Honestly, a certain stomping ground of mine has been quite frankly irritating lately. Dance nights have crossed the boundary of annoying onto the no-longer-fun side. At the risk of sounding like a dance snob, I'm going to throw some of my gripes into the universe. Why not? It's my blog right?
Dear DJ:
- First and foremost: There is absolutely no excuse for a bad two step song
- Two-stepping was designed for country music, please one of the thousands of fantastic songs that go with this dance
- BTW it's Cha-cha not Chachaka
- Chachaka isn't cute or funny - learn the names of the dances. It's your job.
- Pay attention to the dance floor (hint: most people go out to have fun) [see Dear Dancers]
- There is an art to DJing a country dance. Not to point out the obvious but if the floor is rocking & everyone's having a great time to an easy upbeat dance, do not follow up with some obscure request to a slow song that 6 people in the bar know.
- Please don't kill the buzz by calling a slow dance while there is quality momentum.
- Notice if certain crowds always do certain dances. Cluster them together.
- If you absolutely feel the need to kill the buzz during peak dance time with an obscure dance, slower song, or some other random bad idea, KINDLY cluster that nonsense so we can at least enjoy our drinks and conversation.
- No one really likes the cha cha slide, casper slide, cupid shuffle or electric slide regularly.
- Every once in a while for nostalgic purposes acceptable but for the love of dance - please remember it's not a wedding or a high school dance.
Dear Two steppers:
- Attention leads: prep on the slows, spin her on the quicks
- Even the most experienced dancers aren't cartoons - there are real weight & balance issues if you yank her on the wrong foot the wrong way.
- A good lead gently guides the woman the way he would like her to go. It's a suggestion - not a command.
- All right NASCAR fans: Women are not cars, two stepping is not a race
- Super sweater? Bring a change of shirt.
- planting your hand on the shoulder / back of your partner shouldn't cause a squishing sound... like, ever.
- Wear deodorant (yeah, list necessary :/ )
- Under no circumstance is it ok to grab a woman by the wrist n drag her across the floor, caveman
- Women are NOT arm racks
- If you don't know a dance, standing in top of someone who does will not help you learn it
- to watch & follow someone, they need to be able to dance
- Don't forget dance floor etiquette - couples on the outside, line dancers on the inside. If the floor is crowded, line dancers should still be aware of the couples. If the floor isn't crowded, couples, that doesn't mean make the outside smaller. DJs, to you that means c'mon - if you call 2 popular inside dances and a popular outside dance, the bar clears and you see people knocking each other down, don't keep calling that combo
