How To Start and Run A Dance - A Beginner's Guide :

Maybe you are dissatisfied with your local social ballroom dances because you are critical of  the dance programs, the dance music, the performance of the dance conveners, the dance venues or some combination of all of these. Perhaps you have the conviction that you could do a lot better but there are a few things of which you are unsure. If so then you are on the right page. If you want to ignore the 'hard yards' advice and to go directly to the heart of running dances the easy way click here. Otherwise, please continue reading

What are your primary considerations in running a dance?

  • The Target market.
  • The Dance Program
  • The Dance Venue
  • Financial considerations and limitations.
  • Music Provision
  • Legal considerations including Risk Management.

 

The Target Market:

For whom will you be running this dance?  For whose needs will you be catering?

Will they be:

  • Competition ballroom dancers?
  • Social ballroom dancers?
  • 'Newbies' to the dance world?
  • Experienced dancers?
  • Elitist dancers who want the latest dances emanating from the various competitions around the world?
  • Social dancers who just want to have a fun night with plenty of social interactions?
  • A mixture of some or all of the above?

The Dance Program:

If you intend running social ballroom dances in which the majority of dances are sequence dances then you will indeed have to look very carefully at your program in the light of your target market's needs.

If you want the maximum number of feet on the floor then your dance program will need to appeal to a very wide cross-section of the dancing population. If we look very carefully at our answers to the questions above about our Target Market we will have a greater insight into the needs of this very wide cross-section of the dance population at large.  For example if you wish to meet the needs of :

  •  the competition ballroom dancer, you will need to include a freestyle bracket in your dance program. Further, you will need to include in your main program the competition dances done in your country. In Australia this would include the Australian Old Time New Vogue competition dances.
  • the average social ballroom dancer, then you will need to have a program that has both popular and relatively well known dances on the program.
  • the 'newbie'  then you will need a program that contains very basic dances with relatively simple figures that are easy to do. In addition you may need to consider running a class before the main dance to bring the newbie 'up to speed' as quickly as possible.
  • experienced dancers then you will need a program that contains dances that are constructed out of far more advanced figures such as double reverse spins, etc.
  • 'elitist' dancers, then you will need a program that contains dances that are 'hot off the press' of the script marketers.  These script writers, follow the dance competitions very closely and sell their copyrighted material very soon after the dance competition winners are promulgated publicly. Since such dances are rarely well known these dances are best left as between bracket dances now known  by the slang name 'tweenies'. A 'tweenie' is a dance that is inserted into the program between the displayed program dance brackets.
     
  • the social dancer who just wants to have fun and to interact socially, then strategically placing different progressive dances on the program will fulfill this need. The progressive samba, the progressive Barn Dance, the progressive Hucklebuck, the progressive American swing, the progressive Stroll, the progressive Canadian Two-step and the progressive Log Cabin are examples of these progressive dances.
     
  • all of the above then your dance program has to be very well designed indeed.
    •  Successive dance brackets need to follow a pattern of dances that are easy, medium and hard. This insures that at least once in every three brackets the needs of one out of the three categories of dancers are being met.
    • Interspersing a freestyle bracket between these tri-bracket groupings will then meet the needs of yet another category of dancer mentioned above.
    •  Progressive dances, similarly interspersed as 'tweenies', will further meet the social and fun needs of yet another category of dancer.
    • Interlaced between the brackets as 'tweenies' the 'latest and greatest' dances can be included to meet the needs of the elitist dancer who wishes to highlight his/her knowledge of the state of the art dances emanating from the floors of the dance  authoring competitions.
    • Dance requests made by dance patrons can be granted as 'tweenies' also. Thus a comprehensive and well thought out program can go a long way towards pleasing a wide section of the dance population at large.

The Dance Venue:

Now let's look at the dance venue. What are some of the considerations and pitfalls in selecting a dance hall.

  • Position, position, position.  Is the dance venue that you selected central to the areas from which you intend to draw your dance patrons?
  • How much car parking area does the hall have? Is the parking area well lit and secure? Has the neighbourhood a good or a bad name for hoons and vandals? Where is the nearest Police Station?  The last thing you need is the 'word of mouth telegraph' saying that cars are stolen or vandalized at your dances.
  • Does the construction of the building lend itself to creating the type of ambience you want?
  • Will the venue be hot in summer and /or cold in winter? Is it air conditioned?
     
