Alexxus Entertainment: Musical Moments

Not long ago a Maid of Honor approached me at a wedding, and though people had been dancing a little while earlier things had quieted down.

“Can you put on a song that’ll get everyone out here[dancing]?” she asked.

And the answer was unfortunately no.

No I can’t. Not that I wouldn’t, if such a song existed, but no because I couldn’t. And any DJ that tells you different is lying to you. Asking for that one song that will inspire everyone in the room to stop what they are doing, put down their drink or come in from outside and dance is much like asking a chef to make a dish that everyone will just love, or asking a pitcher just to throw pitches that no one can hit. If only that were possible.

It somewhat intrigues me why so many couples, when planning their wedding, will spend endless amounts of time putting together a huge music list, wanting to ensure that their wedding reception will be remembered as a great time, but the fact is the right music is only ONE of the factors that will help facilitate that.

"People don't dance to the music, they dance to the moment"

Randy Bartlett, owner of Premier Entertainment in Sacramento, CA and producer of a series of DJ training videos titled The 1% Solution, has spent over ten years traveling the country educating DJs on the finer details of what could make their events better. While attending one of his seminars in Las Vegas recently he said something that really struck home to me. “People don’t dance to the music,” he said. “They dance to the moment.” And that really is where our responsibility as wedding emcees and entertainers truly lies: to help create those moments with the information that the bride and groom have given us beforehand; to enhance those moments with music as it happens, and to be able to react to the crowd to prolong those moments.

Fortunately I was able to convey this to this particular Maid of Honor and we struck a deal. If she could help me facilitate some of the circumstances that we needed, I could play the songs that she thought this certain crowd would dance to. Within ten minutes we had a small crowd on the dance floor. Others soon followed and we partied with a packed dance floor until the clock struck 12.

What were the circumstances we needed to change to make this happen? That I’ll tell you when we get together to talk about your wedding.

Until next time,

~ Mike ~

Michael J. Lenstra is a twenty year plus veteran of the Mobile Disc Jockey Industry, a full time entertainer, owner of Alexxus Entertainment in Dubuque, IA and a monthly columnist for the Disc Jockey News. He can be reached at mikelenstra@discjockeynews.com