I think a lot of these terms are used in a range of ways, and there isn't a short thing you can put on a flyer that will let people know what to expect.

If you have many events people can learn what they're like: people who come to one of Lisa Greenleaf's Alternative Music Contras, Emily Rush's Rushfest, or BIDA's Spark in the Dark know what to expect or can talk to past attendees to get an idea.

If you're starting something new one important question is how local contra dancers can figure out whether this is the kind of event they would enjoy.  Linking to videos works pretty well, as can written descriptions.  Talking to the people handling music about what terms they've found useful can also help.  The most recent Spark in the Dark we organized had "This is a special contra dance with live electronic-acoustic music and club lighting (glowy clothes are fun!)." https://www.facebook.com/events/375177783410452/

Jeff

On Mon, Jan 20, 2020 at 11:42 AM Bob Peterson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I’m always on the lookout for terms that describe the style of using non-traditional and often non-live music. So far I’ve seen or used:
  • iPod dance
  • Alternative music dance
  • Fusion contra
  • Techno contra
  • DJ’d contra

Q: What other terms have people seen? 

Q: What do the terms mean to you? For instance here is what I understand:
  • iPod dance - pre-mixed music, genre unspecified
  • Alternative music dance - ditto iPod dance, but livelier
  • Fusion contra - ?
  • Techno contra - live performance electronic, beat-heavy music
  • DJ’d contra - caller and DJ are not the same person?

I’d like to focus this thread on terminology, not what’s bad (or good) about the non-traditional styles. It would be great to have other threads discuss values and preferences, if someone wants to tackle framing that conversation.

I like to mix and call contras to recorded music, so this is really a marketing-related topic for me. Currently I’m using “alternative music contra dance”.

\Bob Peterson
home dance: https://lcfd.org/jp

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