  • Does it have obstructions such as posts within the dancing area?
  • How is the music stage area set up? Is it sufficiently central to the dance floor to enable you to interact with the dance couples? Will you have to lug audio equipment long distances from your vehicle?
  • Most importantly, how is the dance floor constructed. If it is parquetry on concrete it could be hard on the dancers feet, legs and hips. If the parquetry is heavily coated and regularly protected by the hall maintenance folks the floor is likely to be very 'slow' for the dancers and thus very tiring. Your venue could get a bad name very quickly.  The ideal floor is of a sprung timber construction.

Financial Considerations and Limitations:

What are the cost-benefits that are likely to be the consequences of running your dance?:

  • The Cost-Benefits:
     

    • What will the rent be on the dance venue of your choice? 
      • Will your projected attendance numbers be sufficient to cover this substantial component of your costs?
      • Can you reduce this cost by negotiating with the hirer? What will your strong suite be in this negotiations?
      • Can you change the day of the week upon which you are intending to run your dance? Saturday nights are usually the dearest nights to rent a dance venue but it is the best night for filling your dance venue with patrons.
      • Can you find an alternative location that has a cheaper venue but with comparable attributes?

    • What will be the cost of your dance music provision?
      • Live dance music is certainly the best option because of the inherent flexibility of its dynamics. But it is also more costly. Will your projected attendance numbers be sufficient to cover this substantial component of your costs?
      • Can you get by using prerecorded rather than having 'live' music? If so what will be the costs incurred here? More will be said about this consideration later.

    • What will be the cost of your mid-dance suppers?
      • Will you have to get a caterer in to provide for this necessity?
      • Can you provide for the suppers yourself and therein save money?
      • Can you get away with proving no substantial supper at all? Some dances only provide a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit. However, the socializing that takes place is crucial to meeting the needs of those who seek this contact. Partaking of food together is an extremely binding component of social interaction.
         

    • What will be the cost of  providing security at your dance?
      • Will you need a security guard to patrol the car park? If a patron's car is stolen or damaged fear can soon stop dancers from coming to your dance.
      • Will a security bond be required by the hall owners?
      • What are the terms and conditions entailed in meeting the security needs of the dance venue provider?

    • What are the advertising costs that will be incurred in running your dance? What will be the benefits provided therein?
      • Will you advertise your dance in the local newspaper?
      • If so in what column and how often?
      • How will you determine the effectiveness of the advertisements? By surveying your new dancers as they come through the door?
      • Will you set up a dance website and seek out links? Will you hand out flyers with URLs contained therein?
      • Will you seek to stimulate word of mouth advertising for your dance? If so how?
      • What will be the overhead cost added to each dance for all advertising?

    • What is the level of income that you will set to determine the viability of your dance?


       

Music Provision:

Having ascertained your budget limitations for music provision above, you now need to provide for the music needs of your dance. Can you afford live music?

  • If you have decided that you can afford to employ a musician to provide the dance music, you need to now consider some very important questions. They are:
     

    •  In addition to providing the music are you expecting this  music provider to also:
      • design, compile and present the dance program?
      • compare the dance?
      • settle issues that arise during the course of the dance?

    • How will you establish the credentials and capabilities of any potential musician you employ? How will you monitor his popularity with your clientele?

    • Given your above expectations, how will you ascertain the going rates for a dance musician?

       

  • If you have decided that you cannot afford to employ a musician to provide the dance music, you need to now consider how to provide that music. Will you compare the dance and provide the music yourself using prerecorded music? If so then you need to consider various ways of doing this and the cost/benefits of each.

    • One method commonly used today is the utilization of a CD player and CDs. The legal ramifications of doing this will be explored later. Of course you could purchase a cheap CD player for less than $100.  But  not all dance music CDs are strict tempo and not all dances of the same style are written to be done at exactly the same tempo. Therefore  Tempo Control is essential in a CD player when using CDs for playing music at dances. Tempo control on a CD player costs $$$$$. Below is a reasonably priced CD Player designed for use by DJs in Clubs. It has Tempo control. The whole system can be purchased for around $1304 AUD.

      As can be seen above the CD Player connects directly to the Titan TPA1000 amplifier which in turn connects directly to the 2 x 160 Watt RMS 10inch speakers. Below are the amplifier and speaker specifications.

