Category Archives: lindy hop and other dances

Women DJs in the lindy hop and blues dancing world


(This is a picture of me my friend Scott drew for my birthday)

I wrote in my last post: Bug’s Question Of the Day is a regular thread on Faceplant (just search for ‘Bug’s question of the day’ over there). I keep typing replies and then deleting them. I want to engage, but sometimes my responses are too long or too hardcore or too stroppy for that sort of public talk. Over here, I figure I can write my replies and keep them within the context of my blog and broader thinking about dance and DJing and gender and stuff…

This question is from the 16th July:

‎”At an upcoming blues event, I noticed there are six DJs – Five men and one woman. Another upcoming blues event this month has six men and one woman. Six out of six DJs at ILHC will be men. In general it seems that while there are some prominent female blues and Lindy DJs, the majority of DJs getting regional and national event gigs are male. Do you agree that this is true? Is it true in West Coast as well? If it’s true, why?”

There were all sorts of replies to the original question, some were quite shockingly sexist. I was surprised – stunned! – by serious comments from blokes that women simply don’t make good DJs because they have rubbish taste in music (too romantic or fluffy), can’t read the crowd, don’t obsess over music, aren’t competitive or … well, you can see where things are heading. I’m not surprised to read that sort of thing in a discussion by swing dancers. There are an awful lot of swing dancing idiots when it comes to gender stuff.

I want to include the replies in that thread before my comment, so you can see where my thinking was at when I wrote this. I wrote a shortish version of this post in reply to the comment there on FB, but it didn’t really do what I wanted it to do. Also, I was uncharacteristically cool in my reply. I think that’s because I hadn’t actually read the other comments properly. Yikes.

Byron Alley I’ll say that this isn’t my original opinion but I thought I’d share what a *female* DJ told me about this phenomenon. She said that the reason you don’t see as many female DJs in general, or as many DJing at the top level, is that she felt that to be a good DJ you need to have a kind of obsessive/competitive personality, the kind that makes you spend hours looking for the right new song, or digging up obscure facts about artists so that you can do a set of “songs from 1941 with the word “blue” in the title” that nobody is aware of but you.

Bear in mind that this came from a woman who was a DJ herself, so she wasn’t saying that NO women have these traits–just that more men do. I thought I’d post that because it wasn’t something that had occurred to me personally one way or another.

What I notice personally is that at the events I’ve run, where I’m always looking for good DJs and even to help train new ones, most of the time it’s guys. Guys are much more likely to volunteer, to think they can do it even when they’re not good at all, and ALSO to actually be good DJs. Women in my experience have been less likely to want to try it out, or to push for DJ slots. And of the few women who DJ, there are still fewer that have received good reviews. On average, the female DJ’s I’ve hired have been less likely to keep people dancing as long (eg. people go home earlier), keep the energy up, or get good reviews from other people. This isn’t even my own opinion–when I’ve been away and had other people DJ, I’ve asked my staff and patrons for feedback on all of our DJs and this has been the trend. I’m just passing on the results.

The three problems that have come up with the less skilled female DJs have been: 1) an overall lack of energy in sets (songs are more likely to be chill, subtle, even romantic), 2) less ability or inclination to read the crowd in deciding what to play next, and 3) less extensive music collections than many of the male DJs, leading to less ability to find “just the right song” for the moment.

On the very interesting plus side, even the mediocre female DJs were more likely to get good reviews…. from other women! So this had led me to wonder if maybe part of the problem is that most of our venues have fewer men than women. If the female DJs appeal more to the women but not the men, then it’s possible that what happens is that the men want to dance less even though the women want to dance more, which leads to everyone being even less satisfied because everyone dances less.

I expect to get flamed my above comments either way, but I need to at least point out that some of my very favourite DJs are women. Locally in Ottawa we have Claudia Petrilli, Jody Glanzer and Natalia Rueda. Natalia was actually a huge exception to everything–I heard her spin her first set and she was literally good from day one. (Not like I’m biased…) And globally Tina Davis is one of my favourite DJs ever.

The last thing I’ll say is that a lot of research has shown that women tend to negotiate less than men for jobs in general. A female friend of mine did research in that area. And in the swing scene, a lot of how people get gigs is by putting themselves out there, contacting organizers and saying “I’m available, pick me” and working out a deal. So even if the number of great DJs is equally distributed among both genders despite all I’ve written here, I’d be willing to bet that fewer women are running after DJ slots than men. I know that once again, my personal experience strongly confirms that.

I’ll end by saying that in a dance scene where there are more women than men dancing, I’d really LOVE to see more female DJs. I don’t think anyone should be pushed into doing something they don’t love, but then again, I never wanted to DJ until circumstances forced me to, and I’ve learned to love it over time.

And ladies… if you’re a great DJ, then get out there, contact the organizers of events you’re interested in and MAKE them hire you. It may work better than you think.

17 July at 00:23 · Like · 3 people

Greg Avakian Yes, it’s true.
Men are more geeky about collecting stuff. It is to a large degree how we define ourselves. “I have this and that”. Yes, it’s generalization and no doubt there are women who have great jazz and blues collections (Tina Davis, Devona Cartier, Suzanne Sluizer, Emily Smith etc.), but when I see a bunch of people who self-identify as DJs, they are usually men. Or boys.
What does it mean? Ladies, get involved!

17 July at 00:27 · Like · 1 person

Greg Avakian Interesting comment Byron about the music that women tend to choose. I agree -and considering that *for fusion dance events* I tend to like stretchier, subtle rhythms and chill vibes, I thought that (- in general -) the women who applied to this year’s fusion exchange kicked the men’s asses.
PS: I agree also that you will get flamed. :P

17 July at 00:34 · Like

Andrew Harrington This doesn’t answer the question at all, but is it maybe the same phenomenon that leads more men to become musicians?

17 July at 01:14 · Like

Stephanie Robinson Out of curiosity, do you think leaders and followers have different relationships to the music that would lead them to pursue/not pursue DJing? As a follow, I follow my lead before I follow the music–that is to say, I try to dance in ways that will fit the music, but I first defer to my lead and whether he’s giving me the space to get creative. When i dance with a new or rhythm challenged lead who is not keeping time with the music, I will follow his off-count lead out of politeness (and I die a little inside each time I do it).

Do leads, who are entrusted with being creative for 2 people in ways that fit the music, have a different relationship to the music than follows?

17 July at 01:26 · Like

Denise Shepler bluesSHOUT this year has 2 men and 6 women, so I’d say that’s an indication that there are good female dj’s out there.

