Proms

Proms

Spring time means a time for the gentle rains, delightful fragrances, and young love. So dig out those Slow pop dance tunes: It's prom season. These events (even junior proms) can happen any day of the week, with Wednesday through Saturday being the heaviest. This can mean an extra gig or two during the week for you.

Plain and simple, ANYONE can DJ a Prom! Some of you may equate a prom with just another kids dance and you're just not a kids party DJ. Well let me bring you up to speed.

A Prom is an event where it's very easy to meet the client's/guests expectations. DJs ask if they should be the main focus of attention at a prom?The answer is NO! Their attention is focused on their date and their immediate clique of friends. Furthermore they are already thinking towards post-prom festivities; the beach, the room at the hotel, etc. Now don't get me wrong, they still want to party. Let them know early on that you got this by playing the current HOT dance music and requests. Of course you will have to choose from the overwhelming request list they give you. You will see a little bit of everything and from all genres and years. You will even be surprised at the older tuns they pick.

This brings us to the most important musical feature of your evening: Slow Jams! If nothing else works, throw in one of the MANY slow dance requests you have and just watch the dance floor fill up. Add in a few pre-requisites, like the way you are dressed, the cavalcade of pictures, the Prom theme song, and the coronation of the King and Queen, and you just met their expectations. Simply deliver the goods.

Right now, I'll bet there is a rookie DJ somewhere who is reading this and is really confused. Meeting the client's expectations? As DJs we are always told to EXCEED The clients expectations! That is correct! Rise to the occasion and have some fun with it. Feel out the crowd with an activity or line dance early on. This will give you a clearer indication of the direction you're going to want to go. Perhaps the music will work better, or maybe you will just run those activities and line dances. You can do t all at some proms. Nothing else you do will pull them together as a class more than a group activity or dance.

And while the last few notes of the hottest slow song fades down, you will have for a fleeting moment, transcended their animal like passions at the local hotel, to pure thoughts of the great time they had with you "Their DJ". The results: A killer show, a handsome gratuity, and lots of potential referrals (graduation parties, etc.).

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End of Summer or Start of School dance season?

The End of Summer or The Beginning of The School Year

Most people view the arrival of labor day as the unofficial end of summer. Most disc jockeys however, see it as the beginning of the fall wedding season. While it is true that we perform at many weddings during this time as in the springtime, this season also has its share of other parties, including SCHOOL DANCES.

Talk to five disc jockeys and you will get five different opinions of school dances. Some say they are easy. Some say they are the most difficult. Some will tell you the music is most important while others feel activities make the dance a success.

The truth is that all of these viewpoints are right. Since you can’t predict exactly what the students will respond to, the best advice is to be prepared for anything.

MUSIC SELECTION

If you want teens to dance, you’ve got to tune in to what they like. Generally they choose to dance to the current popular hits. Listen to the local top 40 Radio station or just visit their website for their playlist to get an example of what the hottest songs are. When you call your client, ask if the students prepared a list of songs for you and make the effort to bring them with you. Of course you can always ask your fellow DJs for suggestions. They will tell you to play some of yesterday’s hits as well as classics.

ACTIVITIES

Your selection of activities will vary based on the age group you are dealing with as well as the groups overall opinion of such activities. When speaking to the client, talk to them about previous dances to find out more specific information about the students. Were a lot of activities done? Were the students receptive to them? You will find that in almost all cases you will hear reports that the activities were the hit of the party.

Use your “people skills” to make the following activities fun for students. The Cha Cha Slide, The Cupid Shuffle, The Wobble, a choo choo train, the twist, multiplication dance, and even the Chicken Dance can all be successful if you, once again, try to “tune in” to the students!

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What’s your number?

What’s your number?

Students in Junior High School are the biggest Geeks in the world. They're just starting to notice the opposite sex. But they don't know how to act. The girls stand in cliques, and the guys fart and throw things at the DJ. These guys are four years away from their sexual peak. So, they're horny, too.

And it is this horniness that drives them to the cliques. But the cliques won't accept them. They're tight and intimidating. When a guy approaches one to ask a girl to dance, the other girls giggle. The guy doesn't even wait for the response; He feels rejected and leaves. The girl doesn't feel badly, though. She's still with friends. But the guys alone; his ego, bruised. He quickly realizes that the humiliation of rejection outweighs the pleasure of a dance. So, in junior high school, the guy has to have either a lot of courage or a callousness to humiliation to approach a girl.

Here lies a paradox of adolescence. Girls act like they don't want to be asked to dance, but they really do. In fact, they'd rather reject a dork and not get asked at all. That's because a girl who doesn't get asked is perceived ugly. It's another example for the adage that kids are cruel. They pick on one another for names, stupidity, and incoordination. But the worst is when they pick one one another for looks. A guy who gets rejected is perceived ugly, a girl who doesn't get asked is perceived ugly. No guy wants to be ugly. So, instead of getting rejected and finding out he is, he just doesn't ask anyone to dance. The girls, then, are the ugly ones.

None of this would happen if the guys had suaveness. But they don't get it in junior high school. They don't understand the open-ended question. They go right up to the girls and ask them if they want to dance. It’s easy for the girls to say “No”. So, that's what they say. It gives them superiority over men. A girl won't dance with a guy unless she wants him. She'll reject everyone until that guy asks her. If he doesn't, she's still satisfied. She got asked and that makes her beautiful.

