The term "MAINSTREAM" implies that the majority of people in an activity are capable of participating at that level. When applied to Square Dancing, this would mean that the majority of dancers are being taught all the "Mainstream" moves.

Having completed the Basic Program, the dancers should have a strong foundation in square dancing. Most of the formations and many of the concepts that dancers will come across in Mainstream will have already been introduced. In fact, if dancers have a good grounding in the basics, they will have no problem comprehending the movements that make up Mainstream.

Unfortunately there is a lack of decent choreographic material available to callers (particularly for singing calls), and some callers do not have the knowledge to teach the mainstream moves efficiently. This series of articles is aimed at providing useful information for Callers who are teaching the Callerlab Mainstream Program in their clubs (hopefully all of us). For each call featured, I have provided teaching hints (Australian styling is sometimes referred to), along with Hoedown modules and 64 beat singing call figures.

So that we are all speaking the same language, we must all know the Callerlab Definition for the movements we are going to teach. In some cases it is appropriate to quote the actual words of the definition when teaching to achieve the correct meaning. In other cases the Callerlab definition may be insufficient or confusing for the dancers (the definitions are designed for callers after all). In these instances you will have to "paraphrase" or re-word the definition to help you to get the message across. Whether you decide to use the Callerlab definition or words of your own choosing you must always be sure of what you are going to say when teaching.

There is nothing worse for the newer dancer than being unsure of what the caller is trying to say.

One of the most important things to remember is that you must keep calling all of the basics already taught. A common error of some callers is that they teach something one week and then don't call it again for several weeks. New material needs to be constantly repeated for months before the dancers can automatically recall it. Don't allow yourself to just concentrate just on the current moves being taught.

Above all, don’t rush the dancers through their learner's class, in an effort to get into some "real dancing". This will only lead to confusion and frustration if the new dancer does not get it right on the first attempt. Dropouts will often occur because of this.

BE PATIENT.

Take the time to revise. Allow the dancers time to dance what they already know.