17 July at 01:35 · Unlike · 5 people

Bob Free I think it really depends on the venue – I have nearly 50% male/female DJs at my venue – but I do have to work hard to maintain that balance (women DJs are harder to line up, because there are fewer of them and they are in demand). Many of the venues I go to, the instructor DJs – so it depends on who is teaching.

17 July at 01:35 · Unlike · 1 person

John Joven Maybe it just depends on the scene. In Chicago blues dancing, there are 5 females and 4 males who regularly spin at the blues events.

17 July at 02:05 · Like

Larry Colen I think there may be more woman djs at DHB this weekend. Last night I think it was 2 men and 4 women

17 July at 02:20 · Like

Elizabeth Gonzalez I thought this was part of ‘stacking the dance floor with good dancers’ as alluded to in the other BQOTD about event planning…

17 July at 02:55 · Like

Anna Sutheim The Minneapolis scene is actually somewhat skewed towards female DJs.

I would hazard a guess that scenes in which male organizers and teachers are predominant also have mostly male dj’s, and vice versa.

17 July at 04:38 · Unlike · 1 person

Devona Cartier over all across the lindy and blues scenes, there ARE more men djs then women djs. i think its far better balanced in the blues scene, than for swing though.

I feel strongly that there is no fundamental reason why women cant be just as good at djing as men, or why they wouldnt be just as interested. also, i feel that there isnt any fundamental difference in the type of music men or momen would pick. the reason there might be differences is more an issue of environment than gender. …more to come…

17 July at 05:22 · Like · 1 person

Claudia Petrilli well, I’ll be damned. Since I was tagged, now I feel like I need to add my two cents.

I have to say that I CERTAINLY have a Geeky/nerdy/obsessive-comp​ulsive type of personality and that I have spent many an hour “looking for the right new song, or digging up obscure facts about artists”. Was this what lead me to become a decent DJ? I definitely think so. If it wasn’t the main factor, it definitely played a major role. Getting to be a decent dancer obviously helped, as well.

And while I enjoy “chill, subtle, even romantic songs” they are not my favourite to DJ. I was shocked that just a couple of days ago, Natalia Rueda commented that a certain -very good, lead in our scene might like my sets so much because I tend to play mostly slow song. That burned. But I do have to say that as the night progresses, I do tend to mellow out my sets. Depending of the crowd, that is. It always depends of the crowd. And the event. But right now I’m mostly talking about weekly dances, not events with a theme. Lots of thinking and re-thinking to do here.

17 July at 06:38 · Like

Devona Cartier for me personally:
1) i did not start djing because i was a collector of music. im not a person who is obsessive over sidemen and statistics. honestly i care much less about who the artist is, what the song title is, what year it was recorded, or what album it is from. it has been explained to me in the past that ‘the reason more men dj then women is because men are into those kinds of details (like they are with sports) and women are not’. aside from the fact that i dont even know if that is true of men and women across the board, i dont think that is required to be a good dj, much less makes you one.

when i began djing i knew very little about those kinds of details. i knew what my music collection sounded like, and i could put songs together based on an intuitive sense of how songs suited each other and the crowd. over the years, i have explored why i intuit what works and have learned detailed, concrete, information about the music. the details become interesting not based on themselves, but how they relate to each other, and the pattern as a whole. for example, knowing the recording date of a song allows me to compare it to other tunes of that year and what the dance style of that year was, to gain understanding of what kinds of sounds influence dance in what way. then i can watch what the dancers are doing in front of me and match their dance style with a particular sound that suits it.

do i come at djing from an intuitive place because im a woman? i dont know. (also i dont think i care.) i DO hear it said that ‘to be a dj you should know the specific details of the music such as x, y, and z.’ i think thats a load of crap and if its keeping more intuitive types of people from starting to dj then its a shame. to be a good dj you need to know and understand your music. even knowing who the artist is doesnt really matter. knowing the patterns and elements of the music is far more important, and you dont need to give a damn about how many home runs someone had in their career.

2) I do not tend towards “chill, subtle, romantic songs”. i would be insulted if someone assumed as much because im a woman. actually i would be insulted id someone assumed anything about how i dj based on my gender. as i cycle through the female djs i know i dont think thats true of them either. Byron Alley its possible that that is something local to your area.

i also think that its possible that ladies having less inclination to read the crowd may just be something that is true locally to you. it is not true in my experience. among the imtermediate level djs i have expernce with women are MORE likely to change what they had in mind to play to suit what the crowd wants, and men are more likely to just plow through with their music agenda.

collection size: it does not make a good dj. i know people who have very large collections and are very poor djs. i also know djs who have smaller collections who are fantastic. i would expect that anyone starting out as a dj would have a smaller collection, which is probably not really a bad thing seeing as they have more oppertunity to learn their collection well.

17 July at 08:38 · Like · 4 people

Devona Cartier the competitive spirit: yes, you are more likely to succeed as a dj if you have it. women are just as competitive (if not more so) as men. conside how many women enter jack and jill comps.
i do believe that women are more likely to underestimate themselves, and that men are more likely to overestimate themselves. You will get more gigs if you are pushy about your abilities.

again, me personally: i know im a kick ass dj. I endevor to wipe the floor with all other djs. i do not contact events and tell them they should hire me. i am certian that leads to me getting less gigs. im just not comfortable “boasting” to events like that. i have no idea if that is a tendance of women, but if it is, well thats a good reason that there are more men hired.

lastly: i think the real reason that there arent more women djs, is that their arent many women djs. it like out of sight out of mind. women may not even consider it because its just something other women arent doing. atleast, one of the reasons there are more up and coming djs who are women in the blues scene, is there were more women djs already.

17 July at 09:04 · Unlike · 5 people

Susan Brannigan Whenever a question like this comes up, I suspect what Devona said above: women are, for whatever reason, more likely to underestimate themselves and men are more likely to overestimate themselves.

I used to teach skiing, and there were traditionally 9 levels where skiers would rank themselves. Men most frequently thought they were better skiers than they actually were, while women often though themselves less skilled than they actually were. Why is this? I have some ideas about this, but there’s probably no good reason to get into it now. ;)

I’m glad to hear there are a lot of female DJs out there. I would like to see/hear more. :)

Tuesday at 02:33 · Like

Clyde Wright DC seems to have about an even number of male/female Blues DJs. In WCS, there seems to be more men than women. In Lindy men edge out the women by a tad. Argentine Tango seems fairly well split. Salsa, there’s more men than women. I think it varies between city and scene dramatically.

