I called for 200 high school girls at a Catholic girls school once, and I've frequently called for the Waldorf School in San Diego (50 or more elementary school age kids). Definitely work up to a contra by doing other things first and the Virginia Reel before it. For the younger ones I do some play-party dances like Jump Jim Joe and Zodiac as I work up to contras. I have called one contra numerous times and had it work quite well: Ellen's Green Jig (duple improper) I don't have my cards with me as I'm on a business trip so I apologize for forgetting the author at the moment, maybe someone else can provide it) A1 Do-si-do neighbor 1's do-si-so A2 #1's balance and swing B1 Circle left with couple below Circle right back B2 Duck for the oyster etc. (2's arch, 1's peek to start, reverse, last time 1's go all the way through to face a new couple) This can be altered to a shorter swing if desired (sometimes a long swing is hard for new people): A1 Do si do neighbor Women do si do A2 Men do si do 1's swing (rest same) The alteration is courtesy of Graham Hempel, a caller from San Diego. One potential snag is to be sure to instruct people that they need to be back in their original orientation for the dip and dive - I have seen people do it perpendicular to the line of the dance. This has the virtue that you are touching people a lot so as not to get lost, and the progression is supremely obvious. In addition, it is remarkably gender neutral - if people open up on the wrong "side" after the swing, who cares, just do-si-so the next - at least for the first version. For the second it is written gender wise, but you could just say 1st corners do si do and 2nd corners do si do if you give them an idea what that means. The first version worked pretty well with 200 high school girls. I modified the swing a bit - had them do a two hand turn instead. Good luck. Martha Wild On May 21, 2010, at 1:19 PM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote: