What a great discussion, thank you Snapdancer and Larina in particular!
I plan, and dance at social dances for a group. Mostly hustle, a little cha cha and swing, done some light DJ’ing, and maintaining a fairly sophisticated database of area dance bands has proven a few things. We have over 100 hours of video from our events, which is irrefutable evidence of what drives dancers on and off the dancefloor. Our findings of 35 bands on this list, of which we will only go to 13:
A. there is no correlation between the bands talent and the dancers preference. Almost universally, it’s the playlist that’s the problem. Looking at the numbers, both our #1 and #2 lead singers control the playlist and fixed it so that the dance floor is completely abandoned while they play. (dancing resumes vigorously during their breaks when the DJ takes over, so we can rule out the venue, temperature, or attendees) So even though they are great singers, we will never see their bands again because their playlists ruin the night.
B. Another common failure is when the band decides to change a smash hit so that they can express their “creativity”. Screw that, it’s a waste of time. While technically possible, almost no band playing in the local bars can afford to do it. ***DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE A LOT OF MONEY*** The kind of talent to write into (or out of) songs new lyrics, chords, or to change the order can be bought and they tell me that it starts at $400 per hour. It is preposterous to think that band members making $35 a night and a free beer or two could possibly afford to hire that talent. So what inevitably happens is that they take a smash dance hit and speed it up, or slow it down, or extend the length………. and make it completely danceable. A far, far smarter strategy for most bands is to just use others “creativity”. I’ve been following this one for years when Morales made it a phenomenal hit for hustle dancing. A couple weeks ago, he declared that he’s ended the project with this masterpiece (on Youtube, look for "Teddy Pendergrass - the More I want (M&M 2016 mix John Morales") ***5 years of pretty intense talent to get to this*** Very few bands have the resources to change a song SUCCESSFULLY like this. So why waste your time.... just play it as in this remix version and the dance floor would be packed, it’s really that simple!
C. This goes for DJ’s and bands. Today, many of them will not bail out, not ever. If a song, or even an entire set has cleared the dancefloor, they stay the course. It’s suicide. The very instant that it becomes evident that the music is pissing off the dancers, a REAL pro will seamlessly fade into what works. No apologies, no comments, no facial expressions…….. just keep staring at your equipment as you morph into music that actually works. The dancers will love you.
D. Attitude problems - A telltale sign that we’ve seen is the shirt that says “I don’t take requests because I’m a DJ, I’m not a juke box”. In the last two years, only once did a band have a perfect playlist-rating. So good in fact that we asked them to never add or remove any songs. Naturally, they changed it substantially by adding rockabilly garbage that cleared the floor a few weeks later. They are on probation now, they risk losing us if they don’t switch back.
E. Insecurity, drugs, & logic problems – A shocking number of (failing) bands demand that non-danceable music be played during their brakes. We’ve interviewed a dozen bands about this destructive strategy. Excuses vary from “we want to make ourselves look better” to “the band really likes the urban thump music” to “the keyboard’s girlfriend is here”. IF there were any hope for a logical reason to clear the dancefloor during the breaks, we surely would have heard the same excuse more than once. We haven’t. The amount of energy that is sucked out of room when bad music is played during the breaks cannot be overstated. And yes, there have been times when I bribed them with $ to play good music during the breaks. That seems to work pretty well.
F. Bogus data. Many bands and event planners use the old "look, there are people on the floor, it MUST be good music". ***WRONG!*** You must look at the flow of dancers on and off the floor to know what the best tunes are. A group of dancers who are held hostage to a single dance floor is NOT a valid measuring stick. You have to see which songs have people literally running to the dance floor. It's easier to do than you think..... just set up a video camera in the corner and review it after the gig. Similarly, if a band has packed the floor and then suddenly the video picks up a mass exodus...... that's all you need to know about the song being bad.
