DJGold

DJ Richard

I've asked this elsewhere and sorry about the short notice, but I just found out this little nugget of information for tonight's wedding. I'm playing at New Zealand's Parliament building's Grand Hall, which would be akin to entertaining in the reception hall at the Whitehouse.

Guests are to be asked by the Master of Ceremonies to remove their shoes before getting up to dance, in order to protect the precious parquet wooden inlay floor. I just know that this is going to make getting up to dance just that little bit more of a hassle and I'd expect that this alone will keep many people in their seats. I really want to help make this wedding reception work for the happy couple.

Can any of you suggest a simple interactive without props that can encourage people to remove their shoes in good humour before I try and get them up to dance?

CJ Greiner

No shoes? That's a new one to me :sulkoff:

It seems to me that once you do find a way to get them on the dance floor, you should be able to keep them there pretty easily.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of something that would inspire them to take their shoes off... but I do know that I have a pretty easy time getting everyone up to the dance floor by holding a Generations Dance.

I'm not sure if you use that, but in case you don't:
The Generations Dance is where you invite all of the couples in the room (ones that have just met.... engaged.... and especially every married couple) up to the dance floor.
Then you play a slow song (or two) and tell them that as you call out numbers, if they've been married for that number of years or less, that they should move over to the side of the dance floor with your (they can keep dancing there). Instruct the Bride & Groom that even though they've only been married a couple of hours -- they can stay in the middle of the dance floor.
Then you start calling out the numbers: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15..... until there are just two or three couples left. Then you stop the music, congratulate the couples on their really long marriages and ask them to each give advice to the brand new B&G on how to make their marriage last so long.

After that, immediately go into something else that will keep everyone on the dance floor. (Another very popular slow song or some party songs or another event since everyone's there anyway.)

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Anyone else have suggestions for getting the folks out of their seats?

djmc

CJ Greiner wrote: No shoes? That's a new one to me :sulkoff:

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Anyone else have suggestions for getting the folks out of their seats?

Funny:

out here its pretty common to see ladies take off their shoes when they go out onto a wooden dance floor.

so IMO the only ones you need to worry about are the MEN

CJ Greiner

That's true -- I do see lots of ladies kicking off the high heels... but I've never seen a place that won't allow shoes on the dance floor at all.

Do you have any interactive ideas to get them up and dancing?

AzPartyPleasers

yep. i was just going to add that around here, heels dont stay on for very long anyways.

And if you can convince the women to hit the dance floor, the men will follow.

djmc

AzPartyPleasers wrote: And if you can convince the women to hit the dance floor, the men will follow.

I would probably make an announcement "to preserve the dance floor, the [name of establishment] would like to ask all of you to remove your shoes and dance in your stocking feet....making this dance a SOCK HOP [cue up "Rock Around The Clock" from the 50's]"

Toneman

NO SHOES ON THE DANCE FLOOR? As I see it, this venue (reception hall) will not be getting a whole lot of clients wanting to have a event there that will have dancing entertainment. As for any ideas on how to have the guest remove their shoes before getting on the dance floor... I'm clueless... I've never had this type of issue accure.

Good Luck.

DJ Richard

Thanks team, some ideas there that should help. I'll be doing the Anniversary (Generations) dance anyway, so that's a good starting point. The venue is not exactly wanting to promote itself as a wedding venue as it is first and foremost New Zealand's Parliament Ballroom. To even be allowed to have your wedding there you basically need a mum or dad who is a Member of Parliament (equivilant of a Senator in the US). It's the second wedding I've done there and there was no restriction last time.

I've just been in to set up and I'm thrilled to see they've laid a runner carpet down the length of the hall, including the dancefloor area, so there might be a relaxation of the rule. I sure hope so anyway!

Here's a couple of pictures off the NZ Parliament website (http://www.ps.parliament.govt.nz/grand.htm):

djmc

DJ Richard wrote:

Here's a couple of pictures off the NZ Parliament website

wow, that's an elegant venue....bet ol' Nick is jealous!

DJ Richard

Nick does alright for himself these days. He came along to my winter regular function a few weeks ago and mixed up a storm with me. It was a fun night and I think he knows now why I keep working there even after 12 years. Here are some of the reasons:
[url=http://www.disco.co.nz/ohakune05.jpg]
[/url][url=http://www.disco.co.nz/tsl01.jpg]
[/url][url=http://www.disco.co.nz/tsl02.jpg]
[/url][url=http://www.disco.co.nz/mardigras/070804_040.jpg]
[/url][url=http://www.disco.co.nz/mardigras/070804_047.jpg]
[/url][url=http://www.disco.co.nz/mardigras/070804_029.jpg]
[/url]

Also, being paid to go skiing every couple of weeks isn't too bad either!

