Our Built in Audience Participation (Taken from Callerlink 182 June 2007)
Jeff Garbutt

II'm a bit of a fan of live concerts. I've seen several of the big names when they have toured, and I have a big collection of concert DVDs. There is something about the way live performers connect with their audience that makes the whole musical experience come to life to a level beyond simple music listening.

One thing seems to be common is that professional entertainers want and almost seem to crave for audience participation. Most concerts include an audience sing along and you can see by the entertainers face that they get a big kick out of it. Some include a walk through the audience and where that is not allowed they reach over the stage to add least shake hands and share a kiss. Al Jolson was reputedly known as wanting lights shown on the audience "so he could see their faces". Most entertainers would love to see the audience get up and dance.

This is where callers have a built-in advantage that other entertainers don't have and quite often wish they had. We have a built in connection and "audience participation" with our dancers. I think maybe we take it for granted and don't realise just how valuable it is. We have a connection with our dancers so that they become more than dancers that we give traffic directions to. The dancers become an audience which in turn makes them part of the entertainment.

Years ago when the term "square dance entertainer" was first used instead of "square dance caller" I used to wonder how one could claim to be an "entertainer". I have come to understand that the term is quite legitimate because our dancers are also our audience. So I suppose one can simply state that "a caller becomes an entertainer when he/she involves their dancers as an audience rather than dancers who simply re-act to commands."

We may not be amongst the big time entertainers of the world stage - but we do have built in audience participation which they don't have. We make the audience connection with our dancers that the big names often crave for. Take advantage of the valuable connection with your dancers - make them part of the entertainment.