UPDATED 12/04/06

Hello Callers, We are excited that you will be calling at River Falls soon. Because of increasingly crowded conditions and lots of beginners at River Falls, it is imperative that you take extra steps to ensure the enjoyment and safety of the dancers. We have compiled suggestions from callers and others on how to better ensure a fun and safe dance.

BEGINNER SESSION
After trying several variations on teaching beginners we have arrived at the following policy that we think is flexible, requires the caller's involvement but also depends heavily on our traditional teaching approach - matching up 2 beginners w/ 2 experienced dancers (or sometimes 3:1), in which the experienced dancer(s) lead the foursome. In a nutshell, we plan to use our traditional teaching approach but we want you, the caller, to be present and ready to participate in or lead the teaching as needed, starting at 7:30. This is how it works: · At 7:30 the host asks beginners and experienced dancers to match up on the floor and to start teaching. If the number of beginners overwhelms those available to teach, then the caller takes over leading the instruction, w/ the help of experienced dancers. · If the beginner crowd stays small and the experienced dancers are doing an adequate job of teaching, then just mingle and participate in the teaching as needed. · If however, more and more beginners continue to come in the hall (as is often the case) then at about 7:45, step in and have beginners and experienced dancers line up for a beginners dance or using the approach that best works for you and the crowd present. · Between 7:30 & 8:00, it's the responsibility of the caller and host to periodically encourage beginners as they enter the hall to join the session. It's the dance host's job to identify beginners and send them to experienced dancers or to the beginner's session.

DANCE ETIQUETTE/SAFETY SUGGESTIONS
The biggest problems we have at dances sometimes are a result of a combination of factors: music too fast for conditions, dances too complex for the crowd, too many dancers on the floor that don't know how to dance small, a large proportion of beginners, some of which come in after the instruction. It is also very important to emphasize to dancers the finer points of respectful dancing: be respectful of others space; do not assume that everyone loves to sleaze etc.

Although some dancers may have heard it a thousand times, others have not, and still others need to hear it thousand and one times, so please remind dancers of the following points of etiquette and contra dance culture -- perhaps one or two tips between each dance, as you deem necessary based on events unfolding on the floor:

- as you join on, please join the shortest line
- if some folks are sitting out, please ask them to dance before booking your next few dances
- if you're an experienced dancer, please ask someone new to dance at least a few times this evening [ask beginners to identify themselves as beginners by raising their hand]
- if you're new -- be bold and ask someone to dance who looks like they know what they're doing -- you'll pick it up faster that way.
- when it's crowded, please mind your elbows and steel-toed work boots, dance small. Do a 1-3 minute workshop on 'dancing small.'
- although we enjoy a culture of friendly flirtation, we still value traditional courtesies such as actually getting to know someone for a full ten minutes before draping yourself all over them. Please make sure your flirtation remains innocent and unimposing.

Other suggestions for callers - after the first 2 dances or so, ask beginners who missed the pre-dance instruction to identify themselves. Urge these dancers to 1) ask an experienced dancer to dance and visa versa, and 2) come to the dance lesson at 7:30 next time.
- if the band plays too fast, slow them down. Get tough if you need to. - choose dances that match the skill of the dancers; increase complexity only if you sense the crowd is ready for it.

We support and encourage devilish tricks from the caller to blatantly manipulate the dancers into doing the "right" thing. Please feel free to employ any of the following, as well as any of your own creative strategies:
- move established lines to the outside and form a new line in the center of the hall (thus temporarily displacing the center set and its syndrome).
- swap 1s and 2s, especially at the top or bottom of the set, so that wide-eyed newbies will not be dumped out on the end the first time through the dance.
- when there is a significantly shorter line, and couples don't respond when asked to even up the line, then announce that the next dance will begin when all lines are even.

We depend on the caller to teach more complicated moves that likely were not covered in the pre-dance teaching. Please feel free to do a demonstration and more careful walk-through the first time for moves such as hey-for-four, rory o'more style balance and slide, petronella balance and spin, etc. We advertise that all moves will be taught, and that the evening will start with simple dances, so please help us deliver on those promises. Also, please feel free to give useful but efficient dance tips that will help both new and experienced dancers be successful. We don't want a walk-through to go on forever, but an extra 30 seconds or so is an acceptable time investment , especially if that will avoid breakdowns. Thanks so much for your attention to this. As always, we appreciate your feedback on how to help make our dances wildly fun but bodily safe!!