[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

I've played in three different FL venues, and all were strongly air conditioned -- one was the coldest I've ever been while playing ;) Looking at trycontra , it looks to me like all seven active contra dances in FL are in air conditioned halls. On the other hand, in

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

Wow. love this post Joe! So so so cool to hear about your experiences and thoughts over the years. Really helpful. :) Emily in Ottawa On Tue, Sep 19, 2023 at 11:30 PM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > The Tempo Question...enough to start

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

The Tempo Question...enough to start religious wars, so please let's tread lightly in replies! There are regional/style, complexity, and agility components. Dances in the northeastern US, simple dances called to non-beginners, and dances with more agile dancers tend to go faster. These are

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

We just did a caller-musician workshop where we talked a lot about tempos. Our conclusion was that the tempo can really vary with the dance.  We found a simple line dance like Gallopede/Virginia Reel might be danced up to 125bpm with a young energetic crowd our typical speed for most

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

Hi Jeff! It does vary by community... If you played at 120 and up where I dance, the dance would be empty and/or over halfway through. Even at 116-120, older/less fit dancers are getting frustrated, sitting down to catch their breath, and leaving early. In my experience, 112-114 is the sweet

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

For me: 116-120: normal, hard to go wrong 110-122: usually fine, depending a bit on the dance and crowd 104-126: possible with the right dance and crowd, but on the edge of undanceable <104, >126: almost never a good idea Younger or more athletic crowds generally do better with another couple