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Contra and Musical Content

7/18/2012

Among other comments, caller Ted Hodapp mentioned that something he might add to future techno calling gigs would be to "...try and figure out a few dances that might specifically link up to medleys devised by our DJ."

This reminded me of Louis Dow in Miami, FL discussing writing dances to go with specific songs he spins. Another caller I talked to touched on an interesting concept that more modern lyrical content has been introducing to contra dance -- the infusion of content, especially having to do with lyrics and the dimension they can add a new layer of mood to the experience.

In a traditional contra, a caller will generally approach the band and say something like, "I want the first dance to be smooth and sultry, the second one to have a lot of Petronella turns and balances, and the third one has a lot of energy," and the band agrees on tunes to play accordingly. In a contra that incorporates music with lyrics, it can go the other way -- a DJ can say, "these are the tunes and mixes I have" and the caller can plan a program to suit (or, a DJ/caller might align tunes and dances due to a confluence of names, or even write dances to the tunes).

It's a reversal of the normal work order for a contra dance, and it seems like it might open up some intriguing possibilities. I wonder if others have experimented with this as well...and whether or not dancers (besides me) notice such things. I welcome your thoughts!

Techno Contra and Marketing

2/27/2012

In a marketing class I once took, the professor talked about a "Marketing Mantra:"

_Marketing comes first.
Marketing drives the product.
Marketing drives the process.
Marketing is king.

We've talked a lot on this blog about marketing crossover contra events to contra dancers, and some of the challenges that come with that. In fact, sometimes to get funding, crossover contra organizers have to frame it as an outreach project. This is all well and good (and generally seems to work), but what is the crossover contra community doing to actually make this an outreach opportunity to welcome more people into the fold?

Terra Price talked some about how they did just that for last fall's Deca-dance event in Spokane, Washington, and it was apparently effective. On the other hand, I mentioned that to a would-be techno contra organizer while I was in Tennessee and she replied, "You mean advertise it to the gen pop [the general population]?!" while looking at me like I'd just sprouted an extra head and possibly a prehensile tail.

Contra dancers are a niche, and techno contra enthusiasts are a subset of that niche. There have been some really interesting stories coming from people who were DJs first and came into the contra scene second. And I -- as well as other dancers -- have successfully "converted" folks who originally thought contra sounded "too dorky" for them, once I actually ~~dragged~~ ~~blackmailed~~ brought them out with me. Word of mouth seems to be working reasonably well, but how else does one go find folks who aren't already "contra converts?"

One of the main tenets of modern marketing is to go to your target and bring them to you, rather than just waiting for them to stumble upon you. To do that, you convince the target that you offer a product that is either original, or is better than the one that already exists. Right now, the movement is focused on marketing itself as an alternative to contra. I think we need to go the other way, too, and present techno contra as an alternative to the club -- that is, somewhere to dance in a different way to the same music, rather than somewhere to dance the same way to different music, as you advertise it to contra dancers. Perhaps the folks in Miami and Saratoga Springs had the right idea, setting their events in taverns and (smokeless, at least in Florida) bars. Relocating the Contra Sonic series to Artisphere (a local arts facility) from Glen Echo Park did attract some new dancers. Having dances in churches and colleges and granges has attracted many people; could there be an untapped (and possibly underappreciated) market in taverns and clubs?

History, Revisited: Talking with Caller & Organizer Louis Dow II

2/8/2012

Some of the more informative interviews I've conducted about the "new" evolutions of contra dance have actually shown me that the ideas of using recorded music and the like are actually not that new at all. I ran across Miami, FL techno contra dance series organizer Louis Dow, who started a monthly techno contra series at the historic Tobacco Road Saloon in Miami last month, and I asked him about his contra experiences -- both before and after he started the series.

"Someone sent me a link to a techno contra video," explains Louis. "I was impressed -– impressed because the kids were actually contra dancing but dancing the way the dance worked when I first started dancing. We had really hot dances, lots of improvising, heavy flirting, really pushing the energy level up. The dances I go to now have lost some of that, I think in part just because the dancers tend to be older. I want to get back to what I think of as 'real' contra dance. I actually started calling it 'roots contra dancing' but ended up going with 'techno' just because that’s the more common parlance."

Contra and Musical Content

Techno Contra and Marketing

History, Revisited: Talking with Caller & Organizer Louis Dow II

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