Come Dancing in sequence: a review of sequence dance cds

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Come Dancing in sequence

~ a review of sequence dance CDs ~

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Statistics

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The information presented below is a numerical summary of sequence dance CD quality. The data encompasses CD reviews up to 26 May 2009. The last update of these data and comments was as at 25 December 2008 covering 148 sequence dance CDs since when data from a further 25 CDs have been incorporated.

Frequency of dances

Table 1 shows the frequency with which tracks of music occur for each dance. Most CDs contained two tracks of music for each dance, a few three or four tracks, and occasionally only the one track. As might be expected virtually all CDs contained tracks of music for the Modern Waltz, Rumba, Foxtrot and Quickstep. The extent to which individual sequence dances are performed varies from venue to venue but the distribution shown in Table 1 does not in some places seem to reflect this. In our experience the Blues, Swing and Saunter should be higher in the list and the Jive lower.

Table 1: Number of tracks reviewed for each dance

Dance	Total	Mean No. per CD
Rumba	425	2.5
Quickstep	418	2.4
M. Waltz	399	2.3
Foxtrot	367	2.1
Tango	325	1.9
Cha Cha	307	1.8
Saunter	276	1.6
Jive	215	1.2
Blues	182	1.1
Swing	165	1.0
Mambo	83	0.5
Samba	56	0.3
OT Waltz	54	0.3
NV Waltz	47	0.3
Gavotte	42	0.2
March/2-Step	34	0.2
V Waltz	25	0.1
Salsa/Calypso	24	0.1
Stroll	13	<0.1
Bossa Nova	12	<0.1
Glide	4	<0.1

Track Length/Tempo/Sequence/Playing Time

The theoretical track lengths for a given number of sequences are given in Table 2. This table assumes that each track has a 4-bar introduction, is in sequence throughout, and has the exact bpm stated. The bpm given for each dance is that most commonly specified. The times highlighted in red are those for the median (most commonly occurring) number of sequences (see below). Many of the CDs assessed fitted in well with these data, agreement to within a few seconds reflecting the care taken in playing, recording and mastering the music.

Table 2: Track lengths for given number of sequences, allowing for a 4-bar introduction

Dance	bpm	Number of sequences in track
Dance	bpm	1	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Gavotte	24	0:50	2:50	3:30	4:10	4:50	4:90
Polka	24	0:50	2:50	3:30	4:10	4:50	4:90
Rumba	26	0:46	2:37	3:14	3:51	4:28	5:05
Saunter	28	0:43	2:26	3:00	3:34	4:09	4:43
Blues	29	0:41	2:21	2:54	3:27	4:00	4:33
Foxtrot	30	0:40	2:16	2:48	3:20	3:52	4:24	4:56
Waltz	30	0:40	2:16	2:48	3:20	3:52	4:24	4:56
Cha Cha	32	0:38	2:08	2:38	3:08	3:38	4:08	4:38
Tango	32	0:38	2:08	2:38	3:08	3:38	4:08	4:38
Stroll	34	0:35	2:00	2:28	2:56	3:25	3:53	4:21
Jive	35	0:34	1:57	2:24	2:51	3:19	3:46	4:14
Calypso	36	0:33	1:53	2:20	2:47	3:13	3:40	4:07
Salsa	36	0:33	1:53	2:20	2:47	3:13	3:40	4:07
Bossa Nova	40	0:30	1:42	2:06	2:30	2:54	3:18	3:42	4:06
Mambo	41	0:29	1:40	2:03	2:26	2:50	3:13	3:37	4:00
Quickstep	48	0:25	1:25	1:45	2:05	2:25	2:45	3:05	3:25	3:45	4:05
Swing	48	0:25	1:25	1:45	2:05	2:25	2:45	3:05	3:25	3:45	4:05
Samba	52	0:23	1:18	1:37	1:55	2:14	2:32	2:51	3:09	3:28	3:46
NV Waltz	55	0:22	1:14	1:32	1:49	2:07	2:24	2:41	2:59	3:16	3:34
V. Waltz	60	0:20	1:08	1:24	1:40	1:56	2:12	2:28	2:44	3:00	3:16
Paso	62	0:19	1:06	1:21	1:37	1:52	2:08	2:23	2:39	2:54	3:10

