A Personal Perspective in DJing

14/12/07 15:11 Filed in: Dancing /DJing /Music
All DJs no matter what genre of dancers they are playing music have a personal bias. I have thought a lot about what my own personal bias is. My start in DJing came basically from playing music I liked to dance to and as my dancing evolved the music I selected changed. Of course to call oneself a DJ the choice of music must respond to the character and skills of the dancers you are DJing for. So the question that I needed to ask is what is it in music that makes people what to dance.

The short (cryptic) answer:

Music is condensed passion.
Dancing is feeling that passion and allowing it to be expressed through one's body and their connection with their partners.

So with this bias, what I look for primarily in music is the emotion it expresses. Next how accessible it is to hear that passion in one’s body and then what is the character of the dance that flows out of the passion contained in the music.

There are all kinds of passion expressed in music. Waltz alone contains a kaleidoscope of passions. The simple, longing feeling of a country waltz, the communal strands and rhythms of a folk waltz, the flowing, aerobic tempos of viennese waltzes, the passion, angst with joy, energy with reflection of tango vals, the flowing, smooth seductive character lyrical waltzes with melodies sung from a longing soul. Good waltzes are delightful combinations of rhythms and melodies, movement and feeling, that reflect a whole culture or moment of an individual’s life but can be felt and danced by us all.

Another bias, no matter what the passion... dark, contemplative, longing, joyful, opening, assertive, seductive, playful, ..... the expression of that passion (feeling) through dance can leave one in a heightened state, more open more engaged, more connected. The key is recognizing the passion and committing oneself to expressing it- playfully, openly and with a continuously flowing connection to ones partner.

These are two perspectives through which I DJ, there are others. Stay tuned.

Tags:

Introduction

04/12/07 11:34 Filed in: DJing
The purpose of this blog is to provide an area for me as a dancer and a DJ to express by ideas about social dancing and to engage in conversations with others about social dancing and how it can be more of a mainstream cultural activity. It will include thoughts about partner dancing, djing for partner dancing, music lists, dance communities, and ideas for promoting partner dancing as one of the most healthy holistic activities we can participate in. Feedback is always welcomed to anything on this blog

For five years I have been DJing dances for Waltz Eclectic, a community of non-competitive social dancers who enjoy dancing as a social activity and expression of joy in movement to music. As a dancer I enjoy a wide variety of dance genres that include swing dancing- (west coast, 50's rock and roll, lindy hop): Zydeco and Cajun with its bluesy down and dirty feeling: ballroom with its the calculated variety and well known vocabulary: Latin dances with how it gets me to move parts of my body that I used to moving(although my musical ear has trouble with the more complicated rhythms); tango with its expressive language and dancing as a way of life philosophy; waltz with its aerobic tempo and revolving embrace; and the versatility of the one step, its both the basic step of most of the other dances plus a dance in its own. As a DJ this variety of dances I enjoy is reflected in the music I select.