Tuesday at 05:07 · Like

Damon Stone Without any planning, DHB had exactly 2 men on the planning staff out of 10 positions, 4 male teachers out of 10, and 2 male deejays out of 7. I don’t know what that has to say about anything, except that this isn’t really too unusual for us. Our deejays were awesome, and I have some pretty damn exacting standards and prerequisites for my deejays. There are certainly a number of women who are excellent deejays in the circles I run around.

Tuesday at 07:05 · Like · 3 people

Luckily Devona Cartier was there to set those idiots straight. She made some brilliant comments – things that were just plain old common sense. I haven’t heard Devona DJ, but she’s been around for a while, and I’ve heard many good things about her work. I especially liked the way she declares: “I know I’m a kick ass DJ. I endeavour to wipe the floor with other DJs.” It’s exciting to hear a sister stepping up and declaring pride in her abilities, but also competitive confidence. Here I am, if you think you’ve got it, bring it. But prepare to be pwnd.

At any rate, I wrote some things in reply to all this. What follows is what I wrote at the time, but didn’t actually post on FB.

I think Devona makes a brilliant point: there aren’t more women DJs because there aren’t women DJs. I think you need critical mass (ie a certain number of visible women DJs), good support and encouragement for new women DJs and then working conditions which continue to encourage women DJs.

My suspicion about DJing: It’s like cycling. The key indicator for numbers of cyclists in a city is whether women feel safe cycling. If women feel safe cycling in your city, you numbers of cyclists will be high over all. I also think that if you have lots of women DJs in your scene, you probably have a pretty good DJing culture. Good as in supportive, collaborative, creatively challenging, exciting, stimulating, rewarding, etc. As Devona says, women DJs like to kick your arse as well. They just might need to be encouraged to get their boots on in the first place.

I can only speak about Australian DJs, and then only from my own POV. I’ve been DJing since 2005, managing DJs at big events since 2006 and I also coordinate DJs for local events. I haven’t traveled overseas to DJ, but I have DJed interstate at most Australian events. My experience has been with blues and lindy DJing. I have a long way to go before I become anywhere as near as good as some of the international DJs I’ve danced to or heard.

I’d suspect that most of the comments above mine apply to a US context. This is important because these national scenes have different DJing cultures and different approaches to remunerating DJs for large, small and medium sized events. There are specific local DJing cultures even within Australia.

Firstly, the women DJs that I have met and worked with in Australia are just as likely to be crazed, obsessive music collectors as men, are just as likely to obsess about software and hardware, to fuss about working a crowd or managing relationships with event coordinators, to pour ridiculous amounts of money into their collections, to jump on the chance to nerd out in music conversations. They just don’t always talk about it in the same way as men. Or shout out their opinions in public fora.

Secondly, the ability to DJ well, to combine songs creatively, to work a crowd, to develop and know a good collection, isn’t gender specific. I know as many excellent female DJs as male and I have good, satisfying and creative working relationships with both men and women DJs.

Thirdly, it’s difficult to quantify the women/men DJs in Australia. I suspect women, who may make up a larger proportion of DJs at at smaller local events are underpresented at larger interstate events.

If I were to make an observation about gendered tropes in DJing, it would be that women DJs tend to nurture professional relationships in different ways. They’re more willing to take direction from event managers, they’re less confrontational and they’re more collaborative in their relationships with other DJs (particularly other women DJs).

I’ve also noticed that some male DJs are more willing to put themselves forward for gigs and to get them (even if they’re not that skilled), and for some women DJs to be less confident about their skills and to miss out on gigs (even thought they had better skills). I’ve also noticed that women will step up if they get even a little bit of encouragement. But men are less likely to actively say “what was good about my set? what sucked? how can I improve?” This is most true of DJs who’ve been around for a while.

But there are exceptions to these tropes. I’ve worked with difficult, stroppy, pain in the arse women DJs, and I’ve worked with collaborative, socially right-on male DJs. I’m also defining ‘good DJs’ according to a particular set of criteria which reflect who I am and how I work on events. I will not tolerate rude, aggressive or threatening behaviour from anyone, whether DJ or organiser. I need DJs to be on time to gigs, to take feedback at the event and before. As a DJ I need to be treated with respect – I will not tolerate rudeness or being fucked about. I am also committed to good working conditions for DJs at events I’m involved in.

It’s important to note: no Australian event pays to fly DJs in to an event. No event pays DJs more than $30 an hour, most pay $20 or $25 per hour. We only started paying DJs in about 2003 (depending on event and city). There’re only 3 events that don’t give DJs both free entry and pay for the gig they work. I believe that all DJs should get free entry + basic pay if it’s a big event. If your event can’t afford DJs, then you need to rethink how you prioritise items in your budget.

A quick note about the comparative ‘value’ of live music and DJed music: while I would prioritise live bands for dances (because they’re fun), they’re not always a viable option (cost, lack of contacts, venue restrictions, etc). DJs are an important part of many swing, blues and balboa scenes. Simply put, if you want to dance, you have to have music. If I’m running an event the two most important things in my budget are a) music, and b) dance floor. If I can’t get a good band, I’ll get a DJ. To not pay that DJ is to say to them “I do not value your work, and I do not value music.” Or, more realistically “I won’t pay you because I’m pretty sure I can get away with fucking you over. You’ll be so grateful for the gig you won’t challenge my arsehattery.” I’m not particularly keen on attending an event that places so little importance on music.

Local events may pay their DJs and give them free entry, may just give free entry, may just pay. It’s usually negotiated individually. Again, I always pay DJs and always give them free entry, because they’re what make a DJed social night work. I don’t distinguish between new or experienced DJs in that respect.
This low pay is no doubt a key factor affecting who gets into DJing. If it paid more, I reckon we’d see more DJs, and different DJ behaviour.

In all these cases, it’s possible to make gender less important. As a DJ coordinator for larger events, I actively encourage newer DJs who have promise, no matter what their gender. I also seek out DJs that I mightn’t have heard of, or who mightn’t have approached me for gigs. I try to see as many DJs as I can when I travel to events, I maintain contacts in other cities and grill them about their up and coming DJs, and I ask dancers which DJs they most enjoyed.
This way I’m not relying on DJs presenting themselves to me; I can seek them out. I’m also prepared to take risks with newer DJs or lower profile DJs if I think they might be ninjas. I just put some support structures in place at events so we can recover if something goes wrong (eg put them in non-crucial spots, make sure I’m around if they need me, have an experienced DJ ride shotgun for them, make sure they know I’m happy to answer questions at any time).