The number of 16-bar sequences in each individual track varied widely (Table 3). For most dances the median number of sequences, highlighted in red, was six. The mean number of sequences for each dance is little different from that (given in brackets) calculated at the last update. As might be expected, the number of sequences in a track tended to increase with increasing tempo to compensate for the shorter dancing time per sequence, especially where the dance tempo is at 48 bpm or above. With about half the dances the mean number of sequences was roughly 5.5, suggesting that there is no over-riding preference by artists/producers for either five or six sequences. With a significant number of CDs the artist seems to have taken a bet both ways by having one track five sequences long, and the other six sequences long. A few artists appear to have standardised on six sequences for virtually all dances. There appears to be little justification for more than eight sequences. It is doubtful whether many MCs use such tracks of music: they are likely to be too tiring, especially for the elderly. In contrast, except for the Gavotte, tracks comprising only four sequences are disappointing to dancers, especially if the music is of good quality. It would be pleasing if artists/producers bore these considerations in mind when producing sequence dance CDs.

Table 3: Frequency of tracks with given number of sequences in each track

Dance	Number of sequences in track
Dance	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Mean
Blues	10	67	104	1						5.53 (5.52)
Bossa Nova		3	7	1		1				6.08 (6.00)
Calypso/Salsa	1	9	12	2						5.63 (5.59)
Cha Cha	21	134	144	8						5.45 (5.42)
Foxtrot	22	121	218	5	1					5.57 (5.54)
Gavotte	5	27	5	5						5.24 (5.23)
Glide		2		2						6.00 (-)
Jive	9	75	103	23	5					5.72 (5.92)
M. Waltz	24	103	243	24	5					5.71 (5.76)
Mambo	4	18	49	11	4	1				6.24 (5.93)
NV Waltz				3	28	2	12		2	8.66 (8.63)
OT Waltz		4	29	3	12	1	3			6.48 (6.43)
Paso	2	1	9	4	4					6.35 (6.71)
Quickstep	1	20	237	90	50	3	7		5	6.49 (6.55)
Rumba	22	168	219	15	1					5.54 (5.53)
Samba	1	4	15	6	15	7	4		2	7.20 (7.64)
Saunter	12	100	157	7						5.58 (5.55)
Stroll	1	6	6							5.38 (5.38)
Swing		8	116	31	6	2	2			6.30 (6.39)
Tango	16	136	162	9	2					5.52 (5.54)
Two-Step/March		2	14	4	11	2	1			7.00 (7.27)
V. Waltz		2	2		8	7	2		4	8.68 (8.79)

The CD playing times varied from 31-78 minutes with an average of 61 minutes.

Grades

The frequency with which individual tracks of music were given the various Grades is shown in Table 4. This table excludes CDs not marketed as containing sequence dance music. Assuming that tracks with any one of the grades X, X, X, or X are unacceptable then 1,986 of the 3697 tracks (54%) reviewed are useable. For those who are cost-conscious this means that the average cost of the CDs was in reality 85% higher than that paid.

Table 4: Frequency of Grades

	Tracks with given grade
Grade	No.	%
ü	1786	48
üü	308	8
üüü	12	0.3
X	55	2
X	1495	40
X	102	3
X	28	1
All Tracks	3697

The most significant grade is that classified X (‘uninspiring’). The breakdown of tracks given such a grade is interesting (Table 5). There appear to be major difficulties in creating good music for some of the dances.

Table 5: Frequency of tracks graded X

Dance	Graded X	Total	%
Tango	228	325	70
Cha Cha	199	307	65
Jive	123	215	57
OT Waltz	28	54	52
V Waltz	13	25	52
M. Waltz	187	399	47
Bossa Nova	5	12	42
Mambo	35	83	42
Gavotte	17	42	40
Rumba	161	425	38
Samba	21	56	38
Quickstep	156	418	37
Foxtrot	125	367	34
Swing	50	165	30
Salsa/Calypso	7	24	29
Saunter	73	276	26
Blues	45	182	25
March/2-Step	8	34	24
NV Waltz	11	47	23
Stroll	3	13	23
Glide	0	4	0

Unsuitable Sequence Dance CDs

In addition to the 173 CDs from the variety of artists listed in the main section of this website, 41 CDs by 22 artists were not listed as they are considered to be unsuitable for sequence (or other) dancing. The music on these 41 CDs was either uninspiring or lacking in general musical quality.

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Page last revised 17 July 2012

DISCLAIMER: While every effort has been made to ensure that all the information provided in this website is correct, no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions that may be present or losses that may ensue to users of the information. The omission of any particular sequence dance CD from this site does not by itself imply that the CD is unsatisfactory: it may simply be that it has not yet been assessed.