I was at a contra dance recently that was much more crowded than usual. This is awesome for the supporting organization and I think it’s good when more dancers are exposed to different experiences on general principle; however, since it was significantly more crowded, the crowding did alter the experience a bit.

I was talking to another dancer about this and zie suggested that perhaps there were some calls that worked better in less-crowded halls (we know this to be true for flourishes). I was thinking about this and decided to open it up to the crowd. Are there calls (we’re talking “standard” calls here, that would come from the caller, not stuff that the dancers make up on their own or dips/lifts/etc. -- flourishes fall under the “don’t be a jerk” mantra) that generally work better when the room isn’t as crowded?

I know that in both techno and traditional contra events, there have been times where I thought calling a dance with a promenade across the set, for instance, might not have been the best idea (generally as I ran into other dancers, either through their fault or mine). Do unbalanced dances, where only half the couples -- i.e., the actives -- swing their partner, work better or worse in crowded halls, or does it entirely depend on whether the the inactives will “cheat?”

Is it possible for a caller to tailor the selection of dances based on how crowded the venue is? How?

I’m honestly not sure what I think about this yet -- I welcome discussion in the comments!