[Dixielandjazz] The Swing Dance Maven

[Steve barbone]

And we all thought wedding instructions were a bit much. :-) VBG

Below snipped from a long list of things to do for a 3 hour swing dance at a
local University, sent by the faculty advisor who is, I suppose, a music
and/or dance teacher and/or control addict.

Of course, we don't know too much about successful swing dance music having
only played 6 a year for the past several years and 8 on the books this year
either at Fraternities / Sororities  or sponsored by the Colleges. Plus a
couple of us are among a very few surviving musicians who actually gigged at
the Savoy Ballroom in NYC before it was torn down on 1958.

Costumes? Not this band.  Music history dialog? We do not go there. Tempos?
We flex with the dancers who let us know what is right for them. Song
length? We vary it.

This is the very first swing dance at this University with a live band and I
suppose the sender means well and might be a little nervous. Never fear, we
will be diplomatic. ;-) VBG.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

snip-

4. The theme of the dance is 1920's Speak Easy. We are encouraging everyone
to wear vintage attire so if you guys could wear clothes that resemble that
era that would be great. I'm thinking dark pants, white shirt (or shirt with
broad vertical stripes), suspenders, bow-tie and maybe one of those old caps
that they use to wear.  I am not a costume expert so you might have a better
idea of what works than me.

5. In terms of the dance itself, I think that it would be best to have
little or no dialogue between songs.  This will be a fairly young crowd with
little or no appreciation for the history of the music.  If you have a bio
for the band and its members, we could have someone read it as a way to
introduce you in the beginning of the dance.  Of coarse, if anyone has
questions, they can speak with you during the breaks.

6. Speaking of breaks, I assume that you will have two during the dance.
How long do they usually run?  This will help us plan our music during that
time.

7. In terms of the length of songs, I would keep the songs to 3 to 4 minutes
long.  Most dancers (especially beginners) really do not want to dance to
long songs.  Most people go to dances to socialize and meet people so the
more the songs the more the opportunities to dance with someone new.  Also,
on some occasions, you may dancing with someone that you feel uncomfortable
dancing with for various reasons so a long song may seem like a dance
eternity.  

8. In terms of BPM, I would recommend a range of 90 BPM (slow but does not
put you to sleep) to 250 BPM (very fast but not insanely fast).  I know that
is a fairly wide range but I would mix it up, maybe 15% in the slow range,
40% in the medium range and 30% in the fast range and 15% in the very fast
range.  We probably need to discuss this some more.

9. In terms of the songs, I picked out some that I thought you would be
familiar with: Sing Sing Sing, Stompin' at the Savoy, Stardust, Tuxedo
Junction, Sweet Georgia Brown, Honeysuckle Rose, American Patrol,
Woodchopper's Ball, Begin the Beguine, Moten Swing, Take the "A" Train,
Lindy Hop Heaven, South, Beyond the Sea, Jumpin' at the Woodside, One
O'Clock Jump, King Porter Stomp, In the Mood, It Don't Mean a Thing.  I
realize that many of these songs, if not all, were written well after the
1920's but they are close enough (for that matter they really did not do
Lindy Hop until the 1930's).  Also, I think that any of the retro swing
songs would be fine as long as the project energy and excitement.

10) I understand that we got a promo for the dance in the Sunday NewsJournal
article about you and the band.  I have not read it yet but I will.