Course overview
The CALLERLAB (New) Mainstream Suggested Teaching Order lists 50 units (M1 … M50), effective 1 September 2026. It is a sequence, not a syllabus of lessons: each unit assumes only what came before it.
This book keeps the official order and divides it into twelve classes of four or five units, which is roughly a term of weekly evenings. The grouping is this book's, not CALLERLAB's — the order within it is CALLERLAB's, and is not changed.
The twelve classes
| Class | Units | What it introduces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | M1–M4 | circles, Dosado, promenade, arm turns — the first evening |
| 2 | M5–M8 | stars, Right and Left Grand, Pass Thru, Wheel Around |
| 3 | M9–M12 | Courtesy Turn, Right and Left Thru, Swing, Ladies Chain |
| 4 | M13–M16 | Half Sashay, turn backs, Separate, Lead Right |
| 5 | M17–M20 | Veer, Star Thru, the circulate family, Bend the Line |
| 6 | M21–M24 | Square Thru, Split Two, Grand Square, Double Pass Thru |
| 7 | M25–M28 | First Couple Go, Wheel and Deal, California Twirl, Slide Thru |
| 8 | M29–M32 | Dive Thru, Box the Gnat, the ocean wave family, trades |
| 9 | M33–M36 | Swing Thru, Run, Pass the Ocean, Extend |
| 10 | M37–M40 | Flutterwheel, Sweep a Quarter, Trade By, Ferris Wheel |
| 11 | M41–M45 | Zoom, Touch a Quarter, Hinge, Centers In, Cast Off Three Quarters |
| 12 | M46–M50 | Spin the Top, Scoot Back, Fold, Tag the Line, Recycle |
How to use a class page
Each class page gives you:
- the units for that class, with links to their call pages;
- what to assume — the units it builds on;
- a teaching sequence, so you can walk the calls through before dancing them;
- drills that put the new calls into a short piece of real dancing;
- checks — the mistakes that mean the class has not landed yet.
The class page does not explain the calls. That is what the call pages are for, and explaining them twice is how a book starts disagreeing with itself.
If you are learning at home
You can follow the same order without a class:
- Read the call pages for one class, one unit at a time.
- Walk each call slowly on your own — the What you do section is written to be walked.
- Use the figures to check the start and end shapes.
- Watch for the common faults; they are the ones that catch everybody.
- Move on when you can do the call without reading it.
Two calls per evening is a comfortable pace.
How much is 50 calls?
Enough to dance a whole evening. The 2026 program is deliberately smaller than the old Basic + Mainstream combination it replaces, which is why some calls you may have known are no longer here — see Moved and renamed.
The teaching order puts the calls you will use constantly first, and the ones that only appear in particular figures later. By the end of Class 5 you can already dance a recognisable tip.
Next
- how to teach one of these classes → Teaching a class
- practising between classes → How to practise
- the reference for a call you have met → Call index