Yeah, I remember a dance where about 20 foreign exchange students with limited English from - Turkey, I think? showed up at the dance, just before the lesson thankfully. Whoa! I did as you suggested, introduced them to the whole group and asked for their help. Everyone really stepped up. One additional thing I did was NEVER during that night to vary my calling. I usually switch it up, saying “Robins allemande right” for a bit, or “Robins right” or just plain “Allemande” or “look for that robin and allemande” etc. to make it a little less repetitive, but in this case I never varied what I called a move, ever. (Though that was actually way before larks and robins - but same idea, no variance). Oh, and yeah, my program went out  the window and I called my old standby “Ellen’s Green Jig” first and went from there. It all worked out surprisingly well, thanks to a lot of help from the experienced dancers. They had a great time, which was very rewarding  to watch. 

Martha


On Aug 6, 2025, at 9:24 PM, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

As Randy Pausch said, if there's an elephant in the room, introduce it.  That normalizes the situation and reduces social tension and confusion.  It maximizes the help you'll get from your experienced dancers.  I'd also try to set the newbies' expectations that this might not work out so easily, but that's ok and they're wanted.  This is long because it's a script...

"Hey, we've got some new folks who just joined us. Welcome! Try to spread yourselves out among us so we can all help you out. You'll get this quickest if you partner with experienced dancers for the first few dances, and dance with the one you brought later, but it's up to you.  If you came with someone special and you're most comfortable dancing together, that's ok, too.  Also, some folks really benefit from the workshop we give before the dances, so if you find jumping in is a little too much right now, please give us another try at 7pm before the next dance, and enjoy the live music and company as long as you like today. We really want you here!  Would a few experienced dancers raise their hands and dance with these fine folks?" 

In our group this leads to cheering, and sets the expectation on both sides that people are going to be giving help.  One or more experienced couples will split up and invite a newbie into their group or dance as a couple with a newbie couple.  YMMV on this.  The first 90 minutes of our dance is designated newbie dancing and we frequently split ourselves up to get with newbies.  Conversely, the last 90 minutes is "loose the hounds".  If your dancers expect to be challenged from the start, you may need a different script.

Then...

"Folks, I'm going to walk this one through a little thoroughly, which should help anyone who is new tonight. Experienced dancers, please stay with me and don't get ahead or give extra advice, but do work with the new dancers to help them get it.  And please, let's not chatter.  Your investment of patience will bear fruit shortly!" [Again, setting expectations, being inviting to everyone, trying to get them to see the benefit of creating the best learning environment.]

Then, ditch whatever dance you were planning, and call Midwest Folklore, Airpants, Easy Peasy, etc., something with a low piece count, connected, simple figures, simple progression, recovery moves.  And yeah, teach the swing.  Oof, that takes time.  Or, have them do a two-hands-across or elbow swing.  The important thing there will be remembering to exit on the same side as they entered.  If necessary, progress twice at the start, as was mentioned.

Something similar just happened to us last Friday.  TWENTY new dancers came as a group, an entire social club.  We knew some of them and had been encouraging them to come for some months, but we had no idea they were coming that day, and our dance is usually only 20-25 people.  And, it was caller Sam Sharpless's second night of calling, ever.  They did come for the workshop, and Sam did great with them, there, but still, some of them were...going to take a few evenings of dance before walking on the beat made sense to them.  Sam and the gang really stepped up!  Sam blew up the first half of his program and called super-easy dances.  All the experienced dancers danced with newbies.  We joked with our 4th timers, asking them how it felt to be one of the most experienced in the room. Sam gave some careful and very encouraging walkthroughs.  It worked, even with often 3 newbies per minor set.  The best news is, this group said a few days later that they're coming back next week!

--jh--


On Wed, Aug 6, 2025 at 10:43 AM Perry Shafran via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi, everyone,

This happens more often than you'd think.  My solutions are thus:

First, I do not like demanding new couples split up right away.  I know that technically that would be effective to help people out.  But ostensibly, these people came to the dance to dance with the people they came with.  Thus instead of making it a demand, I say I "highly suggest" that people dance with experienced dancers.  But I really want them to have them have the ability to choose their own partners.  Thus, I allow them to dance with each other if they would prefer.  You *may* want to split up hands four, though, since a couple will not be able to dance with the other couple that's their friends right away.  And arrange them so they are not spit out right away after 1 or 2 turns.  

A more in-depth walk through for the first dance is warranted.  Have a dance with a neighbor swing before a partner swing, so they can get an experienced dancer guiding them.  If you do have a chain, have people chain to their neighbor for that guidance as well.  

And quite honestly, allow them to sink or swim after that.  It'll never be perfect no matter how hard you try, and they aren't going to "get it" right away.   Allow them to move, bop, have swings that are not smooth.  In fact, please advise the experienced dancers to show them how it's done, but ask them not to spend oodles of time trying to perfect the swing in the middle of a walk through.  That takes forever and makes the swing look way more difficult as move than it ought to be, and it delays the whole dance unnecessarily.  

Above all, instill confidence in the new dancers that this is fun, you can do it, and as long as you're having fun you're OK.  Anything to make the dancers feel that they need extra help has the potential for them to think that they don't belong there or aren't good enough to dance with the experienced crowd.  

Truthfully, I recall the days where many callers have suggested that "lessons make people believe the dance is hard" and believed that dancing should be so easy that anyone can walk in and dance and no lesson is needed.  We as a dance community have made dancing a little more difficult than that (and truthfully, it's not all *that* easy for a lot of people who have never done this before to figure out), so allow some grace and allow for mistakes.  Like, I think it took me a good 6 months of contra dancing before I really "got it" when I was starting.  

Perry Shafran

On Tuesday, August 5, 2025 at 12:08:11 PM EDT, Gregory Frock via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:


Dear Colleagues,

Here's the scenario: You are finishing up a new dancers' lesson, and will be starting the dance in a few minutes. In walks a significant number (say 6+) of newbies, all friends who want to dance together. Besides the two most common solutions, lower the difficulty and insist they NOT do the first couple of dances together, does anyone have an additional creative/elegant solution, enhancement actions to make the basics more effective, or important issues for consideration that are commonly missed?

Greg
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