Marian and Parker Mann wrote:
>
> I'm looking for comments on ... bands playing music far removed from
> pieces traditionally associated with the form.  The catalyst was a
> mid-December dance in the northwest where "as a special treat" the
> band shifted to rock music during the next-to-last contra.  The
> caller had stopped and we were left to our own devices.  The A/B
> parts and the beat were hard to pick out, and the dance began
> breaking down as people had to guess when one move ended and another
> began.
>

There's a long tradition of bands playing some popular music in with
more traditional dance music.  As long as the songs they choose to use
are phrased or at least played in a way as to make the phrasing clear,
it usually works.  For example, at the scout house this saturday the
band stunt double switched into the star wars cantina theme [1] from
dedicado a jos during one dance.  The tune is AABB and they emphasized
the phrasing well.  The dancers could hear the A and B parts and tell
when to start figures.

It sounds to me like in your case the band didn't really do a good
job: they chose a tune that didn't have good phrasing and then they
didn't compensate by inserting their own.  Bands need to be careful
when they depart from the standard repertoire, but I don't see this as
a reason never to do so.

Jeff

 [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj7TNNb_W3U
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