I also try to give useful, supportive feedback to DJs I work with and I encourage DJs to give me feedback in return. I try not to approach giving feedback as ‘you tell me what you love and hate about me, I’ll tell you what I love and hate about you’ because that’s nasty. I’ve recently learnt that it’s more useful to say “Ok, we had some problems at point X. What was your experience? How would you have changed things?” and I wait til they’ve told me their opinion before I offer mine. I’ve found doing this talk in person is more effective than in email, especially with female DJs. ie female DJs just don’t answer emails with these questions, whereas male DJs are more likely to. I think the body language and chance to make sure both of us are on the same page in person is more encouraging for women DJs. I find that the least flexible DJs are least willing to do this sort of talk. I’m less willing to hire the sorts of DJs who aren’t open to feedback because I get sick of telling them to stop doing X because it makes me cranky and forces confrontations.

Some traits are gendered: women are often more collaborative, men can be more aggressive and assertive. But there’s no reason a man can’t learn to be collaborative or a woman assertive. You just have to be prepared to fuck up a few times, to take feedback gracefully, to employ that feedback, and to be ok with being wrong. You also have to be ok with being _right_ and to pursue the stuff you love and are good at. Or want to be good at. I think men are often less willing to risk losing face (through being wrong) and women are less likely to risk confrontation by assuming they’re right.

I think the fact that I’m a woman affects how I work with women and men DJs as a DJ and as a DJ coordinator for events. I hire DJs who are professional, and I won’t waste my time with some arsehat who’s aggressive, difficult and unprofessional. No matter how good a DJ they are. I’ve known other (male) DJ coordinators who wouldn’t share that approach. But then, I’ve also known female DJ coordinators who don’t tolerate bullshit from difficult DJs, and male DJ coordinators who hate conflict and won’t tell a pain in the arse DJ when to step back.

Numbers of Sydney DJs: There are about 7 lindy DJs with solid skills, and only 2 of them are men. We have a few more blues DJs (3 or 4 male DJs), and there are a few floating lindy DJs who DJ occasionally. All the larger fortnightly social events (blues and lindy) here are managed by women.

When I was living in Melbourne (I started DJing there, and left in 2008) there were slightly more women DJs than men holding down the regular local gigs and not seeking out high profile slots, in lindy, blues and balboa. But more men DJed the bigger events. I don’t know what numbers are like now.

I coordinated DJs for MSF (one of Australia’s larger events) in Melbourne this year, and we had 8 DJs in a live-music heavy program. 5 DJs were women, 3 were men. I preselected for musical style (to suit the event’s program), professionalism (will be on time, have all their gear, be easy to work with, etc), proven track record as a DJ (ie mad skillz), public interest (ie DJs who’re popular with dancers atm), availability (some DJs on my short list were traveling o/s, couldn’t commit to the gig in time, etc etc). The hardest thing to do is knock a DJ back. It breaks my heart to tell a ninja DJ who’s also tops to work with that the program is full as a goog and can’t squeeze in another DJ.

When I was learning to DJ, and now, I’ve noticed that women DJs, particularly new women DJs, but also experienced women DJs, at local and larger events, are almost always far more likely to work collaboratively with other women DJs to learn new things, and to figure out how a sound set up works. They’ll huddle over the sound desk, physically quite close, saying things like “What do you think?” and “What if we tried this?” and “Do you reckon…?” In a similar situation most male DJs will say “It works like this” or “The set up at X is like this, so this much work here too”.
Some men will work collaboratively, but they are almost always less likely to say “I don’t understand” or “I don’t know how that works” or “What do you think?” Particularly if they’ve been DJing for a while. There are exceptions, but they are in the minority.
I do both approaches – I’m pushy but I also try to be collaborative. :D

if the music is bouncing, you’d better have a bloody good reason for just standing there

This is the theme song for this post.

Bug’s Question Of the Day is a regular thread on Faceplant (just search for ‘Bug’s question of the day’ over there). I keep typing replies and then deleting them. I want to engage, but sometimes my responses are too long or too hardcore or too stroppy for that sort of public talk. Over here, I figure I can write my replies and keep them within the context of my blog and broader thinking about dance and DJing and gender and stuff.

So here’s today’s question:

“When pulsing with an off-beat newbie as a follow, in what circumstances should one purely follow the lead versus trying to nudge the pulse towards the music with one’s own pulse? Is there a dance etiquette associated with this?”

There are various responses to this question in the thread, ranging from (and I paraphrase) ‘follows should follow’, and that’s why they should just do as this lead leads, to ‘leads leading like that drive me crazy’. This post is a story about me, and about the things I like in my lindy hop. So it is an entirely subjective narrative. You’re just going to have to deal with the fact that this does not represent the opinion of every women and every follower and ever leader out there.

I’m one of those people in the latter camp: off-beat bouncing (or pulsing – same thing pretty much) drives me nuts. Also, I tend to bounce in time, in my own way, regardless of what the lead is doing. This is mostly because I very rarely come across leaders in Sydney who actually bounce. At all. It’s also because I’M DANCING HERE and bouncing is what the music does, so that’s what I’m doing. Following is a compromise, most of the time, between what I hear in the music and what the leader leads. Which is why I have to lead. I have to, because I get so tired of not being able to actually dance to the music. And because I’m a grown up human being, I choose to dance to the music, in my way. In the immortal words of Our Lady of Pop, I choose to express myself.

If the lead is bouncing, I will make my bounce work with theirs. Sometimes this means crushing my bounce down into a small, power bounce, when I’m usually an up-in-your-grill-bouncing-like-I-just-don’t-care type bouncer. If they’re the sort of lead who knows what they’re doing and they’re not dancing, I will, begrudgingly, drop my bounce. It hurts, but I’ll do it. Because I trust them to know their shit.

Bouncing is lindy hop. If I’m not bouncing, I’m not dancing lindy hop. It makes everything easier. I tailor the bounce to suit the music – the style, the mood, the tempo, all of it. I don’t wear slippery shoes, so I fucking NEED that bounce – the push up from the floor, the coiled energy of a bent knee and engaged core. If I don’t have that bounce, dancing is going to be too much hard work. And I need all the help I can get.

There’s no fucking way I’m going to make my bounce disappear. I’m NOT going to dance badly just to suit some guy’s bullshit dancing. Yes, he’s usually a guy. But I won’t compromise for a female lead either. Too many women followers compromise their dancing to suit their lead’s. Too many of those brilliant performances in the highest profile competitions are really a performance of phenomenal following, where a follow makes some leader’s ridiculously challenging leading into badassery. Those guys think they’re fucking all that, but it’s the follow who makes that shit work. The followers are where the fucking all that is AT.

