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, 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@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

850-544-7614




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