Jo wrote: 

 

> I'd like some comments about using the move, Down the Hall, Four in
> Line, in the first dance of the evening.

 

> This is often done, but two people have told me that when there are
> newcomers, it is a confusing move, as it takes you out of your circle of
> four, and away from the area in which you are dancing.  It was felt that
> this is disorienting.  

> The suggestion was that it might be better used
> AFTER a dance where the circle of four stays together.

Well, if those people were reporting their own experiences, who am I to argue,
but if they're arguing from theory, the disorientation argument seems to me
like crazy talk.

First, because you're still with your same foursome.  Second, because you
shouldn't be looking at the walls to start with.  (This argument seems to be
saying that it's disorienting to leave the part of the room you started out in. 
But you're going to be leaving it anyway, in the next round.)

Now, there's a reason not to do down-the-hall-four-in-line in your first dance,
but it's not disorientation - it's that this move needs a little technique (six
steps down, two to turn (alone or as a couple), six steps up, two to bend the
line), and if they don't do the technique and go down the hall for 8 steps,
they'll be late for the next thing and not have the successful experience you'd
like them to have on the first dance.  (They're also likelier to find
themselves getting twirled, willy-nilly, on the way back up, which *is*
disorienting).

If you can convey the necessary technique, I don't think there's any
problem with the 4IL figure itself.

(There's more of a problem for newcomers with actives-only down the hall, come
back and cast off, so you're already progressed but still working with the same
couple.  They get used to that kind of thing, though.)

-- Alan

-- 
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 Alan Winston --- WINSTON at SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
 Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL   Phone:  650/926-3056
 Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA   94025
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