Social Dance Playlists

In Which Jackson Describes His Playlist Creation Process

By Jackson Fossen

Along with being a dancer, I hold the role in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Ballroom Dance Club as the Music Coordinator.

We hold general dancing immediately following lessons twice a week during the semester. It's a hybrid of social dance, and a time to practice what was taught in the lessons. It’s also a good time for more advanced members to share their experience, and teach beginners more about other dances. It’s my job to operate our club’s sound system during this time, and I’m also responsible for making the playlist each night. With two playlists a week for each week of the semester, I end up playing DJ for roughly twenty-eight short social dances over a four month span. As a result, I have a fair amount of practice at making playlists for social dancing, and have developed some rules along the way.

Along with following common sense when making playlists, such as alternating fast and slow songs as well as ballroom and Latin dances, there is not stringing together several less popular dances lest people who don’t know them lose interest. It’s fine to occasionally play dances that aren’t as commonly danced socially (e.g. bolero, international foxtrot) for those few who know, and enjoy them. I just have to be sure to follow up with something familiar and easy, like an American foxtrot, or something popular and with high energy to get everyone else back to dancing, like a cha cha. For reasons of safety and stamina, I avoid playing Viennese waltz or quickstep longer than ninety seconds and find a single minute is usually sufficient.

There are also weird, and possibly unnecessary rules I make up, such as never play a waltz after a Viennese waltz because that’s just too much waltz. Similarly, I never play a triple swing immediately before or after a West Coast swing because that’s too much swing (even though those dances are much more different than their names might suggest). I also make a point to not repeat any given sequence of three or more dances since I’m convinced that if I did, someone would notice, and be dissatisfied with my lack of originality/diversity. For whatever reason, I try to avoid the order of dances used in competitions, and prevent (for example) a rhythm round from happening in the midst of a social dance. In the future, I want to start exploring the idea of maintaining a theme throughout the playlist, be it by artist, style of music, time period, or the subject of each song.

There’s always a little insecurity over my song choices, but fortunately, feedback in the form of people dancing is almost immediate. I enjoy having power over the music that I, and other people dance to, and seeing people dance to your selections is a rewarding experience. Ultimately, I aim to get as many people dancing as much as possible in the little time we have.