      TITAN TPA1000 500WATTS RMS @ 8 OHMS STEREO / KARAOKE AMPLIFIER WITH 2 X 10" 160 WATT RMS MOULDED SPEAKERS 

      AMPLIFIER

      2 X 200 WATTS RMS  STEREO AT 8 OHMS  -  2 X  250 WATTS RMS STEREO AT 4 OHMS

      FREQUENCY RESPONSE 20Kz-20KHz   -  THD+N <0.05% 

      S/N RATE >65dB  INPUT IMPEDANCE 20K OHMS

      CONTROL FRONT PWR SWITCH, INDEPENDANT VOLUME CONTROL FOR EACH CHANNEL .AUX. MIC ONE, MIC TWO,BASS @ TREBLE CONTROL

      REAR PANEL STEREO, GROUND LIFT SWITCH

      INDICATORS 2 X SIGNAL LED GREEN - 1 X POWER LED RED 

      2 X PROTECTION LED RED - 2 X CLIP LED RED 

      CONNECTORS - INPUT 6.3MM JACK / XLR JACK- OUTPUT SCREW BINDING POST /BANNANA PLUG

      PROTECTION - SPEAKERS, HIGH CURRENT, TRANSISTOR OVERLOAD- DUAL COOLING FANS

      RACK MOUNTABLE 2U HEIGHT  /  WEIGHT 12KGS

      10" SPEAKERS

      10" 350 WATT PEAK POWER 160 WATT RMS

      100 WATT COMPRESSION HORN

      8 OHM IMPEDANCE / 97dB SENSITIVITY

      FREQUENCY RESPONSE 50-20KHZ

      HOOKUP IN /OUT 6.3MM JACK & SPEAKON PLUG

      SIZE 52 X 35 X 29 CM

      WEIGHT 14KGS

      LEGS SUPPLIED FOR STAGE MONITOR / FOLD BACK

      35MM TOP HAT FOR STAND

      NO MIXER REQUIRED

      The Pioneer CDJ200 Professional CD Player Specifications:



      EXTENSIVE FEATURE SET

      Plays MP3s
      • MPEG-1: Supports Audio Layer-3 sampling frequency 32kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, Bitrate 32 Kbps ~ 320 Kbps.

      • MPEG-2: Supports Audio Layer-3 sampling frequency 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, Bitrate 16 Kbps ~ 160 Kbps.

      Digital Jog Break
      Equipped with 3 remix assist functions (Jet, Zip and Wah) and a Digital Jog Break dial, a new remix world can be experienced. By operating the jog dial in time with the music, you can create original sound effects.

      Jog Dial
      A large 3.9 inch diameter jog dial enables quick and easy corrections to uneven beats with only a touch.

      • PITCH BEND
      This function changes the music tempo depending on the direction and speed the jog dial is rotated.

      • FRAME SEARCH
      Moves the pause position in frame units (1/75 sec) when the jog dial is rotated in the pause mode.

      • SUPER-FAST SEARCH
      By turning the jog dial while holding down the manual search button or the track search button, disc searches can be performed faster than normal search or track search functions.

      Tempo Control
      3.9 inch long, high-precision slider allows for easy tempo adjustment. With a digital display calibrated in 0.02% units (within a +/- 6% range), tempo adjustments can be made more easily and accurately.

      • TEMPO CONTROL RANGE
      The maximum range can be set to three variable ranges; +/- 6%, +/- 10%, +/- 16%, to provide easier operation environment.

      • MASTER TEMPO
      Maintains the same pitch of sound while changing the music tempo.
      Cue

      • BACK CUE
      After storing a cue point in memory, press the CUE button while playing back a track to return and start from the stored cue point.

      • AUTO CUE
      Skips the non-recorded part at the top of a track and automatically enters stand-by mode at the track’s starting point, allowing playback to begin instantly when the PLAY/PAUSE button is pressed.

      • CUE POINT SAMPLER
      Playback can be started at one touch from a stored cue point, convenient for confirming start points and as sampler.

      Real Time Seamless Loop
      This function simplifies the setting and cancelling of loops. The loop can be set at the very instant the track is being played. By setting a loop just before the end of the track, the track can be made so that it doesn’t stop. In addition, an ADJUST mode has been added to enable one-touch adjustments to the loop-out point, thereby facilitating the loop operation.