When you consider the Paradox and the guys lack of suaveness, you understand why guys room one side and girls stand in the cliques on the other side at a junior high school dance. Eventually, the girls get bored and start making requests and dancing, and the guys start congregating and bothering the DJ. The DJ must maintain control. And the best way to do it is to get the guys and girls to mingle. Of course, the DJ has to overcome the social inadequacies of the adolescents. The DJ has to teach the guys to ask open-ended questions.

Before the dance, count out 50 business cards and number them 1 through 50 in blue or black Ink. Count out another 50 and number them 1 through 50 in Red ink. Give both sets to the people at the door of the dance and tell them to give a blue or black card to each one of the first 50 guys and a red card to each one of the first 50 girls.

At the beginning of the dance, you'll see the guys go to one side and the girls go to the other side. Shortly after your opening, tell the students to look at their cards. The guys have 50 cards in blue or black, and the girls have 50 cards in red. The first guy and girl to find one another with the same number each win a prize. And then, play a slow song. The result is amazing. The guys run up to the girls and ask “What's your number?” The first couple to produce the same one wins the prizes and gets invited start the slow dancing. All other couples with the same number should also dance. Tell everyone to hold onto their cards. They never know when they'll need them again.

This activity presents three benefits. First, guys and girls will continue to ask one another for numbers, thinking the DJ's going to give away more prizes. If a guy and girl don't have matching numbers, this question might get them talking and eventually, dancing. Second, the students will put the cards in their clothes, forget about them, and then their mothers will find them when they do the laundry. This may lead to referrals. And third, you're preparing the students for their future. At this dance, they're asking for numbers for prizes. In high school they'll ask one another four numbers for dates.

Just Keep On Dancing

Just Keep On Dancing

Life follows rules. Here's one for you. Guys love to watch girls dance. If you're a guy, you know what I mean. If you're a girl, just keep on dancing.

We can incorporate this rule at parties where the guests aren't related or dating. School dances are prime examples. At these parties, most of the guest check out the opposite sex. The girls dance in cliques, and the guys watch. The girls know the guys are watching, and every guy has an opinion on who the best dancer is.

To get everyone's attention. Tell them you're going to have a dance contest and then call up five guys to be judges. The guys will usually approach the DJ with a raised hand. High five the first 5 to select the judges. This is a manly thing to do.

Get each guy to say his name into the microphone and then make the one who gets the loudest cheer the committee chairman. The five guys are the committee, and they have to select the best dancer. The chairman, then, presents the prize to the winner. And then call the ladies to the dance floor. The younger they are, the less reluctant they'll be to go. They don't know they're out there to be watched by the guys. They think they're trying to win a prize.

Play a song with massive appeal to Girls. It's usually the hot, current song sung by a girl or a group of girls. This song will draw more girls to dance and get the rest of the guys to circumvent the floor. They know girls are dancing. So they want to see.

The girls will dance; the guys will watch, and it's an interesting phenomenon. Everyone's entertained. Most of the girls who are dancing wonder if they'll win. Some wonder if they're being noticed. The girls who aren't dancing talk about the ones who are. The guys stand and stare. And the committee talks about their favorites.

When the song is over, ask everyone to applaud for the girls. Give the prize to the chairman and tell him to give it to the winner. He'll have his moment, and then he'll finally present the prize. If this contest succeeds, try another one later on with 5 girl judges and the guys dancing. Girls love to watch guys dance, too, especially after they know they've been watched.

Building Cliques into a party

Building Cliques into a party

It doesn't matter if it's the owner of a bar, the chairman of a prom committee, the Personnel manager of a company, or a bride, clients are always nervous wrecks. No one wants to throw a bad party, and the start of everyone looks pretty bad. First, clients are never satisfied with what they've got. They always want more of something. And second, clients never get everyone they invite. Their parties always look small. High school students who throw parties when their parents are away are the only ones in the world who get more than they expect.

To understand the anxiety of clients, let's examine the first quarter of a party. Guests arrive and bond into cliques. This is something people do naturally. It's called socializing. The party will stay in this state, a series of cliques, until a force acts upon it. The DJ, by position, is that Force. Hey DJ, then, must Bond cliques into a party. To accomplish this, you must craftily secure the focus and then direct it accordingly to the guest of honor, Dancefloor, activity, and contest. A DJ who holds the focus is an egomaniac, and one who moves it ineffectively is inept.

Timing is everything. It's a cliche, and it's true to this job. A DJ must know when to take the focus. If it's taken too soon, the DJs wild; and if it's taken too late, DJ's slow. The best time to take it is when the cliques have bonded as much as they're going to. It's after dinner when the people start smoking, getting drinks, and going to the bathroom. It's 45 minutes into a school dance when everyone realizes no one else is coming.

Unfortunately, the timeliness of good DJs and the anxiety of typical clients never coincide. Before DJs can even see focus, clients want outrageousness, usually while the guests are still arriving. Only idiots do that. So, you've got the calm clients in the first quarters of the parties. Tell them all parties of this type start in this way. They'll find that reassuring. They're not the only ones who throw bad parties. Tell them guests have to get to know one another dancing. If you really want to go off, point out the ones who are smiling. That'll let them know everyone's having a good time. Clients will see your self-confidence, give you their trust and then run off to do something else.