Exchanges and their DJs

Message

mousethief · #31 Post by **mousethief** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:28 am

Begs the question of why small scenes even bother with exchanges. Also, I repeat my support for using local talent over imported talent.

Kalman

hypr_chik · #32 Post by **hypr_chik** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:46 am

I think its a matter of expectation and perspective. When some small scenes have tried to make an exchange, their expectations can be unrealistic and try for a huge extravaganza. To me some of the smaller events I have been to were fun because they were, what they were - smaller events.
I see nothing wrong with scenes, wanting to have a get-together in their own town/city... but many forget that it doesn' have to be so formal or on a HUGE scale. Budget can be more moderate, and theirfore less financial risk is involved, venues can be smaller (or possibly the regular ones), set a cap for comfortable dancing and stick with it. In my experience at smaller events, people get to dance with almost everyone... bond... be social and they can have a very relaxed feel. Invite friend DJs to 'hang out' for a relaxing weekend where they mebbe get a set or two and no one is working long and comp them and take care of them.

The people who were there have a great time and shared that with others, word of mouth advertising travels fast. How many times do exchanges go well and then the next year they grow bigger, or sell out faster? Sometimes going for that big blow out right off the bat isn't the way to go....

Nate Dogg · #33 Post by **Nate Dogg** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:20 am

mousethief wrote:Begs the question of why small scenes even bother with exchanges. Also, I repeat my support for using local talent over imported talent.

Kalman

Several DJs say they are all about seeing local talent at Exchanges, but those DJs also seem to offer their services/accept invitations to DJ at out of town events. Not just you Kalman, but a lot of people on this Board and Yehoodi.

Personally, I think you can't come up with a hard and fast rule that works for every event. It depends on the event and the attendees. Austin has usually had a mixture of local and out of towners. That works for us, but I can think of cases were either all local or all imported have been effective.

Nathan

mousethief · #34 Post by **mousethief** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:13 am

There's a pronounced difference between requesting out of town gigs as an outside vendor and an organizer making a decision to play down local DJs and bands in favor of outside talent.

Sometimes I get requested - rare but true - but I like to hear local DJs. I'd consider going to any event Matt Jones DJs, because he finds bizarre selections that rock. But that doesn't mean I want to see MJ at every event. Part of what makes MJ great is his local flavor and his local picks. If 80% of the DJ and band time is devoted to out-of-town DJs and bands, then where is the local flavor?

Austin's a weird case; lots of local DJs and demand from outside DJs wanting in. But ALX is also a hugely successful event in the lindy world. Many smaller exchanges don't have the same strong base to draw from.

Kalman

BigCash · #35 Post by **BigCash** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:07 pm

With Lindy Gras...

We obvioulsy focus on local live music as much as our budget will allow, and in regards to DJs, we like variety.

Traditionally we have one dance named "the new orleans music show", that is only DJd by locals, playing only New Orleans music.

mousethief · #36 Post by **mousethief** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:32 pm

A great example. Most scenes couldn't do an all-local music dance but Big C uses local DJ talent almost the entire last day of the exchange.

From the Lindy in the Park event to the local radio DJs at Rock 'n' Bowl, it is a showcase of local talent.

Kalman

gatorgal · #37 Post by **gatorgal** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 1:00 pm

mousethief wrote:Begs the question of why small scenes even bother with exchanges. Also, I repeat my support for using local talent over imported talent.

Kalman

It's already been said, but smaller scenes shouldn't feel discouraged from holding exchanges. They should, however, be realistic about the results.

Tina

mousethief · #38 Post by **mousethief** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 1:35 pm

Agreed. I just don't want to go to the same exchange in several different cities, just with a smaller pool of dancers. Besides, I don't think exchanges build scenes - workshops and dances build scenes. If you're a small scene, having 100+ dancers descend on your town might not be the best thing.

Now, a good workshop with a good dance or competition that puts experienced outsiders together with the locals, that's kickass. In fact, I would say that the overall Texas scene was built on the backs of the Austin Swing Riot and Houston GSWLF workshops. Without that core group of dancers, the exchanges would have been impossible.

Kalman

Kyle · #39 Post by **Kyle** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:02 pm

the problem with having a LocalDJ exchange is that some scenes dont have enough good DJs to fill. Here in LA we have some great DJ's. But if you are billing it as a local DJ event, you might get those shittyer DJ's wanting to play at the event. and there are only so many Sunday afternoon time slots to dump them into

Swifty · #40 Post by **Swifty** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:51 am

Again, like Kalman said earlier and I've been saying for years now -

If you don't have enough talent to support an exchange then maybe you shouldn't be having one.

I've said this before too, but maybe it's still a worthy analogy.

I know I can't cook worth a lick, so I'm not going to invite a bunch of my friends over for me to cook them dinner. I'm also not going to hire a chef to come in and cook dinner for me just so I can have people over. If I really want to have a dinner party, I'm okay with going out to eat somewhere else.

FWIW, I'm really starting to feel like a broken record in this debate. I guess I really don't see why everyone and their brother feels it's necessary to host an exchange these days.

mousethief · #41 Post by **mousethief** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:50 am

I was going to say something really snarky, but I won't.

Dress up for Y6A, though.

Kalman

gatorgal · #42 Post by **gatorgal** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:35 am

mousethief wrote:I was going to say something really snarky, but I won't.

Dress up for Y6A, though.

Kalman

You just couldn't help yourself, could you?

Swifty wrote:FWIW, I'm really starting to feel like a broken record in this debate. I guess I really don't see why everyone and their brother feels it's necessary to host an exchange these days.

I've always thought the mindset was that smaller scenes are trying to expose their folks to better dancers and different music. The premise being that perhaps their dancers can't get out, so maybe they can bring the better stuff in.

Yes, that's naive, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Tina

mousethief · #43 Post by **mousethief** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:47 am

I doubt that exposing a scene to better dancers for a weekend makes for better local dancers - unless it's partnered with instruction. I think many scenes are having exchanges because it's cool or it's fun or it's expected of them.

Kalman

yedancer · #44 Post by **yedancer** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:49 am

mousethief wrote:I doubt that exposing a scene to better dancers for a weekend makes for better local dancers - unless it's partnered with instruction. I think many scenes are having exchanges because it's cool or it's fun or it's expected of them.

Kalman

I would slightly disagree. There are many occasions when newer dancers in our scene were exposed to great dancers from other scenes, and this got them really excited and interested in improving.

GemZombie · #45 Post by **GemZombie** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:08 am

Swifty wrote:FWIW, I'm really starting to feel like a broken record in this debate. I guess I really don't see why everyone and their brother feels it's necessary to host an exchange these days.

I hear ya. Everytime I take some locals to an exchange, the conversation on the way back is "We should do an exchange". Ya ya ya... well, we did one once (well, we called it a mini-exchange), it went pretty well, but we're such a small scene that unless we have a really good hook to get everyone in, it's just going to be an "ok" exchange... and really, what's the point?

There are plenty of exchanges, let the big dogs do it.