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Topic: Dancers and canned music |
Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2004 6:53 am |
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And now, from my soapbox...
Dancers performing to canned music instead of live music played by actual people is, in my estimation, a growing problem. And it's not just Hawaiian groups. The problem is pervasive in virtually every culture. Such performances can be mediocre and even offensive. Worse, by not working together dancers and musicians perpetuate a system that continues to alienate dancers from musicians.
Sure, it's much more difficult for dance groups to rehearse and perform with live music. And rehearsals can be a bit of a chore for the musicians too. But the end product is well worth it.
What can you do? Express your concerns in a positive, civil manner to the dance group leaders, members, and the organizations that fund them and present them publically.
As a musician, you can make an effort to provide live music for dancers. Really, there is nothing better than good dancing done to live music. It's great fun and helps keep both the dance and music traditions alive and well. And if you have any trouble at all maintaining steady tempo, playing for dancers is the cure.
I'm outa here...[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 10 September 2004 at 07:57 AM.] |
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Bob Markison
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 10 Sep 2004 7:25 am
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| Bob - Right on. When I do gigs where there is a good dance floor in SF, I invite dancers including one of our great Bay Area tap dancers, Marilyn Katzman, and we have a ball - crowds go wild - expecially with a fine drummer and some tasty stop time/trading 4's and 8's with the dancer. This way, we have a 2 pronged approach to scouting gigs. When we play Benny Goodman numbers (Sing, Sing, Sing) with Krupa style drum intros, it's great times. We played a night of Bebop and Tap for one of the artist's open studio functions (Bess Bair aka Rosie Radiator - super tapper), and she had worked out an amazing choreography to Parker's "Ornithology". On the long hair side, the SF Ballet has a wonderful orchestra and constantly premieres new works to packed houses. It's just a matter of putting it out in front of them. This is no time for passivity among musicians who like to work. |
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Jim Peter
From:
Mendon,Mich USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2004 9:10 am
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My wife belongs to a clogging group and the head of the group refuses to preform to live music. Instead they use canned music through a boom box which sounds terrible. When my band plays out, Ronda will oftem bring some of her clogging buddies with her and they have a great time dancing to our bluegrass numbers and the crowd seems to enjoy it.
Jim |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 10 Sep 2004 9:40 am
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...
Last edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 20 Jan 2018 8:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Chuck Fisher
From:
Santa Cruz, California, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 10 Sep 2004 11:32 am
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I saw some break dancers dwowntown here the other day, their boom box distorting like all hell, and they were not even remotely in time with the music. I'm thinking dancing without live players is a hinderance to peoples' timing. It should be illegal in public probably as its awful to see or hear and doesn't support musicians.  |
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Jim Bates
From:
Alvin, Texas, USA
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Posted 11 Sep 2004 10:32 am
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After playing the luau circuit in the Houston area during the late 60's and all of the 70's, a lot of our dancers got the 'big head' and started demanding more money than the entire band made. The band usually had to play for 4 hours, while the dancers put on a 20 minute show each half.
So, since the clubs did not have the budget to have both the live band and the beautiful dancers. They chose to have the dancers and the canned music.
Also, we played some stage shows with a clogging group. The band's arrangement HAD to match exactly to the beat what the dancers had practiced. One performance the band ended the tune a couple of beats too soon and the dancers were all caught standing with one leg in the air. Looked pretty stupid and unprofessional.
I am sure there still some good dancers that perform regularly with live bands, but
they probably don't come cheap.
Thanx,
Jim |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 11 Sep 2004 11:34 am
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| I was watching a Lawrence Welk show rerun the other day and seems that what I was seeing was live musicians and dead dancers. But I digress. Unless you are doing dance exhibitions (or are a performing artist), seems to me dance is about having a good time. The idea of dancers taking preeminence over musicians is, well, bizarre. Management or dancers that don't get the difference in energy, vibe, etc. between live & canned music---well, they aren't likely to ever get it. How do you argue about music quality with someone who doesn't much care for music? |
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