask experienced dancers to dance, and to find a partner quickly and get at the head of the line. TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF on complicated figures by telling them WHERE TO END. let 'em know it's ok if they're confused, that you're watching out for them, that if things go wrong it's not their fault. i NEVER teach a hey in a beginner's class. if they can swing and know how to do a courtesy turn and aren't confused about general orientation, that's what's important. i repeat the basics many times in the class because that's 90% of what we do. TEACHING A HEY - i always do it during the walk-thru. i usually line up a foursome that i know can do a hey. i tell them do demo it twice, once correctly, once completely wrong. i explain that it's ok to wander around as long as no one is injured, AS LONG AS EVERYONE ENDS UP IN THE RIGHT PLACE. i always do a dance with a full hey so they can END WHERE THEY START. compliment them during the dance when they try "both kinds" of hey. sooner or later, everyone will get it when they run into people who actually know how to do it. TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF on complicated figures by telling them WHERE TO END. let 'em know it's ok if they're confused, that you're watching out for them, that if things go wrong it's not their fault (yes, i know i repeated that - it's important). after the first dance of the evening - ask how many people are new, welcome them to the party/dance. ask the "experienced male" dancers to help you out by not spinning new ladies around during the first half of the dance - give them a chance to get oriented first. this usually works pretty well. *************** i've seen plenty of other good beginner's workshops that are different from mine. this is what i'm comfortable with. i ALWAYS ask to teach the beginner's class at every dance i call. sometimes they give me the option of not teaching, sometimes they prefer to teach it themselves (such as glen echo and river falls). i ALWAYS ask to teach anyway. community building is important, and a good class is the first step in making newbies feel good about the dance community. at least once a week, i "rehearse" my beginner's class - talk through the whole sequence in my head, just to make sure i won't forget anything when i actually get to the dance. i'm interested to hear what other people do, and any comments about my routine. barb http://www.barbkirchner.us