I think there are three caveats that govern DJing: 1) not all dances are created equal, 2) not all music is created equal, and 3) be aware of the unwritten social conventions.
| First Class | Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Cha-Cha, Rumba, Samba, Swing/Jive |
|---|---|
| Second Class | Viennese Waltz, Mambo/Salsa, Hustle, WC Swing |
| Third Class | Paso Doble, Bolero, Argentine Tango, Merengue |
In general, you want to play more of the ``first class'' dances more than the ``second class'' or ``third class''. (Some would argue that quickstep and samba are first-and-a-half class, so given a choice to play an extra samba or an extra cha-cha, you should probably opt for the cha.) How much more, I'll address later.
When you listen to music, you should be doing a few things. The first is quality: is the singer/band like Frank Sinatra or Metallica? Next: is the tempo right? Sure, Scott and Fran's Paso Doble from the Strictly Ballroom soundtrack sounds like a Paso Doble... but it's in 3/4 time, not 4/4 time. Not to mention that it's way too fast. You can find a listing of dance tempos on Mark's Music FAQ page. Then of course is character: there's a lot of 4/4 music out there, but that doesn't mean that Alanis Morissette's music makes for good ballroom dance music.
Let's take the canonical 60 minutes of dance music. Let's assume each track is 2.5 minutes long; that makes for 24 songs. Step one: alternate latin and standard songs. So now we need 12 latin and 12 standard tracks. So, we might use something like the following:
Quick, what's wrong with the above?
Well, lesse... we alternated standard and latin songs, so that's good. They're all first-class songs, so that's good. But look at what's next to each other: tango, rumba, foxtrot. Quick, get some coffee! And what's worse: samba, quickstep, jive? Who's going to be alive after that? So the lesson is: alternate fast and slow dances, too. Can you always do that? Probably not -- but try.
OK, so before we fix that, we think to ourselves: we want 24 songs. There are 8 first-class dances and 4 second-class dances and 4 third-class dances. But we probably want more than a 2:1 ratio of first-class to second/third-class dances. So something like 16 first-class dances, 5 second/third-class dances... that leaves us with a shortfall of 3 songs. But most of the second/third-class dances are latin, so we'll add 3 more standard first-class dances. So then we get something like:
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OK, you get the idea. Is there a rule that you have to play one each of the second/third-class dances? No. If you play a paso and no one gets on the floor, whereas the floor was half-full with the last WC Swing, by all means, skip the scheduled paso and play another WCS.
Not to mention that stopping a song early is incredibly jarring. And leads to lack of confidence in the DJ, and all other unpleasant things.
Note: people remember the most recent thing much more that distant events. So if you screwed up in earlier in the evening, this is nothing compared to not giving a room full of ballroom dancers closure by playing a final waltz. Especially if it's a traditional final waltz, like Bon Soir, a lot will be forgiven if you do that right.
I'm sure there are other conventions that DJs should follow, but I can't think of any.