Hi, I'm enjoying these last threads, nice comments and useful tips. When getting folk into squares from circles of four couples, the aligning up to the walls, can be part of the fun. For a simple square like the Grapevine Twist which require the couples 1,2,3,4 in turn to lead - teach the numbering as the couple with the back to me/band is #1 - couple #1 raise your hands, couple #2 is facing the kitchen (say), etc. You can have fun with the crowd by giving a test. Who is #1, who is #2, who is #3, who is #1!. Also depending on the group, you can explain that couple #1 is the "most experienced couple" which will get a good reaction if you use the right innuendo. Cheers, Bill On 21/03/2011 8:53 a.m., Michael Barraclough wrote:

Paul Barbara G. here. I would be very interested in this list you are suggesting about compact dances. I have had the occasion, as I'm sure many of us had, to change up my program once I was in the hall and saw how crowded it was getting. I have stopped in the middle of a walkthrough, to the surprise of several seasoned callers in the room, and changed the dance. I didn't know this was a "no no" but also I feel you are doing what is best for the dancers. I did it without a lot of fuss or explanation and it worked fine. -----Original Message----- From: Paul Wilde <zenyente(a)gmail.com> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Sent: Sat, Mar 26, 2011 1:06 am Subject: Re: [Callers] Quadrille Formation and ONS Most esteemed colleagues, I danced at Rehoboth tonight and a most unusual and wonderful thing appened. Lisa Greenleaf walked us through a dance, saw that we were too rowded and that some of the moves were going to be especially ncomfortable, and told us to talk among ourselves while she picked out nother dance. I might add that this is a very popular dance, and 3 full ines are comfortable in the hall and 4 lines are definitely pushing the imit, especially if there are some dancers being a little over zealous or ot watching their set spacing. We've probably all been in this situation t least once as dancers. This is the first time I can ever remember someone changing a dance because t was too crowded for that particular set of moves. Occasionally we, as allers, switch dances after a walkthrough because what we first had in mind ight be looking a bit too challenging for the particular mix before us. But never can I remember a caller changing dances after a walkthrough ecause of space. Thank you Lisa. I would love to start a thread on this mostly overlooked (unless I missed omething earlier on), but very dear to my heart, topic. Far too often have been in a hall that was too tight for certain sequences, but it seems that aybe the caller came with a set program and wasn't willing to modify dance elections based on this most important criteria. Most dances are made up f a wide range of ages, and crowded halls where people are getting knocked round and bumped is uncomfortable, not all that much fun, and especially nfair to older dancers. My first suggestion would be to eliminate or highly restrict moves like a ull hey in these situations. What I would like is for people to make uggestions of fun, flowing dances that are compact, especially in their idth. think having a "list" or some other organizing format, of these "compact ances" would greatly enhance our toolboxes. What do you think? This list is truly amazing. Thank you everyone. warmest regards, aul ______________________________________________ allers mailing list allers(a)sharedweight.net ttp://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

I think the "Caller's Digest" subject is inserted automatically when someone responds to a post that was sent to them as a "digest" of the entire day of postings. Getting the emails in "digest" form is an option for anyone on the list. Unfortunately, most mail readers cannot detect which specific email the author is responding to. I don't have a good solution. If you're tracking subject headings the "digest" postings will not be grouped properly by your software. It may not be reasonable to expect the "digest" users to type or paste in the exact subject line when they respond. - Greg McKenzie ************* On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Liz and Bill <staf186(a)ext.canterbury.ac.nz>wrote;wrote:

Paul Wilde wrote: Each move has an aproximate space it takes up. Heys need more width, everyone swinging their partner in the center needs more length, down the hall needs extra room (3 yards?) below. So if someone wanted to take the time to note how much room each figure took, then someone who had dances in a fully computer-readable format could tell us how much room the dance needed. Perhaps this would be a good caller's companion feature? Separately, figures that I think of as especially big: long per dances: - everyone doing something rotational (swing, dosido, aleman, ...) with the person across from them - pass through to an ocean wave - gender A aleman in the center while gender B orbits half way long, constant regardless of dancers: - down the hall, up the hall - sashay down and back wide: - maybe heys? I see the restrictions as mostly in length, but it may also be that in the places I'm used to dancing it's more common to have sets squished along their length than width. Jeff