Introducing the Band

He Goes:

Live bands! Where to begin? There's nothing like the energy of a live band night - a crowded floor (perhaps made a little more crowded by the fact that there's a band set up on part of it), high-energy music, the ultimate in high-def sound.

If you've never danced to live music before, a live band is a revelation. There's a (for want of a better word) liveliness to it that you can't get from recorded music. If you're afraid to be the first on the dance floor you needn't be, because there are already people in the room performing. You needn't be the centre of attention when there are musicians to look at. If you're particularly lucky, as the one couple on the floor you might even get a bit of feedback from the group - not after your dance but during it.

Dancing to live music can be a difficult proposition, though. When you're used to a certain class you get accustomed to particular songs - they're comfortable and predictable, and once you've heard something two or three times you've probably (although you may not know it) memorised the breaks. You'll get no prescient advantage with live music - the arrangements are bound to be different, and if the band is good they may well be able to change it on the fly in order to add in solo sections. You'll have to understand the way that music works - musicality classes might come in handy here, but personally I can never work out during a song what the structure of it is going to be, and I have to rely on cues in the music - crescendos and so forth, which can be misleading (anyone who's ever danced to Glenn Miller's "In the mood" will know just how misleading).

Not only do you need to be responsive to the music, you also need to be much fitter physically to dance to live band sets than to recorded music. When I'm in good form I usually work a two-dance system - two dances with each follow unless she's in a hurry to move on. With recorded music you're typically with the same partner for six or seven minutes. Do the same thing with a band set and you can be dancing with someone non-stop for quarter of an hour. Not that I mind dancing with someone for longer than usual, you understand - I've found very few follows that I'm eager to get away from! But dancing without a break for close to ten minutes is hard on the getaway sticks, and since it takes two to Lindy, a couple is only as fit as the least healthy individual.

Exacerbating this is the fact that some bands only have one setting: light speed. I've been to at least one live band social where the music was so fast that if you weren't competent with Balboa and 20's Charleston or a swing-out superstar all that you could do was to try to keep up. I had to make my apologies to a couple of follows and arrange to meet later, when the beat was a little slower.

For all my moaning about how difficult dancing to a live band can be, though, I do love it. When the whole place is jumping and the band are on fire you're getting the full experience - the music inspiring the dancers and the dance feeding back into the band so that they can see (even feel) the effect of their playing. That's dancing at its finest.

But like anything at its finest, I don't think I could work on a 100% live schedule. Every few weeks seems like roughly the ideal for me - enough time to let me cool down between red hot evenings, to regroup and enjoy some familiar music, but not too infrequent.

Well played boys, well played; the Shirt Tail Stompers

She Goes:

I LOVE LIVE BANDS. You can't beat the buzz in the air and the joy in the ears! I grew up around live music so if I never danced to pre-recorded music again I wouldn't complain.

I'm probably known to have a two-dance system like Keith, but I stick to it even for live music. I get such a high from the music, I want to share it with my lead while I can- as I've noticed that all the leads seem to get snapped up so much quicker on band nights!

I am more likely to sit songs out for band nights though- because they do last that much longer. Plus I do want the opportunity to watch the band and chill out, socialise with the familiar faces drawn out of the woodwork by the temptation of duelling clarinets. (By the by, I saw a three-way clarinet break down with the Shirt Tail Stompers a few months ago- probably one of my happiest moments in dancing-to-live-music-history!)

Keith and I were trying to figure out the pros and cons of dancing to bands. I'm still detirmined that there are no cons. Except when the band has to end and they've run out of encore tracks ;)