While I respect your opinion and understand that your comments are made in
the context of this discussion (and also that dance music is ostensibly
made for dancing), I have to say that I find the notion that someone gets
to say how *I* need to react to something else in the sense that I can be
marginalized when I don't is reductionistic and at least as problematic as
a person who doesn't respond in the way dictated by whomever. I don't dance
and I doubt I ever will; perhaps it's childhood trauma or an ill formed
sense of self - whatever. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the music nor
does it mean I have to be saddled with restructuring a performative context
or bumming out a DJ. It would seem like the fact that I haven't left the
venue should say something.
In an age where all kinds of criticism (literary, etc.) has freed
art from static notions tied with the artist, I find it interesting that
the monolithic notion of "must-dancing" still rules. I do understand the
need for it and I understand how it creates a necessary symbiosis - but why
does *everyone* need to be dancing in order for them to enjoy and
appreciate something?
We aren't all dancers, we aren't all as comfortable with dancing as each
other. As a qualifier, I am not saying that any behavior or reaction to art
is equally appropriate, nor am I saying there is no tie between art and
artist. I just find it a bit tyrannical and quixotic to dictate behavior to
a set. Again, my comments are not directed to this particular post (as I
can see the connection you are making vis a vis the trend), but rather
towards the notion that seems to underlie it : if I don't dance, I am
unappreciative and some kind of pariah. If it's really about the music OR
the mix, then I should be left to appreciate it in a way which is genuine
to myself and doesn't shipwreck someone else's enjoyment. .02.
jeff
At 08:09 AM 11/4/2002, Toby Frith wrote:
This is somewhat of a double-edged sword I think. In one respect, people go
to see a DJ like Mills so they can dance. In the other respect, they go to
watch his craft, which then takes the DJ out of his normal context and into
that of an artist, because you are viewing him/her rather than interacting.
(another argument which I'm not going to pontificate on here) So you get
one half of the audience dancing and the other just watching. This has been,
IMHO, the downfall of techno turntablism and the like in recent years. Too
much watching, not enough dancing.
I went to see Mills in Zurich a year ago and there was far too much of the
latter going on. You could see him actually looking rather annoyed as one
absolute classic after another (Final Frontier, Magnese) was being dropped
only to see a leaden-footed and mute reaction from the crowd. How must a DJ
feel when they are faced by banks of motionless people looking at them spin
some records?