      Reloop
      Allows returning to the set loop position at any time. Press the RELOOP/EXIT button after cancelling loop play to return to the loop start position. By using the loop ON and OFF combined with the rhythm of the track, new sound effects or live remixes can be created.

      Playing Address
      The bar graph provides a visual reference of the track playback progress that enables the user to visualize the current playback position, in the same way as is done with an analog record by checking the position of the needle. The current position can be confirmed by the length of the graph, and in addition, the graph flashes to signal the ending of the track.

      Slot In
      The disc can be inserted without the opening of trays and doors, making possible quick disc changes.

      Fader Start
      By connecting this unit to DJ mixer DJM-500, DJM-600, DJM-300, DJM-3000, DJM-909, or DJM-707, QUICK START and BACK CUE functions can be performed by using the mixer’s fader function.

      Relay Play
      Two CDJ-200 units can be connected in tandem to perform automatic relay play. When track playback stops on one of the players, the standby mode of the other player is released and playback begins automatically.

      Oil Damper Float
      OIL DAMPER FLOAT construction helps resist shakes and impacts. This unit features an OIL DAMPER FLOAT design, making it harder for distortions and sound breakup to occur due to impacts from operation and vibrations from the floor.

      Multi Read
      Supports playback of CD-R and CD-RW discs. (Some discs may not read properly, however, due to special characteristics of certain discs and recorders, or dirty/damaged discs.)

      CD Text
      Displays CD TEXT on CD TEXT-supported discs.



       

  • Running Dances Made Easy!!!

 

  • All you need is the Titan System complete with the specs shown above and a reasonably priced  Laptop like the one above.
    Of course you will need our PC Dance Master 5.0 software to complete the package.  Click here to download and try it for free!!
     

    • The whole system now comes to around $1564 AUD.  For an investment of an extra $260 over and above the price of the CD player based system you get a very powerful, very versatile, yet extremely easy to use system. Just ask Walter, a professional musician with a lifetime of experience running dances for his opinion of our software. He uses it professionally at all his dances several times a week and cannot speak too highly of it.
       
      • With the above set up, no more will you be caught fumbling through CDs looking for that right track.
      • No more will you accidentally put on  music for a particular dance that is the wrong Tempo, Style or Timing.
      • Derisive laughter from your clientele will be a thing of the past.
      • Time will be your friend not your enemy.
      • If you love dancing, with our software, you can "pick, click and play" and join in with the dancing all seamlessly!!
      • Don't take our word for it - try it out for free by Clicking here.

    • Don't forget to buy our strict tempo CDs on this site by Clicking Here. You can use AudioGrabber or and other free CD track conversion software to convert our tracks to MP3 or WAV format suitable for using with our software on your PC. 

    • It is as simple as that!!

       

Legal considerations including Risk Management:

What are your legal liabilities when running a dance?


  • What happens if a person falls over a chair whilst dancing on your venue dance floor, breaks a hip bone and ends up in traction for a few months? Who will pay for the medical expenses and other claims made by a solicitor acting on your dance patron's behalf? Sure the courts will decide that question. But are you ready to meet the compensation and court costs, if the court decides in favor of your injured dancer?
     

    • Dance Insurance is one way to guarantee that you will not lose your home!  Dance Insurance costs around $450 per year. This is not a bad price to pay for the peace of mind that comes from having adequate insurance and taking all steps to meet the insurer's requirements.
       
      • But do you know what your potential  insurer's requirements and caveats are? Find out before the evil moment happens and you need to lodge a claim!

  • So you have  your CDs, player or PC and running your dances. Next minute you receive a subpoena to appear in court to answer charges of breach of the Copyright Act - Whaaaaa!!!

    • Yes the music lyrics author  and score composer are entitled to be recompensed for their work.  This means that illegally reproducing by burning in copies of CD tracks and/or publicly playing of copyrighted music without express permission from the copyright holder and/or his delegated representative organization such as AMCOS/APRA and or PPCA are all breaches of the Copyright Act. Litigation can possibly ensue if you are caught doing this.

       
    • Joining an organisation such as APRA will give you coverage. But ... it is essential to meet the requirements of this or any other organization that you join. Annual returns showing the copyright music played are just one such requirement.  Your PC that you are using for playing your music can be a powerful way of maintaining a record of what music and the name of the copyright holder than you have played throughout the dancing year.

    HAPPY DANCING!!!

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