Crowds That Won't Dance........

Chuck, I know Jon will chime in with the (reverse) Anniversary Dance, so I'll let him have that...

We all come across that situation from time to time. There are many reasons the guests won't get up to dance, sometimes you're competing against desserts or full tummies, sometimes they're just not ready. I simply do my best and try to read the room, eventually the dancing will start. I think that changing songs every 30 seconds may make you look a bit desperate in the eyes of the guests. I would suggest no more than one fade out and go directly into a slow song. If they don't dance, I would continue doing what I do and keep mixing full songs.

While not to chucks extreme I will start poping genres to genre every three songs either until something hits if nothing works I will drop into slow songs!

I don't beg them to dance either I hit with them or I don't. I watch closely for annoyed looks or tapping feet and seat dancers.

Sometimes it isn't the DJ but the mood of the crowd! I had a group this past Christmas that had always been pretty wild partiers but this year the mood was black and many left after the dinner and door prizes were done. I found out at the end of the gig that the company was laying off over 100 workers at the first of the year!

I do use slow songs as a method to get them on the floor, but with a little twist. I've mentioned this before, But will tell again here. I will stop the music and get on mic and say te following. 'Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please. I want to take a quick survey of the crowd. Do me a favor and raise your hand if you are here with someone who is special to you - someone you love and care deeply about. (pause) That's great. Looks like we have a lot of couples here. Well, I'm going to now give you the opportunity to prove to that person that mean what you say. Because if you really mean it, you will grab that someone special by the hand and bring them to the dance floor for our next song. Now if they are not THAT special, well just remain in your seats and we'll all just try to understand.'

Works EVERY time.

Then you just hit them with your 'A' tunes. With no gap between the two songs. The 'A' song needs to be instantly recognizable from the first note. An example would be something like 'Old Time Rock & Roll.

That reminds me of another little trick I do. I will also get on the mic and announce that I'm taking requests and would love to play what they want to hear. But there is one requirement on their part. If you request it, you MUST dance to it. That usually gives them the hint that dancing is expected.

One thing I've noticed in some of the events I've been to is when the DJ or Band don't provide lighting and the venue leaves the lights on at full brightness people tend not to get up and dance, reduce the venue lighting and then they tend to get up and boogie

To be honest, I never gauge the success of an event based on the number of people on the dance floor. If people are talking (can hear each other talk) and stay late, then it usually means they are having a good time.

I never beg or draw attention to the guests that the floor is empty and we need to fill it. Usually, people are just drinkin' cocktails until the time is right.

Some of my most thankful clients have been ones where the dancing wasn't always the highest.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

In addition to this, I do the anniversary dance thing but I do it with 2 songs (per brides permission)

i fill the dance floor with couples starting with the bride and groom and all the couples married in the same month. then I call out 3 more months, then 3 more, etc. until the floor is filled. Then I play a 2nd song asking people to leave the floor that have been married less than 5 years, then 10, then 15 etc until the last couple remains.

Sometimes the bride gives that couple a floral centerpiece or something. Photographer takes a picture.

then the floor is nice and empty for boquet and garter.

Sometimes, I'll get out on the floor and get people going with cupid shuffle, then Jump On It. Makes myself the butt of jokes, but its a huge ice breaker. i don't fear embarrassment most of the time.

I used to hit myself hard when I couldn't get people to dance but now i've learned to accept that there are going to be nights like those. If people are chair dancing, singing along, toe tapping and generally looking happy then my work is done. If they want to pack the floor all night then I can work with that too.

young...

I try a Line Dance like the Electric Slide or something and then follow it up with some "A" songs.

Good time for me to respond!


I did a class reunion last night and it was sorta a dead night for a bit. This is what worked for me....

I said..the first person to give me a request will get a free drink. I had two guests come up and request something. They were happy for the free drink.

I tried something new...and yes it might have been a bit odd...but I said, the first person to text message me a song to my phone gets a free drink, and gave the number. Roughly about 5 minutes go by, and BAM....there a message is on my phone. WOOHOO!

