[Callers] dances with no partner swing

[Lewis Land]

I have wondered about this issue for years. I understand the value of 
calling simple dances with no partner swing at venues such as one night 
stands, or at a middle school where the kids might be too shy to enjoy 
dancing with a partner of the opposite gender, but as a dancer it drives 
me nuts. Once I've managed to recruit a partner, I would really like to 
dance with her, and I find it pretty frustrating when the caller comes 
up with a dance in which I have practically no interaction with my 
partner at all. It's especially annoying if I'm dancing with my wife, 
since we don't get to dance together that frequently if I'm calling for 
half the evening. I fully appreciate the fact that contra is a community 
dance, and we dance with everyone in the line as well as our partner, 
that's one of the things I love about contra, but the partner aspect of 
the dance is also very enriching. I wonder how the rest of this group 
feels about dances with no partner swing.

Lewis Land