Snowball dance - how do you do it?

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rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
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Dec 9, 2009
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I've been asked for a snowball dance. Never done one before but generally know how it goes. My question, I thought you were suppose to call "Snowball", with the song still playing, and this tells the people on the floor to go get someone else. I googled it and it says to stop the music to signal them to go get another partner. How do you guys do this?
 
The Snowball Dance is a great way to get wedding guests moving to the dance floor. An up-tempo song is played as the wedding party is called to the dance floor. The bridal party begins dancing. When the music stops, the female members of the bridal party go to the seated guests and bring back another male partner. (according to Google)
 
It's weird. After all these years, nobody has ever asked for this dance. I've always used Anniversary for a floor warmer. Guess it's time to stretch, just a bit. Kinda looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.
They might not know what it is either and may have the name on a different dance .. ask them to verify and wing it ...
 
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You could do it any way - example, I've seen people use something like Ghostbusters - everytime they say the word 'Ghostbusters', you go get a new partner. You could stop the music, have a key word, say something, make a sound (like a siren), whatever. The limitation is your imagination.
 
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I got the Snowball dance idea from a DJ in Pennsylvania who used it at every wedding. It's been a great way to break the ice for me although some couples don't want it. I wouldn't ever stop the music when doing this. I just instruct everyone to go out and grab someone when I say "snowball". Google is getting weird!
 
This motivator is like 30-35 years old. It is called the Snowball Dance. It does start with the bridal party. It does use the multiplication method. It does require a lot of vocalizations to make sure the herd of cats (bridal party and guests) doesn't derail, sit down, fail to follow orders, yet does respond well to threats of severe beatings, etc..

Part of the success of the technique is once each person has gone and grabbed a seated person that they may get to do something fun with the new partner such as a "kiss on the cheek", "a nice squeeze", "can you gaze into their eyes and smile", etc. Also, my rule was that one could NOT pick their own spouse/date/& guest.

My favorite track was a custom-made mix of "Moonlight Serenade" featuring first the vocal Thelma Houston version mixed into the digital Glenn Miller version and went 7 minutes so nothing need be hurried and fun can be had, for the crowd and for me. To me, playing anything fast caused any aged, slightly disabled, or just plain doesn't dance to fast music, to run and/or refuse which completely defeats the purpose of doing the Snowball in the first place.
 
On caveat is that a "Snowball Dance" has been a mainstay at children's parties and Bat Mitzvahs for decades. A sophisticated adult crowd is going to want nothing to do with it unless, as Cap suggests you can class it up with some very adult ice breaking twists.
 
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We used to do it regularly here years ago but it's been 10+ years since I did it last and 10+ before that....

The way I did it was ask for 2 volunteers then explain this is a snowball dance and how to do it. I would always use a longer song get those two to dance for 45 seconds or so and call snowball. They would run off and grab 2 about 30 seconds later call snowball again and again 30 after that. Keep going until there are no people left to take to the dance floor. Whatever you do DON'T stop the music.

I've never had a snowball fail it just fell out of fashion
 
Google is not a substitute for experience or training.

How can you use experience, if you've never done it before?
And, how can you "train" for a Snowball Dance? Do they have Snowball Dance classes?
Do the teachers need to be certified by the Snowball Dance Instructors of America?

I bet you can find the answer to ALL of these questions....
but you'd have to Google it.
 
Nah, I got this without Google:

Don't do it.
Go to school. Yes.
No, but the school has to be licensed.
 
Yeah this is a week old sue me :D

I can't really add in what others have said, but I've found that this is becoming more popular this year than I've had it ever. I only ever do it by request. But this is how I run it

I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston is just about the right length. I ask the bride and groom to the center of the dance floor and tell them we have a very special dance (again all this will be worked out in advance). I say something like "I'm going to start this ong and I want you two to start dancing, but when I say your name, I want you to find someone that isn't dancing and bringing them out unto the dance floor. I'll say your name again and the four of you will find four people that aren't dancing and so on and so forth." Then I'll say "now Kori and Chad, are you ready?" pause, "Kori and Chad, do you know what to do?" usually i'll get nods, me, "KORI...CHAD..." kick the music on and let people go get their partners. Then I'll mix it up throughout the song (don't ever stop the song) and say "if you're happy to be celebrating with Kori and Chad and you're on the dance floor" or something similar throughout the song. Sometimes I will let them dance one more time for 15 seconds or so before saying their names the first time.

I literally just did this this weekend, although the bride wanted Brown Eyed Girl to start with, so I did that, gave one more call out when Dance With Somebody started and let the floor go nuts.

Now, I've been doing this, off and on, since I started DJing in 2012 and it isn't super well known but it can be fun with the right couple and the right crowd. I've done this the traditional way, by saying "snowball", and by playing Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, but I've been having more fun and getting better results with Dance With Somebody, plust it doesn't hurt that song is an almost promised dance floor filler.