So last night I ended up buying about 8 drinks to get this thing going. I am a little bit bummed I had to do this, but this just happened to be one of those nights.

Of course after the people got some drinks in them, and got in the party zone, there wasn't a song I couldn't play that would keep them off the dance floor.

I played Jumper...lol...and they stayed on floor and belted out this tune!! This is not one of those "A" game songs either...


I gave out a few drinks to this situation.

One guy had his drink spilled by someone knocking it off the edge of the stage...so I said the person who lost their drink, I will buy you one, and the first person who can get up here and take care of this mess quickly will get a free drink! Worked great.

Free drinks.....worked for me!


Other nights...like on weddings where the couples are from some distance away or the relatives and they are not a dancing crowd, I normally let them visit. This of course, is very understandable.

I've had a few boring bar gigs, and I used to gauge the night by the amount of dancers....so not true. Some of those nights the bars make more with people standing around like that.

You really can't gauge a party by dancing, because as mentioned with guests from further away places, sometimes they prefer to visit.

Well I had just such a crowd last night... or so I was told. I can't say I had a packed dance floor except for 2 songs.... the Cha Cha Slide and Because You Loved Me - Celin Dion.

I still count this as a succesful wedding reception because even though the dance floor never filled except for those two songs.... and even was completely empty for several songs.... what I saw was people standing or sitting at their tables either bobbing their heads, tapping their feet or actually dancing at their tables. This tells me they were at the very least enjoying the music and the event.

I don't think any private event DJ should judge a parties success solely on their dance floor being packed or not.

One thing that I've learned is that you can't force people to dance. You can provide the vehicle (the music) and if they are inclined to dance they will.

Some crowds are dancing crowds while others are not and many factors can contribute to them not dancing as stated in some of the previous posts.

Before I was a mobile DJ, I was an FM Radio DJ. I did morning drive time radio 5 days a week for nearly 7 years. I gained a tremendous experience with talk-ups, talk-overs, and out-ros.

Whenever I am faced with a non-dance crowd, I simply go into my radio station mode. The crowd usually enjoys my talk-ups and out-tros. They usually warm up to me fast, eventually ask for a request, and the dancing naturally follows all by itself.

I really enjoy this type of crowd, as it is challenging, yet workable.
And you can substitue almost any genre to fit the crowd.

Good one Chuck - I love these situations - club, bar or wedding whatever.

I work the crowd by wandering the venue and talking to people - the older ones are best as they usually have something funny to say on the wireless mic and this tends to break the ice.

Once in my heyday I got the "house technicians" ladder and overalls on in 2000 capacity club I was at for 5 years and started to pretend to be fixing things with the ceiling making loud noises and cussing. Everyone was wondering what was going on and when I got back to my DJ booth - disc on dance floor full.

Once at the same club I got paint covered overalls on and one of those giant floor polishers then proceeded to polish the dance floor with an old style wireless mic taped to the handle which really annoyed everyone as it came out of the PA at such a volume people were getting annoyed. It worked

Another time - I taped a microphone on an upright vacuum cleaner (industrial grade) then slapped on Mull of Kintyre by Sir Paul - when the bagpipe break came in I slowly marched onto the main band stage in Y fronts only and turned the vacuum on - the part where it said ...."oh mist rolling in from.." the tech let the smoke machine off and it was such a laugh

HumoUr is key when all else fails.

I have done so many things here and Randy Lira in San Jose saw me work at dead crowd in SF once - I love it as it changes the event from being ho hum to a lotta fun

D

I've had parties like that, sometimes people just don't want to dance. Some receptions are this way, but my worst type of party for no dancing is a 10 year class reunion.

I usually play waitress and go around to each table to take requests. This gives me a better idea as to what genre(s) the crown prefers, even if they're not dancers. It also lets guests know that I am there to serve them as their DJ. In my opinion, forcing a crowd to dance makes a DJ appear desperate and can create an awkward situation for guests.

Chuck, the best piece of advice I can provide for the DJs who read your article is this: DON'T SWEAT IT!! If the DJ appears desperate, the party gets desperate. That makes guests uncomfortable and they will leave.