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Have you ever heard a track and thought , "Whoa, that's awesome, went and dj'ed it and found that when you actually tried dancing to it it's either heaps faster/slower than it sounded, or just not that interesting to dance to?

Ever since making a few mistakes like that I always dance to anything I might be djing first.

Question: When you pick songs to dj, do you base your decision on the fact that it pumps you up and makes you want to get up and dance? Or do you base your song selections on other things? What are they?
Jeff

I don't think it's essential to dance to a song before you can be confident about DJing it. For me, the main thing is trying to feel out how the song would appeal to other dancers. I've found you can often learn what sort of songs work for different crowds by observing and noticing what works for other people - and when thinking about what to DJ for a particular crowd, that's more important than dancing myself.

When I am dancing, and a song really excites me, I also try to make a mental note about that particular song (I also try to notice if the song I'm enjoying dancing to is creating a general 'buzz' in the room).

good point. That's key...some songs just never fail to get the dance floor energized..

Might start tagging those songs in my playlists.

Actually, I think I'll start a thread of the top 10 favourites to dj. Might be an interesting list if others add their own.

cheers

Um, aren't most of the threads in the Swinging Music forum more or less about this?

These may be good places to start:

http://www.swingdjs.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=573
http://www.swingdjs.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2350

The various overplayed songs threads (they're overplayed for a reason, etc. etc. etc.)

The "who's got your back?" thread that I'm too lazy to dig up.

Here's one of the recent 'overplayed songs' threads:

http://www.swingdjs.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2133

I'll check those threads out. but I'm not really talking about overplayed tunes... I'll see if there's an existing thread I can work from....

I try to think how I would dance different dances to a song before I throw it into the rotation. How easy it for the average dancer to six count/jitterbug/east coast vs Lindy vs Bal, Shag, Blues, etc...

Then I tag it in the comments. I use the tag info to pull lists as I DJ.

As to the first post in the thread, sometimes you can't really tell into you see actual dancers dance to the track to know if it really works. I guess that is part of what makes DJing fun. Taking the unplayed tracks and see people react to them favorably.

You would think most of us would have some sort of system like this, think about how a song fits in terms of dancing to it. I guess most of the DJs on this Board do. Of course, in the real world, some DJs don't give a damn and just play what they like. Sometimes it works out ok by instinct, others times they end up being a DJ who does not really play to the crowd.

Nathan

Sometimes I'll put on a song and start dancing around on my own to see how it feels... but then I stop when I realize people are giving me strange looks because I'm listening to music on my headphones in the middle of a hallway.

Why would that make you stop?

Take consideration the sound system at the venue. It isn't always as kind to older music as your home system.

At some point, we had a top hits thread (completely forgot what we called it). A number of years ago, a group of teachers, DJs, coordinators, and dancers got together in Houston specifically to come up with a beginner friendly list. Nate Dogg created his Lindy Essentials list, which accomplished pretty much the same goal in Austin. Great for training up new DJs and teachers, so we all have a common language to start. Gotta have your fall-back list in case you play an off-tune.

This seems to be one thing Djs always forget. I was at a venue with a particularly good acoustics, and no Sub at all, so all the dancers ever heard was echoing screeching Clarinet or really faint guitar (the guy played all slim and slam or artie shaw pretty much.) Even if you do have a song that you have danced to, and you know its a good song, it might not be right for that venue.

To answer the OP though, I always try to dance to the song once, whether on my own or if I'm with someone. Sometimes even playing it first in venues with "interesting" musical tastes. (Sex Bomb should never be played at any dance ever.)