I, however, am not interested in compromising my fun to mollycoddle some guy’s ego. He’s a beginner. I’m smiling at him, I’m having fun, I’m prepared to give that sort of encouraging feedback. I’m on his side. And I’m going to give him the reassurance of a good, solid bounce that tells him where the beat is. Because he sure as fuck needs to know when he’s screwing up. Or else he’s going to go on thinking he’s all that when he’s not. And far too many leads think they’re all that, when really, they’re not. They’ve really needed a few more followers to stop fixing their fuckups so they knew they were fucking up, and had the chance to improve.

[I do know that a follow just following, doing everything the leader leads, so the leader can see how their actions affect the follow, is a good way of teaching a lead. But hells, we’re not fucking DOLLIES. We’re dancing here, too, buddy! Pay attention to your follower, especially if she’s been around a bit. You’re gonna learn something from her when she kicks your arse.]

This has too much to do with the fact that there are often too few leaders at social dancing nights, or that women dancers are too willing to compromise their own win just to score a dance with someone with a dick. Come ON,ladies! We don’t need the cock to rock!

Also, I have no patience whatsoever for leads who just stand in place, twirling the follow like a swizzle stick in a cocktail. They just stand there, occasionally doing some sort of bullshit ‘swingout’ that doesn’t include any triple steps or bounce, where the follower does all the hard work, moving eleven million times more than the lead, and generally make shit happen despite the awfulness of the lead.

I am not going to be that follow, and I’m sure as shit not going to be that lead. If you’re not bouncing, buddy, you’re not dancing lindy hop. You’re doing tango or something. Swinging jazz bounces, so you need to get your muscles active and bounce.

While I’m ranting, triple steps are what make lindy hop. They’re the syncopation in the swinging jazz. If you’re not triple stepping, you’re just stepping. And any old stooge can just step. That’s boring old babby stuff. Syncopation is hard – it demands more of your body, more of your sense of music and rhythm, and makes your dancing more. Triple steps are the difference between just 3 steps a second and more than 3 steps a second when you’re dancing 180 beats per minute. What’s your problem, non-triple-steppers? Can’t hack the pace?

Further, you mightn’t need those triple steps when you’re standing there swizzling your stick. But the follow who’s running her arse off making your shit sing does need those extra couple of steps. Be a good leader. Don’t be a lazy leader.

Finally, as a leader myself, my job is to pay attention to the follower. I’m listening to her body very carefully. I need to know where her weight is at all times, so that I can actually lead rather than dictate moves. So if she’s bouncing and I’m not, then I’m going to notice, and I’m going to fix that shit, because I’d be ashamed to discover I was out of time or not bouncing. I’m also going to pay attention to the shit she brings. If she decides she needs to swivel for 8 counts, I’m going to bloody well work with her to bring that. It’s much easier to just lead your own little set of moves without having to integrate the follower’s contributions. But I’m not a babby. Whether I get there or not, I aim for fucking brilliant. Because I’m a lindy hopper, and I’m going to be the best goddamn lindy hopper I can, and mollycoddling won’t help me get there.

NB If the Swedes can get an entire kitchen into three flat packed cartons, I’m prepared to take their advice on how to get a whole world of awesome into my lindy hop. Bouncing fo life, yo!

Two Cousins

This clip is brilliant.

Video for ‘Two Cousins’ by Slow Club, featuring Ryan Francois and Remy Kouakou Kouame

I have so much to say about this, but I have to just start here, and perhaps get back to it later.

I think it’s great! I must have watched it a million billion times already. I LOVE that you can see what they’re doing clearly – there’s so little footage of Ryan around it’s really cool to finally get a good look at his action. And I’d never seen Remy before!

I like the editing and composition a LOT. I think it’s a bit jarring if you’re used to the usual dance footage, which is just one camera at one angle, filming a whole-body shot. Great for watching and rewatching and learning choreography. Rubbish for creating a complex, involving narrative. This video clip is constructed for a different reason: to sell a song. Video clips have a long history of telling mini stories and working with narrative in interesting ways. This simply isn’t a dance clip like the ones we use every day. It wants to be read in a different way. Having said that, I think this clip also echoes the things Mura Dehn did in Spirit Moves: a white background; dancers framed in a strange, unnatural environment; inappropriate music; etc etc.

I think the editing and composition are wonderful for showcasing the movements. I really like (for example) the way the scarecrow is in slo-mo – it really emphasises the _feel_ of a scarecrow, which uses that long, slow slide back into a SNAP! I also love the close up on their hands. And the slow change from the gaze to-camera to the itches. I love that bit. Itches can feel kind of cheesy, but that deep, slow gaze reminds me that itches are old, old movements, their roots in Africa, funny on one level, serious on another. These two men – ancestors from Africa, living in modern Europe, dressed in the sharpest, finest suits are modern artists and professionals. They immediately trip up any orientalist impulses. This isn’t a romantic recreation of black dance; it’s a deliberate engagement with the dance (and the camera) by savvy professionals.

I like the way the editing and framing cut the movements into pieces and emphasise the jerky staccato-ness of them, but then slow them doooown, making them smoother and more fluid with the slo-mo. I also like the way the dancers turn around, so we see their backs. All that unrelieved black fabric in a high-contrast black and white film. It’s a relief when they turn around and we see their faces and hands and white shirts and bits of white cuff. Throughout this clip we see so many little bits of their bodies (which emphasises those bits and makes us think about them), I just get so impatient to see their _whole_ bodies. So when we do see them, full-length, framed carefully and completely on the screen, it’s almost a relief. I have to keep watching and rewatching, hoping I’ll see just a bit more of them each time.

I think this is only shot from one side, so the dancers _can_ turn their backs on us. They can choose to look _away_. It’s not quite a fourth wall, because they return our gaze, so levelly and clearly, and breaking the illusion of an on-stage performance.

I don’t mind that the choreography is cut into pieces. Isn’t that how we experience archival film anyway – films are cut up into pieces, the dancing bits excised and put onto youtube? And when I think of the Al and Leon stuff on youtube, it all sort of blurs into a melange of pieces, just like this clip. Editing is about cutting up and gluing together footage to tell a story in a particular way. I think the editing in this allows the dancers to engage with the viewer in a way Al and Leon never could in those television performances.

