20 Sep
2023
20 Sep
'23
9:15 p.m.
I've played in three different FL venues, and all were strongly air
conditioned -- one was the coldest I've ever been while playing ;) Looking
at trycontra <https://www.trycontra.com/>, it looks to me like all seven
active contra dances in FL are in air conditioned halls. On the other
hand, in New England it's common to have dances in hot humid summer weather
without AC, including at the Concord Scout House (Boston area, and 95F the
last time I danced there) and Guiding Star Grange (Greenfield). So I doubt
the temperature in the dance hall is a major factor in regional tempo
patterns?
Jeff
On Wed, Sep 20, 2023 at 4:22 PM Richard Hopkins via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I called community dances regularly in North Florida
for almost 30 years
(1990-2018), mostly in Tallahassee but also in Gainesville, Jacksonville,
and Melrose, and at the Florida Folk Festival.
It probably won’t be news to you that it gets hot in Florida, and stays
hot for a long time. Some of my favorite dance venues were not outdoors,
or not air conditioned, or not strongly so. Desired dance tempo interacts
strongly with how hot and humid the dance space is and how long you run the
dances. My own preferred tempo for contras is always in the range of 115
to 118, but in addition to the other factors mentioned here (agility and
age of dancers, mix of experience levels, etc) the temperature of the hall
modifies that desired tempo.
Some of these same dance venues were not heated in the cool months either,
and keeping up the tempo and keeping the teaching succinct are welcomed by
the dancers under those conditions.
Sorry if this is belaboring the obvious.
RSH
Richard Hopkins
hopkinsrs(a)comcast.net
850-544-7614
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