fcn...can we get a retro dance hour or two?

I'm kinda with this. I haven't been to a con yet, but if FCN's rave dances are all techno, then I don't think I'd go every night. I'd just wake up with a pounding headache in the morning.

I can't speak to whether or not such a dance can or cannot happen - it's not my department, and I have no say in that. But I did want to address why such a thing may not come to pass.

Running a convention is all about resources. You have space, time to use that space, equipment, and staff. Using those variables, convention organizers need to solve the equation such that the maximum benefit to convention attendees is achieved.* The unfortunate result of this (at least in the case of dances) is that majority rules. Speaking as a graymuzzle myself, I can say that we're definitely in the minority of the attendee population. Perhaps non-graymuzzles would enjoy a retro dance? Possibly. What percentage? I honestly have no idea. But anyway, if the answer is "no" it's probably because the dance organizers don't feel that resource equation would not be maximized.

-Duncan

* Yes, I'm an engineer and I think of things in terms of mathematical equations. So shoot me

I understand "Majority Rules", and the con wants to fill the dance floor... but since this years theme is 'Top Secret', I was hoping to hear some music that was along the lines of the actual theme; not just EDM. Considering last years dances weren't exactly packed to the rafters *coughsTOOMUCHDUBSTEPWHOCANACTUALLYDANCETOTHAT?!coughs*... I'd hope the music programming this year would possibly be just as, or more accommodating to a wider (& maybe a little older) crowd.

p.s if I don't hear the austin powers theme song at least once or twice (regardless of style or bpm), I will personally consider this con a FAILURE!

p.p.s. techno is from the '90s, a true retro dance would have music from the '60s & '70s. You're argument is technically invalid...

p.p.7. (silenced)

As one of the DJs who has been spinning at FCN 2011, and as a person with a lot of experience and the will to experiment, I feel like I should voice my opinion here. 

Last year, the dances at FCN felt like a desaster to me. Not because of the DJs, we had some of the best DJs you could find, playing some of the most popular music from around the world. Dubstep and other extreme styles were clearly in the minority. Yet, the dancefloors were pretty much empty most of the time. I have seen smaller conventions with more extreme types of music doing much, much better. The most successful dance I have seen at this con was the one by Cheetah, who had drawn a crowd of 12 dancing people tops. 

I have seen similar things at Megaplex 2010. No matter whether it was Herbie playing this prom-type music that was mentioned here, me playing melodic House and Trance or other DJs playing industrial, Drum 'N Bass or Dubstep, the floors would be constantly empty. Herbie could not draw more than 10 persons into his dance, with exactly this type of music you're all asking for. 

So I think you can't simply blame it on the DJs or their choice of music. I think that sometimes, people just aren't in the mood to dance, sometimes they'd rather just hang out, chat and drink. There is no other reason I can think of that would explain why the same concept turns out to be a big success one year, and a total fail the next year (Megaplex). 

As a DJ, I repeatedly had to deal with people asking me to spin Rock, Retro, Alternate things. I tried to give it a go, I made announcements, in some cases my dance was officially announced as retro dance by the con to make people understand what they could expect. Unfortunately, none of these experiments worked out well enough to justify keeping them going.

At Eurofurence, I used to start my dances with a 2 hour long retro set, which was extremely popular for years, but it kept getting more and more difficult to fill the floor with this type of music, up to the point where people would just walk into the dance after it had started and just stand there waiting for me to put on the "real" stuff. 

And pretty much all the Rock, Retro or Prom-type dances I see at other cons don't work very well, they appear to be there only because there are volunteers who believe in what they are doing, who love doing it for the few they can entertain. 

I also can't help but notice that in many cases, those who cry the loudest for retro music will not attend any of the retro dances, even if they are clearly labelled or announced as such. Wrong expectations cannot be an excuse here. Especially if you consider how sometimes, people are trying hard to convince you to play retro, when you have doubts they will promise to join your dance and bring a crowd to support you.... And then they won't come. 

And it gets worse: I've seen cons where the staff made sure to offer as much popular, commercial and retro type of music as possible, the dances were not successful, and afterwards there were a lot of complaints about "too much electronic noise" because a group of friends just happened to stumble in while that one Dubstep song was playing, and walk right back out without giving the DJs any chance to present more of the genres they wanted to play.  

There are two hearts beating in my chest. On one hand, I'd love to see more retro at cons. On the other, it's experiences like this why I personally hesitate playing that type of music these days, and I know that other DJs who have a more flexible set list don't play retro anymore these days.