DJ-JAMES · Joined: October 22nd, 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Hilton, NY

DJ Richard wrote:
Guests are to be asked by the Master of Ceremonies to remove their shoes before getting up to dance, in order to protect the precious parquet wooden inlay floor.
Can any of you suggest a simple interactive without props that can encourage people to remove their shoes in good humour before I try and get them up to dance?
:idea:
yes, start off as it was a sock-hop type of dance.
:idea:
or say, ok people lets give the new bride and groom a brake and heve it a no shoes reciption.
:idea:
taking off your shoes is not a big problum the problum is getting to the end of the night and rembering where you left your shoes in the first place.
:idea:
find out if the bride and groom will go with the joke :hahaha: " all he ever needed was a good wife ( and he now has that right ) and she has to be bare-foot and well you know the story, now we are going to let the Groom find out what it is to be bare-foot all the time, so tonight we all can all dance with no shoes on to help him out." < keep it on the light side or it might flub on you.
:idea:
if you have a old broom handy you can start the dance off with a broom jump you need to jump the broom when the new couple does it ( by the way part of these goes way back to the 1700's and it has to be done with out shoes being on) so to do it the guest's need to remove there shoes to.
:idea:

DJ Teddy Bear

Here in the US, schools dances in the 50's had a no shoes dance. Of course, that was in the day where kids wore shoes not sneakers, and the school dances were in the gym.

Anyway, these were called a "Sock Hop" or simply a "Hop". The song by Danny & The Juniors "At The Hop" is a result of the no shoes trend, and is the perfect song to play as you get people to remove their shoes.

Nowadays it is not uncommon girls to remove shoes at formal events. Often the parent of the Sweet 16 or Bar/Bat Mitzvah person will bring white gym socks for the girls to put on so they don't need to go barefoot.

MusicDoctorDJ · Joined: May 30th, 2004 Posts: 478 Location: Denver, CO

The problem will be those that have stinky feet! :oops:

You don't want them to dance . . . :shock:

They'll not only clear the floor . . . but the whole room! :hahaha:

Andy Yaggie

I rarely see it anymore but I know at our High School they stand by the door and make people take their shoes off...think they're afraid of scuffing up the floor or something.

Does this ballroom allow drinks or anything on the dance floor? I would think that spilling something would be worse than wearing shoes.

DJ Iron Mike

You know I don't even understand why women wear shoes like that anyway. I think that walking around on tip toes all day would get old really fast and anyway a good woman has to be worth more than her stature. It's not her fault she is 4 foot 6 and can't see over the bar counter. She doesn't need those shoes to make her 4 foot 9 . Latest studies have shown that shoes like those cause women back problems and can over extend the muscles in their feet. Most women I know who do wear shoes like that are thankful to get them off and would happily keep them off even if it meant wrecking a good pair of hose. Now my wife tells me I couldn't pay her to wear shoes like that.

Now as far as that hall goes, it is very nice. I was surprised at how narrow it seemed though. It kind of reminded me of a boat I was on once. What is confusing me though between your two pictures is that the strip down the middle on the first picture is brown and the sides are white and then in the second picture the strip down the middle is white and the sides are brown? Is that the same room or are you in the middle of it looking at both ends of it?

MusicDoctorDJ · Joined: May 30th, 2004 Posts: 478 Location: Denver, CO

My wife is over six feet tall when she wears heels . . .

Mmmmmm . . . those legs!

THAT'S what they wear them for!

DJ Iron Mike

My wife likes using heels as weapons if that's any consolation as in projectiles. LOL

DJ Richard

DJ Iron Mike wrote: Now as far as that hall goes, it is very nice. I was surprised at how narrow it seemed though. It kind of reminded me of a boat I was on once. What is confusing me though between your two pictures is that the strip down the middle on the first picture is brown and the sides are white and then in the second picture the strip down the middle is white and the sides are brown? Is that the same room or are you in the middle of it looking at both ends of it?
The difference is the carpet, which was rolled out in 2 different configurations in those file photos. Here are some pictures from the actual night, which in spite of a few major challenges, went extremely well:

http://www.disco.co.nz/pics/231004_002.jpg
http://www.disco.co.nz/pics/231004_004.jpg
http://www.disco.co.nz/pics/231004_035.jpg

DJ Iron Mike

I didn't realize it was a carpet, that makes sense to me because I was thinking that those were still the parquet flooring. Having the photos with the people in it helps to put the size of the room into perspective and yes, it does have some similarities to the White House's East Room, where some of our former presidents have held State dinners.