In this video clip we finally get a chance to see just how _seriously_ these dancers take their work and their craft. Those moments when, in slo-mo, Remy and Ryan gaze into the camera… it’s exciting. It’s intense. It reminds me that the light hearted surface of those Al and Leon clips is really just the very first and most superficial part of what they were doing. All those performances are the product of so much work and practice and training, all of which require an intense, passionate commitment and determination. When they look into the camera their stillness and intensity contrasts with their energised bodies and remind me that the performance _is_ a performance. They are _more_ than just this routine. It also reminds me that this is a _recreation_ of iconic choreographies (and television performances), where two men are recreating or performing something which dancers like us all know, but which the average punter hasn’t a clue about. They are putting on a ‘costume’ when they do those routines (including their literal costumes), but they are – as people and dancers – more than this. I especially like the way their level gazes contrast with the grins (which could be fake!) later on. Returning the gaze is an act of agency and power. It also allows you to connect with the people who inhabit those bodies in a different way.

So far as the song itself goes: booooring. But then, that action is popular with the young people these days, and perhaps it’s a gateway drug. :D To badarse dancing and eventually music. I do think the song is useful, though, because its lighter, simpler structure only emphasises the complexity of the dancing. I guess I see this contrast mostly because I’m so very familiar with the original choreography and musical context for the dancing, and not everyone might see that (especially if they didn’t know anything about jazz dance). But to me it’s kind of thrilling to see such amazing dancing so clearly, and showcased in such an interesting way. For me, the song recedes and becomes a sort of bland background for some really impressive, wonderful dancing.

I’m also fascinated by the presentation and performance of race in this clip, how it compares with footage of black dancers in the 30s/40s/50s, the fact that the Slow Club are white British musicians, but I don’t really want to make this post any longer. Although I bet Stuart Hall would have some really interesting things to say…

NB I’d like to talk about how the long, full-length shot without cuts was used by feminist filmmakers in the 70s to alienate the viewer from the narrative, and also to emphasise the tedium of housework. This is relevant to a discussion of how dancers use footage of dance performances – long, unbroken scenes, full-length shots. The story is deliberately broken down by rewatching as well as framing, so that dancers can figure out dance steps.

NB2 Of course, when I see this post next to the last one, all sorts of other ideas leap into my brain.

Eddie Condon: Everywhere, All The Time

Direct link to 8tracks playlist.

Photo by William Gottlieb in 1946 from the Library of Congress William P. Gottlieb Collection.

Eddie Condon. Chicagoan guitarist who just went on and on and on. Telly, albums, night club. The jazz brand of win. Was also in some brilliant bands. I don’t actually have a lot of his stuff (considering just how much he recorded), and I’ve found that most of the best quality recordings I have are from the cheapy JSP box set of his stuff. Which I got from emusic, and so don’t have liner notes for. How frustrating! I did manage to sort most of the discographical details out using the Tom Lord Jazz Discography, but it’d just been easier to get a good Mosaic set.

Eddie Condon. Damn good stuff.

1. Bugle Call Rag The Rhythmakers (Billy Banks, Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Fats Waller, Eddie Condon, Jack Bland, Pops Foster, Zutty Singleton) Henry Red Allen ‘Swing Out’ 247 1932 2:45

2. A Shine On Your Shoes Jack Bland and his Rhythmakers (Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Tommy Dorsey, Pee Wee Russell, Eddie Condon, Pops Foster, Zutty Singleton) Eddie Condon: Classic Sessions 1927-49 (Volume 2) 241 1932 3:02

3. Sweet Thing Dick Porter and his Orchestra (Johnah Jones, Joe Marsala, Dick Porter, Eddie Condon, Ernest Myers, George Wettling) Eddie Condon: Classic Sessions 1927-49 (Volume 2) 104 1936 2:49

4. Keeps On A-Rainin’ Eddie Condon, Billie Holiday, Hot Lips Page, Horace Henderson, Jack Lesberg, George Wettling Eddie Condon: Classic Sessions 1927-49 (Volume 4) 70 1949 3:21

5. We Called It Music Eddie Condon, Louis Armstrong, Ben Webster Eddie Condon: Classic Sessions 1927-49 (Volume 4) 135 1949 5:12

6. Mahogany Hall Stomp Louis Armstrong and his Savoy Ballroom Five (JC Higgenbotham, Albert Nicholas, Charlie Holmes, Teddy Hill, Luis Russell, Eddie Condon, Lonnie Johnson, George ‘Pops’ Foster, Paul Barbarin) Hot Fives and Sevens – Volume 4 192 1929 3:16

7. Who Stole The Lock (On The Henhouse Door) Jack Bland and his Rhythmakers (Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Tommy Dorsey, Pee Wee Russell, Eddie Condon, Pops Foster, Zutty Singleton) I Was Born To Swing 243 1932 2:40

8. That’s A Serious Thing Eddie’s Hot Shots (Leonard Davis, Jack Teagarden, Mezz Mezzrow, Happy Caldwell, Joe Sullivan, Eddie Condon, George Stafford) Jack Teagarden: It’s a Serious Thing 107 1929 3:30

9. Ridin’ But Walkin’ Fats Waller and his Buddies (Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Jack Teagarden, Albert Nicholas, Larry Binyon, Eddie Condon, Al Morgan, Gene Krupa, Leonard Davis, JC Higgenbotham, Charlie

10. Holmes, Will Johnson, Kaiser Marshall) Jack Teagarden: It’s a Serious Thing 123 1929 2:34

11. There’ll Be Some Changes Made Chicago Rhythm Kings (Muggsy Spanier, Frank Teschmacher, Mezz Mezzrow, Joe Sullivan, Eddie Condon, Jim Lannigan, Gene Krupa, Red McKenzie) Mezz Mezzrow: Complete Jazz Series 1928 – 1936 205 1928 2:55

12. Yellow Dog Blues The Rhythmakers (Billy Banks, Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Fats Waller, Eddie Condon, Jack Bland, Pops Foster, Zutty Singleton) The Panic Is On 180 1932 3:20

1. Bugle Call Rag. A dancers’ favourite. I like this pared back version. The cool thing about these earlier recordings is that many of these bands with different names actually featured the same musicians.

2. Same year as Bugle Call Rag, Shine On Your Shoes has much the same personnel, and the catchiest melody ever.

3. This version of Sweet Thing is interesting, as the vocals are an obvious imitation of Fats Waller’s style, and many of these Chicago boys actually recorded or played with Fats Waller. Fats Waller’s version of this song is much subtler and more beautiful. The mugging on this track is a bit much, but it’s an interesting example of Waller’s influence.

