I was certainly not advocating the push-around technique that my Mum's pal used to use so frequently all those years ago, far from it, but just saying that that what she (unfotunately) used to do!

As part of the walk-through, it can be invaluable to have one or two experiemced couples of dancers to demonstrate certain figures to lesser mortals, on the basis of "actions speak louder than words", and indeed may save many words!

In Scottish ceilidh, we very often have Orcadian Strip the Willow as the final dance befire Auld Lang Syne, and we usually get the second couple to start dancing as soon as the original top couple have reached the third or fourth couple down the set, so you will have, in a very long set, possibly 6 or seven couples dancing before very long. (But not quite the same as Mr Red's description, where I think he means that he gets couples further down the lin dancing from the outset: some of our dancers will do that spontaneously anyway). No heap at the bottom either, as we tell people to keep moving up.
We will often have done a standard 4-couple Strip the Willow during the earlier part of the evening, and the easy rule, "right hand to your partner, left to anyone else" may help, except for those who don't know their right from left!