We've just started a ballroom dance club at school and I was hoping some of you would be able to let me know which cd's I should invest in purchasing for the club. It's all college students so I want something that would appeal to the younger crowd. Any suggestions?

Where is the club?

Depending on where you live can effect the price you pay.

I'm in Canada and used to buy a lot of my BD CDs at Dance Vision:

http://www.dancevision.com (I think)

You can listen to samples there but generally more expensive is better as you often get original artists. Cheaper CDs tend to be cheap covers and sound awful.

Now I get much better prices from Disctribution in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. You can't sample but their selection often can be heard at DanceVision.

http://www.disctribution.ab.ca/

Counting exchange and shipping it costs me about half what I paid at DV.

I have found some of the DanceLife series to be pretty good as covers (especially: Bring 2 Smiles to Your Feet).

I'd avoid newer "Casa Musica" CDs as they are copy guarded. I'm not promoting breaking copyright here. It's just they have 10 tangos in a row followed by 10 waltzes, etc. Our club buys the originals but then mixes and matches our own CDs for variety.

Hope this helps.

OB

The club is in the US, in Connecticut. The students are all beginners so I'm looking for cd's that would have slower tempos as well as faster ones. Do you think mixing our own cd's would be best? And are there any websites that have a top songs list on it?

Thanks for your help!

You can go to www.danceplus.com. It is a seller out of Canada that I purchase a lot of my CD from. As indicated in the previous reply, www.dancevision.com is a good place also. They are out of Las Vegas. I recommend the Casa Musica discs. The newer ones are protected but the older ones are not. The have great songs with great beats. Casa Musica has there own website, not sure of the address. You can sample songs there. The music is what you pay for.
I hope this helps

bg,

Thanks for the new link. I'll give it a look. Are you in Canada? I'm with the Victoria Ballroom Dance Society in BC.

shu,

Casa Musica is good. So are some of "The Ultimate Ballroom Album" series.

Some of the "Latin Jam" series are good too. I like I & IV. Being university I think you should go as contemporary as possible.

Yes, I think you should mix your own CDs, especially for social events. My wife & I teach beginners here. I make master CDs of just Tango, Samba, etc. of my favourites for teaching purposes from my originals. Then we have mixes for general dancing.

When you order CDs from the sites listed above 99.99% they come with the tempii listed (i.e. 32 mpm). Many also have a mix of tempii too. Some slower. Some faster. But too slow can be just as defeating as too fast. So don't hold your people back for too long.

When it comes to listed tempii note:

mpm or mm = measures per minute
bpm = bars per minute = mpm or mm

Sometimes ballroom clubs arrange for live orchestras. There is often confusion when ballroomers try and request tempii. Musicians use:

bpm = beats per minute

It's not the same as the bpm (mpm/mm) above. Make sure you're talking on the same channel.

OB

bg,

I just did a quick comparison on the Dance Life series between DancePlus & Disctribution.

Everything at DP was $34.95 Canadian

at Disctribution they ranged from $25-$30 for the same discs.

DP has a buy 5 get 1 free offer and free shipping.

I didn't notice if Disctribution had free shipping.

The owners of Disctribution, the Van Hogezandts, compete here every year and always bring a big selection with them so I never think about shipping.

OB

Get some advice from a person who has been, or is a ballroom dancer preferably
with competition experience. Without good music played at the correct tempo for each of the dances, you will be doomed. this will mean you have to be able to contol the speed of the music, which is for the Modern Waltz 29 Bars per minute. The Foxtrot 29 bpm. Tango 32 bpm. V. Waltz 59 bpm. and the Quickstep 51 bpm.My pick at this moment. I go for music being played by German Orchestras. In most cases they can be danced straight off the disc without having to adjust the tempo. Also the length of each tune plus the above mentioned tempo should be clearly marked with each disk. Remember that without music there is no dance.Be very carefull. After becoming proficient in selecting music you will soon discover that our top dancers giving a demonstration usually dance to even slower than the recomended tempo especially in the Rumba. Best of luck.

Shu,

Good advice from Quickstep which brings up this question:

Is you club going to dance International or American style?

The answer will affect your choice of tempii in some cases.

The discs mentioned above are all "strict tempo" fitting in with what Quickstep mentions.

OB