Dance musicians sometimes get side-tracked into thinking folks have filled the floor hear them. No sirree. They've come to dance.
Watch them while you're playing. Talk to them before you start, at the break, and after the dance is over. They're the only reason for the event. You're not coming to the dance because of the sound person, right? The dancers aren't coming because of you. Club square dancers skirt the issue altogether and use 45rpm records.
If you want more attention, stick to jams and house concerts. Switch to bluegrass or become a caller. Become a stripper, sit on telephone poles, run for President.
Rodney Sauer says he learned a lot about playing contradances from playing piano for silent movies. Over the years, explains, his playing became progressively showier and showier. One day, he realized there were people who were just coming to movies to hear him. Instead of drawing them into the films, he was drawing them out.
From that point, he worked on simplifying his playing so he was enhancing and emphasizing what was on the screen, not detracting from it.
You're there to give the dancers on the floor smoother swings and hotter gypsies. Scott Mathis says it right: "It's called a 'dance' because it's about the dancers. If it were about this musicians, it'd be called a 'play.' "
