Tag Archives: dance lessons

WHAT WE DO

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Kevin and Ann Hutchinson
Photo: Deanna Thompson Calm Wave Productions

Kevin and Ann Hutchinson, Sonoma County Dance Beat founders, LOVE to dance to live music. This passion is behind the creation of Sonoma County Dance Beat, which started with an online calendar they wished existed and has grown to be so much more.

FOR MUSIC LOVERS AND DANCERS

Sonoma County Dance Beat calendar lists live music at venues ranging from dancehalls, music festivals, restaurants, breweries, hole-in-the-wall taverns to farmers markets, all in one place. Know before you go. Find out who’s playing, what they play, what they cost and what kind of floor is available for dancing. The only things routinely excluded are singer/songwriter gigs and seated shows.

Kevin and Ann teach group dance lessons at events, before select shows and private lessons in its Railroad Square studio.

Sonoma County Dance Beat throws at least one great dance party a year, April Foolery (near April 1), which is also an opportunity to help support the calendar. At least two bands and often costume prizes and other mayhem.

FOR MUSICIANS

The calendar helps bands with publicity, helps booking agents and bandleaders know who they’ll be up against on a given night when booking a gig and may also learn about venues they didn’t know existed. And it’s free.

Sonoma County Dance Beat provides talent buying services for a number of local venues. SCDB selects local bands based on musicianship, reputation, reliability, longevity, stage presence, genre and following. And it has to be a good fit for the venue and crowd. This ensures a positive experience for everyone concerned. Ann Hutchinson, who does the booking, generally does not book bands she and Kevin haven’t seen play in a similar venue. One YouTube video isn’t absolute proof. Nor is a good recording. That’s how the band is in the studio.

Ann writes marketing copy by day and is excellent at tag lines, bios, campaigns and differentiators (gimmicks) that will help get more people excited about checking out the band’s unique sound.

Taking it to the Next Level

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Musicians! There is still time to sign up for Creative Sonoma’s Next Level Conference & Grants 2017. We’ll be at a table at the conclusion on Sunday to answer your questions and collect your band information to improve your Sonoma County Dance Beat gig listings. You can also find out other ways in which we can help you take it to the Next Level. Find out more here.

We’ve also put the Boost Your Event page back up, but now it’s called Get Listed. Too many musicians are confused about the process, so we decided to spell it out and make it easy to do. Easier than “email us the magic five things” (which still works, by the way).

Dancers! We’ve added some more boxes to tick on the back end. What does that mean for you? You’ll see some descriptions of the venues’ dance areas. We will — when we have the information — let you know what you’ll be dancing on and how many dancers the space will fit.

Musicians and Dancers should “like” our Facebook page and subscribe to the email list to stay in the know. We post anything related to local dance music. Did your axe get stolen out of your car? We’ll share about it on Facebook, and other musicians will rally to your aid. We share FB events for great live music, especially if we find out about it too late to post it to the website. Want to try a new venue as a dancer or a musician? We often post pictures of venues with a brief write-up in our eBlasts.

Got a suggestion for the site, tip about a new venue, or a correction? Please use the contact form. We usually respond  the same day.

We still teach many forms of dance by appointment in our RR Square studio. Something to consider if you want to take your dancing to the Next Level. Contact form works for that, too. Leave your phone number and availability.

See you at the first Wednesday Night Market in the new square! Then it’s back to data entry to keep that calendar fat.