Choice of music + dance style @ B&W Ball

Started by trale, May 27, 2008, 11:40:55 AM

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trale

The ball was a lot of fun overall, but I was somewhat disappointed / surprised at what was played. I'm a somewhat experienced social / ballroom dancer so I have some knowledge on the related genres of music. Half of the songs played did not seem appropriate to the intended dance style or the skill level of the attendees. I'll break this down for each style that I heard:

Waltz
- It seemed that ALL the waltz songs played are Viennese Waltzes, which is very fast compared to classic Waltz. I'm not sure if V Waltz was taught at the lessons, but it seemed like a lot of people were trying to do the (slow) classic waltz steps to the music and simply could not catch up. In any case, V Waltz is rather advanced, and with a packed dance floor it's impossible to do, especially with a group of beginners.

Swing
- Most of the swing songs played belong to the super-fast subset of this genre, which caters to dance styles such as Balboa, Charleston, and Fast Lindy-Hop. As with the V Waltz, I think this is too much for beginning dancers, and makes them look like hyperactive spazzes trying to catch up to the music. I would highly recommend slower (medium tempo) swing music - something like Ranma 1/2's "Yappapa Yappapa ..." opening song.

Tango
- Tango lessons weren't even given, so I was a little surprised at how many of these were played. I personally like it though, but I can understand if it mystifies other attendees.

Foxtrot
- I did not hear a lot of this; it seemed people were doing swing steps to this instead.

Two Step
- I didn't hear one 2step song played... even though this was taught. Maybe I just missed it, but I think overall there should have been more slow songs that people can 2step to; this is one style that can easily be "faked" by beginning dancers.

Cha Cha
- To few of this was played, but the ones that were played were good =)

Salsa
- Doesn't seem there were any "real" salsa played (latin lyrics with cuban beat), just songs that sounded like it might be fast enough for salsa.


These are just my personal musings on the event. Even with its flaws (available dance space being the big issue), it is still an incredibly fun event, easily my favorite part of the entire convention. Feel free to add your own comments about the music and styles in the ball, or respond to mine.

Now that I know how things went, I would gladly volunteer my services (music selection and even dance instruction) for next year's ball - if any staffers catches this post.