Feedback on Club nights

[Georgious dancer]

You should have come out with me last night, I went 'muggle' dancing with a couple of friends and believe me, my night was worse!

It was 'muggle' dancing for me to! I had my cousins 18th birthday party last night!

She had a sit down meal to start with and then music after. It was quite a posh affair costing over £3000 (I dread to think what her wedding will be like!) but was incredibly dull. It started at 7:30 and dinner wasn't finished till 10:30. However, the DJ played some brilliant very MJable tracks, but alas I had no partner, so I had to settle for dancing alone !

At the time I kept thinkning I would much rather have been at St Neots, but from what I have read I didn't miss much.

Highlight of my evening....being the designated driver and watching my parents get drunk, it doesn't happen often but it was so entertaining!!!!

Anyway after my night of 'muggle' dancing I am looking forward to Hammersmith!

[ChrisU]

Been once, great people, great venue, tired music, won't be back.

And, I did hear that the DJ reacts badly if you suggest he plays something different.

It happens sometimes. DJ's can get stuck in a groove. They don't take the time to keep up to date. Make sure you let the organisers know your feelings about the music.

DJs are replacable a good audience sometimes isn't. Never forget you are the customer.

Regards

DJ Chris Uren

Leeds today is cold and overcast.

[Paul F]

Make sure you let the organisers know your feelings about the music.

Thats a good point mate. I am guilty of never letting the DJs or organisers know I dislike a particular thing. I just dont go back which is what will happen in this case.
Of course I may lose out on this as they may switch DJs. Its a similar thing to my teaching. I always used to try and convince people to leave feedback about the classes etc. Very few people did.

[Paul F]

At least it wasn't slightly more tango-y (just as a one-off) than usual, Paul, you had a lucky escape there....

I would have given my right arm for tango-y stuff

[Paul F]

The music was the same set as I used to dance to 20years ago

*clears throat*




"Show me the way to amarillo" < thump thump > ..........


Ironically I would have enjoyed that last night

[ChrisU]

Thats a good point mate. I am guilty of never letting the DJs or organisers know I dislike a particular thing. I just dont go back which is what will happen in this case.
Of course I may lose out on this as they may switch DJs. Its a similar thing to my teaching. I always used to try and convince people to leave feedback about the classes etc. Very few people did.

I know its difficult to get feedback. After DJing I then try to talk to people at a lesson night and find out what the did or didn't like. But blood from a stone sometimes come to mind.

In your case the only loser is the organisor. Nothing wrong with hurting them in the pocket. And if the DJ changes if he has any gumption he will sing it from the houses to get you back.

Regards

DJ Chris Uren

[Dan Hudson]

Bow



The venue is on the first floor of Jongleurs, which seems to be a leisure complex? - about 15 mins walk from Mile End (there are buses). The room has a full bar and there is a bar and food served downstairs (as mentioned on the Bow thread). Can't comment on food quality, but did gulp a bit at £1.60 for a bottle of water - still better than warm eau de tap from Ashtons though.

But there is FREE tap water available.... with ice!

thanks for the feedback LMC

for the lack of bouncy hands

[robd]

Been once, great people, great venue, tired music, won't be back.

And, I did hear that the DJ reacts badly if you suggest he plays something different.

It was a different DJ to the night you visited Andy - doesn't change the fact that lots of people thought it was tired music and I have no idea how this DJ would react to requests since I have never asked him for one.

Robert

[robd]

I would have given my right arm for tango-y stuff

Would make for interesting leading technique

[ChrisA]

lots of people thought it was tired music

Regrettably, the likelihood is that "lots" isn't really the case - or at least not "lots" enough.

It is a sad fact of life (well, sad for those of us that are fussy about the music) that if the floor is heaving from one end of the night to the other, both the organiser and DJ are likely to believe that they're doing the right thing.

and I have no idea how this DJ would react to requests since I have never asked him for one.

Equally regrettably, if the DJ at a night like the one Paul describes played a few requested tracks of the sort that I know Paul would like, the chances are that those tracks would thin the floor considerably (and probably generate some complaints), and the DJ would conclude that playing the requests had been a mistake.

In recent times, from talking to a great many dancers, and quite a few DJs, I've come to the conclusion that slower, more interesting music will never go down particularly well at mainstream modern jive nights.

And the reason for this, like it or not, is very simple:

Most modern jive venues don't have enough dancers that would prefer a significant amount of such music.

[robd]

{Lots and lots about the quality of the music at St Neots}

I agree with your opinion on a number of aspects of last night's music but would say that the DJ on the night was a late stand-in for somebody else so perhaps he wasn't feeling most inspired. He's not my least favourite DJ in this region (double negative ) but he has had better nights. I was also chatting with a friend of his at last week's freestyle when she was approached by 2 separate people asking her to pass on their thanks and appreciation to him for the set he was playing. Different strokes.....
I think you were also on point when you mentioned that if you are used to FL, Jango et al then you are going to feel let down by a set that is much more mass market and I believe that any of the Ceroc Central DJs (other than Marc but I don't believe he counts in that category) would have delivered something along those lines. Some of my friends had your experience in reverse at the Polar Freezestyle - they are so used to the Ceroc Central music formula that they really struggled with the challenging nature of the music there.
I agree with whoever else it was that posted saying that there would have been a full dance floor regardless of the music style - this venue is a bit of a victim of its own circumstance - its location makes it reasonably travellable for regulars at so many of the ceroc central venues that it ends up overcrowded every time and with an overload of women it's no great suprise that they would prefer to dance to BANG BANG BANG than to register their protest by sitting out.
My personal opinion is that I didn't find the music in any way inspiring or memorable but I also didn't actively dislike it. I have had nights around here where I have hated the music especially one fella who insists on playing mad euro pop versions of eighties songs - urrgghhhh. I suspect the music is less of an issue for me than for some people - I tend to concentrate on the interaction with my partner (and too much talking to them whilst dancing) and the music gets pushed to the background. If I ever get near the standard of musicality that people such as PaulF attain then it may well be a different matter.
And just as a final note, as with Paul, I don't like tracks that segue straight into one another either

Robert

[robd]

Regrettably, the likelihood is that "lots" isn't really the case - or at least not "lots" enough.

