Caller Tryout

[rickps]

FCS's weekly dancing last night was spiced up with another replacement caller candidate, Ray Holmes.  Ray has apparently called for FCS on occasion when Pat Carnathan was unavailable.  A quick web search didn't turn up much about Ray other than he's one of the main callers for The Wranglers, one of the local straight clubs in the area.

And how was he?  In a word, terrific!  Excellent calling, strong singing voice, great sense of humor, he'd work out well in my opinion.  His calling figures (through Advanced last night) were challenging without being life threatening and just different enough to keep both seasoned club members and new students entertained.  He seems to have a good teaching style as well.  Richard, the current FCS club president, told me that Ray likes to call for us because, to quote him, "we can dance to what he calls" which I gather is not often the situation at his straight club.  I suspect he'd be great fun calling a full dance.

Downsides were only one.  Ray got lost a couple of times, the curse of not having gender labeled dancers and, in one case, a dancer who switched gender roles between one tip and the next in his pilot square.  Easily dealt with once he calls for gay groups more frequently.

I've got to admit that I wondered if there were high quality, gay-friendly callers in SoCal wanting to call for FCS.  Looks like I need not have been concerned.