On another thread about defining what Northern soul is (yawn) I rightly or wrongly posted this.

... we all know what northern soul is without being snobby... Its what gets played and danced to at a northern soul night. The definition only gets difficult when you take it out of that context. If CC's - Funky Fever gets played at a northern do - and it gets danced to - its a northern soul record - if not, its not northen, simple as!

On an aside - What I think is infiniately more interesting than trying to decide which record is NS and which Isnt by just its sound - is the complex communication, interaction and agreement that must occur on what makes a NS record between the Dj and the Dancer on the dancefloor.

It got me thinking about that weird communication that happens between a Dj and a dancer at Northern Do's...

How dancefloor etiquette communicates so much about our approval of certain tracks. How the soul clap is used to signal oneness and all that kinda stuff... but more importantly how a new track is created by a kind of wordless conversation by the Dj that spins it and the dancers that approve it.

I always chuckle at the way the dancefloor clears in between tracks, at some venues everybody steps off the dancefloor when the DJ speaks and then rejoins only if they aprove of the next track. It must make the DJ really nervous

What are the strange little dancefloor quirks that we have all noticed whilst out and about?

  Joy&pain said:

At least we don't have to worry about being burnt by cigarrettes on the dance floor anymore... however the acrobatics are a bit lethal at times, and a mate of mine got a right slap across the face by an over enthusiastic spinner at Kings Hall, it knocked her off her feet. ( hehe ) oh and handbaggers high heels hurt like hell when you get stamped on by one not to mention tripping over the bloody handbag !

I was at a function and some drunk on the dancefloor was spinning and pulled the grip holing my hair in place clean out and sent it across the dancefloor where I had to go search for it amongst the dancing legs!

I don't know about the comment re dj's giving it a big diatribe at the beginning of their sets!?

I too like to hear something from the bloke that has spent his hard-earned cash (see 'life') getting to the point whereby he is deemed able enough to give us floor fodder his knowledge by a promoter.

The poor bugger travels all the way from wherever (for naff all in monetary terms), waits for his set, gets on (heart in mouth (understanding the 80% of dancers will enjoy his choices, yet secretly frets about the 20% that will gripe about one or two plays he makes), gets over his nerves, as he takes the mic, by rattling on for maybe 20 seconds before his opening salvo - and - before he's even played a record, he's in someones bad books.

Lighten up, or get a jukebox.

  Barry said:

Lighten up, or get a jukebox.

Well I had hoped this thread would be positive! About all the things we liked or that were special about the northern scene!

Why does this forum always come back to problems????

Come on FFS! whats good about it...

For example: I Love it when folks get carried away in a "soul moment"

I really like it when that first person gets up to dance or when the dancefloor clears, except for that one dancer, who loves that track and is going to dance to it whether anyone else is or not like thier life depended on it... I love the look of concentration on their face when they realise that all eyes are on them... I love the fact that they dont care because for that three minutes they are lost in one of those soul moments... and you can see it in there eyes!

Most of all I love that there are very few of us who would consider the above folk weird for getting carried away...

Magic

Edited August 6, 200816 yr by jhsoulnotts

  KevH said:

I HATE IT WHEN YOU GET YOUR TOILET VISIT IN SYNC WITH A WEIRDO, OR SOMEONE BORING.THEN YOU END UP BESSY MATES,AND GO TO THE END OF THE COUNTRY TO MEET UP COS THEY TOLD YOU ABOUT A GREAT LITTLE PLACE,AND WHEN YOU GET THERE ITS NOT GOOD.

THEN YOU GET IN SYNC WITH SOME OTHER "TOILET" DORK , AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOU'VE BEEN DOIN THIS 30 YEARS.

hey kev ...err,how long you been meeting men in toilets

  big chris said:

one thing that used to really p*ss me off,was with a full dance floor dj,s after the record finished start to give a sermon before playing the next sound whist dancers mop their brow,scratch their nose turn around,put hands on hips as though to say f**kin get on with it,and by the time they do,half of the dancers have left the floor,or the buzz as passed and the dj as missed the moment,some djs just dont get it,there more intrested in hearing their own voices..than reading the floor..not dissing all djs there are of course many exellent spinners.just a personal gripe.

  MattB said:

I get annoyed when a DJ announces every tune, i like a few back to back, even time for a quick clap if a records gone down really well but a dj is a disc jockey, not a commentator. Sounds a bit amateur from time to time. Really like hearing a DJ who is funny, you know, lighthearted, maybe says i picked this up for a 5er when its a big record or you know, something similar.

Talking in between records does seem to be a northern thing, alot of other do's just do back to back all night.

That's why God invented mixing

  jhsoulnotts said:

For example: I Love it when folks get carried away in a "soul moment"

I really like it when that first person gets up to dance or when the dancefloor clears, except for that one dancer, who loves that track and is going to dance to it whether anyone else is or not like thier life depended on it... I love the look of concentration on their face when they realise that all eyes are on them... I love the fact that they dont care because for that three minutes they are lost in one of those soul moments... and you can see it in there eyes!

Most of all I love that there are very few of us who would consider the above folk weird for getting carried away...

Magic

  Barry said:

I don't know about the comment re dj's giving it a big diatribe at the beginning of their sets!?

I too like to hear something from the bloke that has spent his hard-earned cash (see 'life') getting to the point whereby he is deemed able enough to give us floor fodder his knowledge by a promoter.

The poor bugger travels all the way from wherever (for naff all in monetary terms), waits for his set, gets on (heart in mouth (understanding the 80% of dancers will enjoy his choices, yet secretly frets about the 20% that will gripe about one or two plays he makes), gets over his nerves, as he takes the mic, by rattling on for maybe 20 seconds before his opening salvo - and - before he's even played a record, he's in someones bad books.

Lighten up, or get a jukebox.

From some one that loves ringing people up at 4am and talk complete drivel

Edited October 4, 200816 yr by big chris