Some Terms

Patter: Patter where you learn and practice moves. It's generally about 5-6 minutes long but sometimes it will (need to) be extended longer. Usually the caller makes the sequence up as he/she goes along.

Song: A song is more relaxed dancing so that you can enjoy the music. The choreography is more repetitive, perhaps doing the same thing 4 times in the song. Because you have to be home with a new partner every 64 beats of music, the choreography is generally pre-planned.

Tip: A tip is the combination of a Patter and a Song; usually 10-12 minutes long.

Break: A break is the time to let you recover from the mental and physical efforts of the previous tip. It's usually 5 minutes or so, but is adjusted to what is needed by the dancers.

Angel: An Angel is an experienced dancer who is coming here primarily to help you by adding some strength to the square.

How the club night is structured

The night is divided into a number of tips. A tip is about 5 minutes of Patter (where you learn and practice moves) and 5 minutes of Song (where it's more relaxed but still reinforcing the moves) -- followed by 5 minutes of break.

• Tip 1 is a review of what was taught the previous week; sometimes this can extend into the Tip 2 if needed.
• Tip 2 (and 3) will likely involve teaching and practicing a new move; sometimes several moves are related and might be taught together.
• The remaining Tips will practice the new moves that were taught as well as reinforcing all moves to date.
• The last tips of the evening should require less thinking.

It's possible that we will have one or more Tips at the next higher dance level (Mainstream) for our Angels. We'll wait until we get a good pattern going with our newest dancers before we see how this will fit in.