Does The Music Fit?
08.25.07

In looking for opportunities to dance, there are three elements that most of us consider:
 
1. Floor
Without the right floor, dancing can be tough at the minimum and downright dangerous in some cases. Best is a floating floor, where the surface we walk on is braced and or padded over a lower surface. A hardwood floor is ok, but will fatigue you after a while. Other floor surfaces have some give, but may trade off traction in some cases. Beware of the concrete floor! Your feet will be glad you did.
 
2. Other dancers
It is kind of hard to dance a partner dance with out a body at the other end of the connection. The more dancers in a room, the more options all of us have.
 
3. Music
For some of us, a couple of tin cans and a kazoo will qualify. However, most dancers have their own taste and desire in dance music. This condition creates a lot of discord in the community as far as whether it supports that dance style.
 
We'll use West Coast Swing as the case study here, since it is the dance of choice for your writer to teach and expound upon. Swing dancers are notorious for "dancing to anything" except waltz music. Indeed, one of the attractions to WCS is the musical range available. Songs that would be considered Rumba's, Cha Cha's or Foxtrot's by traditional ballroom dancers serve the WCS community well.
 
True swing music can be identified in many genres. Just because a song can be danced by a West Coast Swing dancer does not mean it is a WCS song. You will find good WCS music under broad categories such as Blues, R&B, Contemporary or Pop/Rock.
 
If the dancers are on the floor, whether you personally like the song should not be an issue. There are a few dancers out there that almost qualify as "purists;" these dancers pretty much refuse to dance or acknowledge any song that does not fall into their definition of WCS music. We will not even get into the idea of sharing a location with dancers of other styles, such as hustle. The fact is, these styles by themselves have not shown enough support at venues to garner a night devoted to them. The locations that attempt to cater to this sector have historically drawn low numbers or fall victim to cycles during the year when dancing as a general activity is at a low point.
 
Each of us have our own definition of dance music. On a night where I went to a dance here recently, in spite of the dance being advertised, sponsored and promoted by a West Coast Swing club, the majority of the music was hustle based. For those purists in the crowd, they may have run screaming from the building on the meringue that was played! Horrors and Plagues are due to be visited on us if we do not repent....uh....sorry, the purist took over for a sec...
 
The fact is, the dancers were having a great time. The floor stayed packed while I was there (well...maybe not packed all of the songs, but no one went after the DJ!). For many of us, a little bit of patience can be rewarded and who knows? You just may try an alternative dance style here and there!
 
In South Florida, our music fell behind the rest of the nation for awhile. Some of our DJ's haven't caught up. Those of us exposed to the national level events hear some great new stuff and have brought it back home to be shared. Some DJ's have a tendency to stick with what they have come to feel is "tried and true" music. We, as dancers need to be able to speak up and press for change.
 
This does not mean walking up to a DJ or venue owner and giving them a lot of #$&%$#&&_(*_&&%^_(_(*! Most of us prefer to be treated with some respect and simply letting someone know that you would like some changes to the music selection is going to help the scene. Better yet, bring a CD of music you like and make some requests to the DJ. He has to work them in and as a responsible DJ, should be previewing the music to be sure it fits his program directives. If it doesn't get played, ask about it. If still unclear as to why this didn't happen, check with management. Again, it may be that your concept of ideal music falls outside the parameters of others. Instead of taking your ball and going home, try other selections.
 
Don't be a music hog, either! Two or three requests is plenty for any of us. Those of you that only want to hear the music you like should have a sound system at home that will take care of your tastes. When you are out in the jungle, accept roughing it a bit with the rest of us!
 
In my opinion and echoed from others in the area, some of our WCS DJ's musical choices are subpar. Especially when we share a night with another dance style, this can bring the numbers crashing down in WCS dancer attendance. I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to change those situations. Sometimes it seems like we are on the right track, and other times, it feels like the wheels have fallen off. Change in any theatre takes time, patience and perseverance. As leaders in this community, we feel that the efforts to make changes will be rewarded. Step up with us in a positive fashion, and we can all make the scene a bigger brighter one...