4. Billie Holiday on Condon’s show. I think it’s a radio show – it was one of those I had to try to figure out using the discography, and I could have made a mistake. But it’s an interesting example of Condon’s ability to pull stars.

5. We Called It Music. There are a heap of versions of this roll-call type ‘stunt’ song, featuring the biggest names in jazz at the time. This is really just a showcase for various big names, and isn’t the best song on earth, but it’s an interesting example of this type of performance.

6. Mahogany Hall Stomp by Louis Armstrong’s Savoy Ballroom Five, of which Condon was a part. This interracial element is super interesting, as is the Savoy connection. This is a brilliant little song.

7. Who Stole The Lock was made famous by Naomi and Todd’s brilliant 2005 performance, and I remember it really kicked Melbourne lindy hoppers’ musical interests into a new realm. It’s excellent when big name lindy hoppers do performances to music you’re into, as it means that music gets a bit of PR that then smoothes the way for your DJing it. I remember it still took a while for Melbourne to get into this song and this style. Sigh.

8. Jack Teagarden. My second husband.

9. Ridin’ But Walkin’. This is an example of Fats Waller playing with these white Chicago boys. This is really quite a lovely song, and has a more ‘sophisticated’ sound than a lot of the stuff these various musicians did in smaller, rowdier groups.

10. I love the vocals to There’ll Be Some Changes Made. This is fun stuff.

11. More of Fats Waller with the white Chicago boys. This shit is hot.

I like it when things go wrong

link

To extrapolate from this, in a very dodgy way…

If you don’t communicate what you’re really feeling in a dance performance, the audience won’t feel what you’re really feeling. If you plaster a fake smile onto your face, your audience won’t feel the joy you’re trying to fake.
So I guess the challenge, then is to actually be emotionally invested in your performance. Or to at least be really good at faking a real emotion (or set of emotions). That means more than a fake smile. Elite dancers are very good at isolating parts of their bodies – different muscle groups, etc – and then engaging them for very specific responses. So good dancers are also really good at faking emotion. Thing is, though, most dancers in performances aren’t elite dancers, and they aren’t terribly good at faking emotions convincingly.

This really leads us to people like Stanislavski, I guess, who had his actors (who are people who make a living from convincing audiences they feel something) train as dancers and singers and so on. Good dancers, then, are good actors.

When I watch a dance performance, I want to see real things happening. I think this is why I like performances most when something goes wrong. I don’t like to see people hurt or humiliated, but I do like to see something unexpected happen. Best of all, I like seeing how people respond to that unexpected thing. Probably because that unexpected moment allows us to really see what that dancer is really like.

MSF2011: mid-exchange report

I am three days into a dance weekend. I have had blocks of sleep regularly, but they have been broken sleep, and I need lots of sleep at the best of times. My left knee aches and is swollen, my hamstrings are tighter than Benny Goodman’s trio and I haven’t eaten a vegetable in two days. I might also be teetering on the brink of irrational rage.

But I am having a very good time.
This is how dance weekends work. Just like a cult or a men’s warrior weekend. We go to one room, pound ourselves with noise, get our heart rates up, adrenaline pumping, endorphines flooding. Then we touch a whole lot of people while we listen to exciting, manically cheerful music. Is it any wonder dancers get the post-exchange blues when these things end?

I have had some really brilliant dances. I’m not entirely sure I was the one doing the brilliant dancing, but I felt brilliant. Because I was charged with adrenaline. And touching someone lovely, while we gave the music legs.

Things I now do while actually dancing on the dance floor:

  • Shout out with excitement and joy. This is surely a continuation of my over-30-couldn’t-give-a-fuck maturation. I don’t care if people think I am a fool. When the music is right and I’m feeling it and I’m in motion, and I’m really with my partner, I can’t help it if I have to let it out. People do stare. But then, why wouldn’t they?
  • Clap randomly. This began as adding claps to the rhythms my feet were making. Part of me is convinced that clapping randomly during a song makes me more Swedish. The rest of me just wants to make noise, to somehow get inside the music. I think that this is really a result of dancing to so many live bands at home, where I want to let the band know I’m paying attention. My hands get sore.
  • Let out shouts of laughter, in a strange, manic way. I’m not sure why. It’s not as though I am always finding something hilariously funny. For the most part it’s simply that I am overcome by what I am feeling, and it just barks out of me. This usually distracts my partner and makes then wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t be out on my own. This is a bit like the shouting with excitement.
  • Clap the band a lot. I’ve been quite surprised by how few people are clapping the bands this weekend. I’ve been blown away by how great the bands are. I look up at the stage, and the musicians are really watching the dancers, really emotionally engaged with us. So it’s a bit heart breaking when the dancers don’t clap the songs, or the solos. I do. I also yell out “yay!” because I want them to hear that I like them, that I’m really liking what they’re doing.
    I think that I do this because we do see so many live bands at home, and that we actually get to know the musicians quite well. They’re the type of musicians who play that sort of interactive jazz where band members really interact with each other, so they’re already engaged with the people around them, through the music. We also see them in quite social settings – small venues, where the stage is very low and close to the dance floor, or venues where the relationship between audience and band is quite casual. The Unity Hall hotel: crowded, small, packed to the rafters. The Camelot Lounge: larger, but run by arty types who like to make every show a proper relationship between performers and punters.
  • Clap DJed songs. So I’m kind of trained to clap songs. I also have a policy of clapping songs I really like, even if they are recorded songs played by a DJ. I figure there’s no point being a shitty old grump and complaining about the songs you hate. That’s no use to anyone. So I like to applaud and cheer the songs I love instead. It makes me feel good. And I hope it lets the DJ know that I like what they’re doing. Sometimes I just like to applaud a good dance, to cheer it: “Hoorah! Yay!” I’m sure this mortifies my more image conscious dance partners. But then, I’m also in a safe, friendly, familiar environment. If I’m feeling quite wonderful, why not let it out?

I really am having a heap of fun.

Mike McQuaid’s Late Hour Boys have been my favourite band so far. They played at the late night dance on Friday, after the competition night. They played ‘My Daddy Rocks Me’, my favourite Jimmie Noone song. If not that song, then one very similar, which also provoked much squee on my part. There’s a little gaggle of us ladies nursing shocking crushes on John Scurry, caresser of banjos, guitarist of squee. He has mad skillz.

linky

I didn’t mind the band last night, which had some of the same musicians, but I think I prefer the drummer from the Late Hour Boys. The band last night seemed to have some trouble connecting with the dancers until about the second set. I wondered if it was the sound or acoustics or something? I’m not a huge fan of town halls, as you tend to feel really far away from the band, and the sound is usually quite shocking, but the Collingwood Town Hall is better than many. But this lack of connection could just have been me. I wasn’t really with it, properly until a bit later as I had to do some annoying administrative stuff and solve a couple of minor problems.