True, true. Caught making the mistaken assumption again that the forum is representative of the average Ceroc Central jiver (not that I want to start a debate to define that................)

Robert

[ChrisU]

Interesting discussion for myself as a DJ.

I am fairly new to MJ but I have found the principles that worked for me over a number of years and styles to work ok.

New music has to be tried out (Even new old from the box). When I do the freestyle after a lesson I always through in a "dare to be different track" then watch the dance floor. Just 1 at each session.

Sometimes they bomb and get cut short but about 50% of the time I get asked "Whats That". It might be a bit of blues or latin or an oldie. At a long freestyle I managed about 4 tracks and got a good response.

As for asking the DJ - Get in there - If I do not have a track I say so and get the person to write it down with a promise that I will have it next time. Then I hassle the DJ's on this forum for help!!!!

A rare night off tonight so a bottle of scotch has been cracked open.

Regards and keep dancin to the tunes

DJ Chris Uren

[LMC]

But there is FREE tap water available.... with ice!

Where? - didn't quite like to ask at the bar because some won't dish out tap water - and couldn't see any jugs (I'm blonde, remember)

[El Salsero Gringo]

if the floor is heaving from one end of the night to the other, both the organiser and DJ are likely to believe that they're doing the right thing.

Um... perhaps they *are* doing the right thing?

if the DJ at a night like the one Paul describes played a few requested tracks of the sort that I know Paul would like, the chances are that those tracks would thin the floor considerably (and probably generate some complaints), and the DJ would conclude that playing the requests had been a mistake.

If the floor thins and there are complaints - in what sense would you consider that *not* to have been a mistake???

[bigdjiver]

Apologies, the St Neots DJ was Rob, not Roy. I too hated the modern thumpy tracks and segues and flashing lights in my eyes. I loved bouncing to "Spirit in the sky" dancing to "Rainy Nights" and even enjoyed my dance to the Mavericks. It was the first time I had heard that track at a Ceroc venue for a long time. I operated in funfair mode nearly all evening, and I too wanted more "quality" tracks and did not manage a "real" dance all night.

St Neots was unusually quiet (sic), and the removal of 20 or so from the floor for the auditions was a Godsend, although we lost many quality dancers.

Look and learn. Why would Michaela, who was a Latin Ballroom dancer, draw attention to her demos "crap" styling? Why would she have the class waving their hands about like lunatics to "Tales of the Unexpected"? Could it be to relax people and create a party atmosphere? Could it be that if the dancers are not afraid to look like idiots, then they will not be afraid to look like idiots whilst they are learning not to? I keep coming back to my theory, that in general classes getting the many to enjoy learning is more important than teaching the few to dance really well.

Another move that she taught, the dip and slide, was aimed at style dancers, and accounted for the number of dips seen on the floor as people practised it. I was asked by two partners for that move, but refused. I thought it too dangerous for the situation. There were some on the floor that had little or no previous dance experience, as well as the over-keen, so bumps were almost inevitable.

Some highlights of the evening - meeting Taz, exiting the floor with a "Travelling Koala", a long-standing ambition, and my dances with an attractive lady that I danced with at the last freestyle, her first MJ experience. Last time I took her through the beginner moves and onto dips and lifts, and worried I may have gone too far. She wanted more and I obliged. Afterwards it transpired this was only her second night.

lowlight - persuading another "never done it" onto the floor, and failing to convert her.

I have had good nights dancing on cork flooring, bowed decks, grass, and broken glass, and to worse music. For some of us it is the quality of the relationships with our partners that makes the night. I had an absolutely brill night at St Neots, and could not sleep because I was so high.

[ChrisA]

Um... perhaps they *are* doing the right thing?

If the floor thins and there are complaints - in what sense would you consider that *not* to have been a mistake???

:huge yawn:

This isn't really up to your usual standard, Alec.

Read what I wrote again. Did I say that they weren't doing the right thing? Or that they were making a mistake?

Obviously, as we've discussed lots of times, their agenda is different from mine.

When I say "regrettably", I mean it (as well you know) subjectively, for myself and those that share my tastes in music.

[Andy McGregor]

Leeds today is cold and overcast.

Made me laugh out loud - I'm not sure why

[Andy McGregor]

I would have given my right arm for tango-y stuff

I think it's like the k-y stuff but with an orange-y aftertaste

[Cruella]

Apologies, the St Neots DJ was Rob, not Roy.

Oh i thought it was Chris?

Another move that she taught, the dip and slide, was aimed at style dancers, and accounted for the number of dips seen on the floor as people practised it. I was asked by two partners for that move, but refused. I thought it too dangerous for the situation.

Last time I took her through the beginner moves and onto dips and lifts, and worried I may have gone too far. She wanted more and I obliged.

I'm presuming that you obliged with the dips and lifts on the previous freestyle? Not this one, otherwise there is a contradiction in these two quotes.

I had an absolutely brill night at St Neots, and could not sleep because I was so high.

Different strokes for different folks.