i am a musician who is presently putting together a function band, specifectly for ballroom dances.
i need to know what what is required for todays perfect dance, ie what sort of mix of music is ideal, do people still like a ladys exuse me etc. are there specific modern songs that i should be aweair of etc etc. if you could help, id love to talk to you. thanks steve

Steve,

More important for consideration is tempi.

Here's a list:

http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/temp.htm

As a musician you'll recognize that these tempi are in measures per minute rather than beats per minute. So multiply the waltzes by 3, paso doble by 2 and everything else by 4.

The official ballroom dances are:

Standards

Waltz
Foxtrot
Tango
Quickstep
Viennese Waltz

Latins

Cha Cha
Rumba
Jive
Samba
Paso Doble

There will be regional differences as to whether American or International Style is favoured. We dance International here.

You'll also have a smattering of other dances. Westcoast Swing is popular here. WCS is often danced to slow rhythm and blues. Bolero might be popular elsewhere.

I prefer live music where possible. I'd suggest you favour: Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha Cha, Jive then add a few Tangoes, Quicksteps and Rumbas. A representation of Samba and Viennese next.

Finally, while there are many pasos 99.9% of dancers choreograph to one song in particular: Espani Cani. If you learn this one well you'll impress people. However, warn people before you play it as most people choreograph it and will need to take a position on the floor. You might only get a few people dancing it.

But the most important thing is tempii. Many B'roomers are particular about this. We have one guy around here that plays to his own drummer. The B'roomers always talk about his "Deadly Slow Foxtrots".

Hope this helps.

OB

This may sound almost insulting, but if new to playing for dancing it could be worth discretely using one of the little seiko credit-card metronomes at first. A ballroom crowd really, really wants a steady fixed tempo at all but the most advanced levels - altering the timing for expression really only works at the end of the number. Swing crowds are more into working off the music and may be able to handle more variation at intermediate levels. Reallly watching the dancefloor could be a good guide as to what is and isn't working. Also keep the songs at around 2 minutes, maybe 2 and a half, never more than 3 minutes - and don't be afraid to wind it up early if no one is dancing or people are dropping out.

There have been situations where the dancing tended to pick up when the band went on break and recordings were put on to cover... but with attention to the dancer's perspective, that won't be your band.

Just to add about tempi:

Nothing will irritate people with B'room experience more than Quicksteps played at Foxtrot tempi.

Hope this helps.

OB