I liked the way the teachers did a bit of dancing showing off to the band. That was a nice touch. Excellent thinking, Ramona.

Finally, I have to say something about the DJs this weekend. I’ve been the luckiest, luckiest person getting to work with these kids. This year I went for a smaller, leaner DJing team, offering the DJs more sets but using fewer DJs. This can be a bit difficult in Australia where we tend to use more DJs, for fewer, shorter sets (for a whole range of reasons). But MSF has a very band-heavy musical program, which is fabulous, as it means the live music is much more important than the DJed. It also means we have fewer DJed sets on offer. I’m going to have a talk to the DJs after the weekend and see if they found the extra work ok, what they’d have changed, etcetera. But from my perspective, it’s much easier juggling a smaller team of DJs, and to be able to work with a small team of very capable, reliable people who love DJing and have a real passion for the music they’re playing. We have preselected DJs for a particular musical style (MSF this year and last has really emphasised classic swinging and hot jazz by musicians from the 20s-40s, and by modern musicians), and while this isn’t always a win with newer dancers, or with dancers who don’t really dig historically grounded music and dance (I know, I know – wtf?), it actually means we can present a program of music which is consistent, and really contributes to the branding of the event in a productive way.

This year we also added in a proper blues session (last night at the late night), which was a slight deviation from the go-lindy-or-go-home vibe of last year, but really was a response to overwhelming interest from blues dancers. I was very happy with the DJs I got for those two sets. They’re good buddies, so they work well together, and they’re both very capable people who I knew would do a good job. Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear their sets as I was DJing the opposite room. This is of course one of the things we didn’t really want to do this weekend. Splitting a crowd is a bit of a shame, as it ensmallens your crowd, but also suggests, implicitly, that you aren’t offering a main room which everyone will like. I think, in retrospect, it was a good idea, though. The main room was really quite full on, exciting lindy hop, so the more chilled back room was probably a good alternative if you were feeling battered by the noise and intensity of the band and then later DJs.

Here, I need to pause and gush about Falty again. *fans self* He did a really popular, really excellent set for us last year, and this year he topped that with an even more exciting, excellent set. I danced a LOT and almost danced beyond the point when I was supposed to take over from him again (I did the first 30 minutes of the room to warm things up, he did a big block of an hour and a half or two, and then I did the last 45 minutes or so). It was brilliant. He plays exactly the sort of music I love, and I really like the way he combines new bands and old recordings. I like the way he really pushes dancers with higher tempos and high energy, then plays a few quite slower songs. He really works the whole tempo range, and a whole range of moods. Again, he’s besotted with this music, and I think this absolute devotion, as well as a real feel for the music make his sets top fun. I’m also suspecting his approach to dancing and interacting with his partner inform his DJing.
It was also really cool talking DJing with him. I learnt a lot, and I’m thinking new things about what I do when I’m DJing. YES.

…from here, I’m tempted to gush on about the other DJs individually, and in great detail. But I really need a nap and my laptop battery is running out. Think of me, will you, and wish me stamina. Because I’m going to need it.

DJ Snoopdoggydogpossum

About my DJing
I started dancing in Brisbane, Australia in about 1998, then moved to Melbourne where I started DJing in 2005. Now I live in Sydney where I DJ mostly for lindy hoppers and blues dancers. I do the odd large camp or exchange in other cities during the year, but mostly I play at local events for local dancers. I like organising dance events, and I’ve just discovered that I love performing. It’s a pity that I haven’t also discovered that I have a natural talent for performing, but I figure enthusiasm and shouting will suffice where grace and ability fall short.

I like hot jazz and swing music from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, but I also really like modern bands who recreate the sounds of those periods. I also have a shocking memory, so I’m always pleasantly surprised when I ask a DJ “What’s this great song?” and discover that I already own a copy of LCJO’s CJam Blues. I figure this excuses my overplaying particular songs in my collection. I also hope it explains my delight in songs which most of us have heard a million times before, rather than indicating a lack of imagination.

This drawing is a portrait my friend Scott Fraser drew of me for a birthday card, and I think it captures my DJing style. In a metaphoric sense, of course. The only vinyl I own is a collection of Stone Roses 12″ records, and the only martial arts I know involve paintings of generals on ponies. It is, however, an entirely accurate representation of my fashion sense. If vinyl is still cool, then I feel the wide-legged trouser is still ok.

DJing for the radio
I was asked to plan a show as the June 2011 Yehoodi Radio Guest DJ, so I put together a set of songs which I’d originally intended to be a cleverly themed collection of brilliantly rare and unusual songs (you can see the set detailshere. I discovered, unfortunately, that I don’t quite have the skills to pull this off, so I settled for a list of my favourite songs. There was quite a bit of talking in between songs. This was because I’d also just discovered I quite liked the sound of my own voice. FYI most of these talking bits were just about as long as it takes to make a cup of tea.

DJing for the radio: did like, would do again.

Bossing other DJs about
I coordinate teams of DJs for large swing dance events. At the moment I’m working on the 2011 Melbourne Lindy Exchange: Turning it up to 11 (check the FB page until the website goes live), where the idea is to convince a handful of Australia’s most arse-kickingest DJs to come make lindy hoppers dance like the crazy monkeys they are.

Most recently I’ve been Head DJ for the 2011 and 2010 Melbourne Swing Festivals, the 2009 Sydney Swing Festival and the 2009 Sydney Lindy Exchange. I was also involved in coordinating DJs for the Melbourne Lindy Exchange in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

I like putting together programs of DJed music which suit the event organisers’ musical goals but which also let DJs show off their best action. I believe in the best possible working conditions for all volunteers and DJs at dance events, and am quite happy to speak at length on this topic. Or any other topic, really. At a local level I’m currently bossing Sydney DJs for the twice-monthly Swingpit social dancing night, and you can email me if you’re interested in doing a gig.

Listen to me DJ!
If you’d like to hire me for a gig, drop me a line [dogpossum at dogpossum dot org]. If you’d to hear me DJ for dancers, you can catch me at Swingpit or Roxbury, at the infrequent Speakeasy gig, or at a lindy exchange. Or you can just listen to my 8tracks online for free.