Here's my perspective on Julie's dance versus Berkshires.
Julie's dance has the potential to be more challenging, as it is a smaller dance with a more selective guest list. However, the spring Julie dances with a lot of callers (Coop, Rob, Noriko, Bill van Melle, and others) can be quite variable across tips, in terms of both speed and difficulty. Probably the difference in styles among different callers is bigger than the average difference between the two dances.
Personally, I probably called harder at Berkshires in October than I did at Julie's in August. At Berkshires, we had four squares, and I generally felt that having two squares out of four succeed was sufficient (and that happened a lot). At Julie's, we had three squares, and 50% success was not an option. I had to choose between aiming for 1/3 vs aiming for 2/3, and I generally aimed for 2/3. I don't know if I would take the same approach to future dances, but that is what I did in 2024.
If you are in search of some material that is easier than either of these dances, I suggest Importers. They are back to holding 3-4 weekends per year, although some of it is c3. Rob French called there in November 2024. Ryo Sasaki called there in September 2024. I went to Ryo's dance, and enjoyed it. You can find Importers recordings on Coop's web site, along with the Berkshires and Julie recordings.
Sue