s2k
Well-Known Member
Is the answer, "Never"?
It was a lovely comp, beautiful location, friendly people, mostly well organized, but the only negative item I'd like to bring up, because it is so egregious, is the music.
The entire American Rhythm session was danced to International music, which, of course, affected the tempi. We danced our pre-champ swing to Bryan Setzer's "Jump Jive and Wail," and I assure you, all 185 BMP were there as well. We have that round on video. All session long, every rumba was too slow, every bolero was way too slow, and the "swing" dang near killed us. We handled that particular swing well, and stayed on time, despite the challenge of dancing to 44+ BMP beyond what both USAD and NDCA have listed as appropriate tempi for swing (144 BMP... versus jive at 185).
(Note: we handled all tempi inedibly well; I'm really proud of our partnership and our connection that allowed us to do so - you guys may remember my post from October about the mental meltdown I/we had... We've come a long way in the past four months! So to up front address it - I would not say it affected our dancing, except that we had to shorten some body actions, slow down turns, etc. What choice did we have? Exactly.)
We were not the only couple to complain, in conversation, that the music seemed off, but when I asked those couples if they'd said anything to the organizer, they indicated no.
My partner is afraid if I email the organizer (no matter how politely, even mentioning the positive aspects) to comment on the music, we'll be branded "difficult," earn ourselves a negative reputation, etc.
If we had as many options as our northern dancing friends do, we'd just avoid this comp in the future. But we don't have many options; it's a virtual desert where we are. And we enjoyed everything else about the experience. But we were terribly disappointed in the music choices.
What to do? Thank you in advance.
It was a lovely comp, beautiful location, friendly people, mostly well organized, but the only negative item I'd like to bring up, because it is so egregious, is the music.
The entire American Rhythm session was danced to International music, which, of course, affected the tempi. We danced our pre-champ swing to Bryan Setzer's "Jump Jive and Wail," and I assure you, all 185 BMP were there as well. We have that round on video. All session long, every rumba was too slow, every bolero was way too slow, and the "swing" dang near killed us. We handled that particular swing well, and stayed on time, despite the challenge of dancing to 44+ BMP beyond what both USAD and NDCA have listed as appropriate tempi for swing (144 BMP... versus jive at 185).
(Note: we handled all tempi inedibly well; I'm really proud of our partnership and our connection that allowed us to do so - you guys may remember my post from October about the mental meltdown I/we had... We've come a long way in the past four months! So to up front address it - I would not say it affected our dancing, except that we had to shorten some body actions, slow down turns, etc. What choice did we have? Exactly.)
We were not the only couple to complain, in conversation, that the music seemed off, but when I asked those couples if they'd said anything to the organizer, they indicated no.
My partner is afraid if I email the organizer (no matter how politely, even mentioning the positive aspects) to comment on the music, we'll be branded "difficult," earn ourselves a negative reputation, etc.
If we had as many options as our northern dancing friends do, we'd just avoid this comp in the future. But we don't have many options; it's a virtual desert where we are. And we enjoyed everything else about the experience. But we were terribly disappointed in the music choices.
What to do? Thank you in advance.
