Greg, Is the scenario that new dancers have joined at the bottom in great clump and are all the same hands four?
Progress them twice or 4 times at the beginning before the walkthrough. “You’re in contra dance lines, across from your partner. We’ll practice the progression a few times first! Balance the ring, past your neighbor by the right to meet new neighbors. Take hands here (at the ends when you get spit out, trade places with your partner.)" repeat once or three more times depending on how big the clump is. Then start the walkthrough of a dance that presumably has a balance the ring and pass through to progress. If it’s a becket dance you can just have the whole oval circle left 2 couples and take a new hands 4. If the problem is throughout the night, I do what Maia said- asking friends to ask them to dance. If they’re young new dancers, ideally a few folks in their general age would be good. Alexandra Deis-lauby VILLAGEWESTDESIGN 646 283 3108 villagewestdesign.com <http://villagewestdesign.com/> Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/villagewestdesign/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/VillageWestDesign> | Houzz <https://www.houzz.com/pro/villagewestdesign/village-west-design> > On Aug 5, 2025, at 1:15 PM, Richard Hart via Contra Callers > <[email protected]> wrote: > > A simple circle mixer is often a good choice whenever some new beginners > arrive. > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Aug 5, 2025, at 1:07 PM, Maia McCormick via Contra Callers >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> You might consider a mixer to help get the newbies out of their cluster and >> meeting other people on the floor--hopefully some of those other folks will >> then ask the newbies to dance, and it'll be a less scary experience. >> >> I feel like most dance communities with good beginner-welcoming practices >> will do this already, but if you've got some friends on the floor, you might >> ask them directly "hey, could you and some of your friends ask the new folks >> to dance for the next dance or two?" >> -- >> Maia McCormick (she/her) >> 917.279.8194 >> >> >> On Tue, Aug 5, 2025 at 12:15 PM Casey Carr via Contra Callers >> <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> Agree with the things you listed and just had this thought. If you do >> two walk-throughs as you start the dance, some of them will naturally be >> moved down the line to dance with more experienced dancers. Since the >> swing is so important in getting people on the correct side of their >> partner, I would re-teach the swing as I teach the dance. >> Casey Carr >> >> On 8/5/2025 12:07 PM, Gregory Frock via Contra Callers 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 >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] >> > <mailto:[email protected]> >> > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> > <mailto:[email protected]> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> _______________________________________________ >> Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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