[TANGO-L] DJing in smaller communities

[Dan Boccia <redfox @ALASKA.NET>]

This whole discussion began when Trini offered the idea to have a DJ
conference to help people in small, young communities develop some
understanding and skills so they can begin to DJ effectively for their
communities.  Now we have the (predictable) discussions going on about
non-tangos, modern tangos, etc.  Although I'm finding the discussions
interesting and very enticing, I imagine the people in the younger
communities are wondering what we're all talking about and trying to
figure out how much of this really matters to them ..

DJing in a small, young community is dramatically different than DJing
for the big festivals or in mature communities.  Those who DJ in a young
community have a very important, demanding job.  The dancers are new to
the dance and still wondering how much they like it, they are generally
not skilled/experienced enough to dance well to lots of different types
of music, the DJ is probably also busy/distracted organizing events, and
there are not enough people dancing at one time to create that magic
crowd energy.  It can be a lot of work and even frustrating at times.
Further, the DJ in a small community has the responsibility of educating
the dancers about tango music, because the music you play has a very
high impact on the experience of the newer dancers - they will assume
that they are hearing good tango dance music because they don't know any
better.  That means the DJs in the smaller communities have a
responsibility to find out what the good music is when they're pretty
new to the dance themselves, so there can be quite a bit of pressure.
My strong belief is that a new DJ is going to be way ahead by visiting a
mature community nearby to hear more experienced DJs and get a chance to
learn from them.  Researching the music on the internet is also helpful,
at sites like www.tejastango.com <http://www.tejastango.com/>  and
several others (most or all of which are linked on this site).  On these
sites you can learn about the main orchestras from the golden age, some
of the most popular songs played at milongas today, where to purchase
music, and even get album recommendations.  The research is valuable,
but again, make a priority to visit mature communities - it's the best
way to learn how to DJ, which involves MUCH more than just collecting
good music.

One thing that is definitely key for DJs in younger communities is to
play from a wide variety orchestras.  Playing "bang-bang-bang" music as
Russell calls it all night is not going to get it, nor is it going to
work to play any other flavor of music exclusively.  Begin your
collection with one or two CDs from a variety of the classic orchestras,
then increase your depth from there.  Manuel's note had some good
points, outlining a traditional approach to DJing.  I agree with the
people who point out that we're still listening mostly to older
recordings simply because this is still the best dance music available
to us.  I personally enjoy a bit of alternative music when it is in the
hands of a sensitive DJ who knows how to manage the energy in the room
and who knows that if the energy for that music is not there, it's
better NOT to play it.  I'm also perfectly happy to dance to good tango
music all night.

On a related note, don't fall into the trap of worrying about playing
music for certain "styles" of dancing - that's absolute nonsense and
it's not the DJ's business.  Besides that, in a small community,
worrying too much about dance styles is the surest way to break a
community into sub-groups, which is the last thing a young community
needs.  Just play good tango dance music and let people dance whatever
style they choose.  I have seen good dancers of various styles happily
dancing to the same music on the same floor more than enough to convince
myself to dismiss this academic categorization of music and dancing.
The good dancers dance to the good music, period, and the DJ's job ends
at playing a variety of good music.  Let the dancers take it from there.

Dan Boccia
Ancorage, AK
www.tangotrance.com <http://www.tangotrance.com/>