Hi Jeff! It does vary by community... If you played at 120 and up where I dance, the dance would be empty and/or over halfway through. Even at 116-120, older/less fit dancers are getting frustrated, sitting down to catch their breath, and leaving early.

In my experience, 112-114 is the sweet spot. It's not too slow as to be clumsy. It's not too fast for beginners and older/less fit dancers. And for more proficient and creative dancers, it's a pace that allows them to play around a little, while still finishing in time for the next move. 116-118 is okay for a couple dances if they have fewer moves, so the caller needs to tell the band "a little faster is okay".

Keith Tuxhorn
Springfield IL
I call/dance in STL, and central IL

On Tue, Sep 19, 2023 at 11:59 AM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
For me:

116-120: normal, hard to go wrong
110-122: usually fine, depending a bit on the dance and crowd
104-126: possible with the right dance and crowd, but on the edge of undanceable
<104, >126: almost never a good idea

Younger or more athletic crowds generally do better with another couple bpm, and vice versa.

This also varies some by community: some areas historically have had faster or slower music and those communities have many people who've adapted their dancing to the typical music.

As a musician, if I'm playing too fast or slow for the dancers I'm happy to be given real-time correction!  A caller watching the whole hall has a better sense of how well the tempo is going over than a group of musicians who are able to give the hall less of their attention.

Jeff


On Tue, Sep 19, 2023 at 12:35 PM Roberta Kogut via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Just wondering what tempos your bands are playing for contra dancers.

Thank you!

Roberta Kogut
Western North Carolina

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