In the early 90’s I decided to take up Ballroom dancing again, after having really enjoyed it in my teens.
10 years ago, after a dance lesson, I was asked whether I could help out and DJ for the teacher, who also runs social dances, while he went overseas. Yes, sure… I thought it was going to be easy. A couple of weeks later, “working” around the clock, with the help of good DJ friend, I got there – just.
After DJing a few times, I was asked by one of the directors of the SATD (Society of Australian Dance Teachers) to submit a tender for the SATD Social Dance events. I was invited to DJ and have been doing it ever since. (The last 3 years every 4 - 6 weeks, on Sunday afternoons 2.30pm – 5.30pm).
After DJing for a year or so for the SATD and helping out other DJs at various venues, while they went away, I was invited by a Club to DJ the Wednesday evening Social Dance from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
I LOVE doing it and view it as a community service (not a business) and my mission is to create an environment for the local dance community "to enjoy 2 dance."
Since my early days I always enjoyed music and have spent “a small fortune” buying tapes, LP’s, CD’s and MP3 tracks. So when I prepare for the next event and need to select from so many tracks, my key election criteria is: “If I listen to a piece of music and feel like getting up and dancing to it, I “know” it is a good track.”
All music is played at the “correct” speed, as determined by the various Australian Dance Societies.
The feedback and attendance rate confirm that many dancers feel the same way. Great!
Besides these DJ gigs, I still dance Ballroom – Modern, Latin, New Vogue, and Sequence – 3 nights a week and love every moment of it.
Sydney has a great Social Ballroom dance community. We are very lucky.