Distributors Get In The Swing Of Things With Popular Dance Vids

NEW YORK‹The revitalization of swing dance has a few video distributors jumping and jiving with the crowd.
H&F Video in Oklahoma City has discovered that its "Dance Magic" series, created by Nick Felix, is a hot item for wannabe swingers propelled by such bands as the Martini Kings. "This wave is a big wave, and it will last a long time," says Felix. "I've been through dance crazes, and I know. Lambada was supposed to take over the nation.
"A lot of fads come and go, like the macarena," Felix continues. "They last six months, a year, but swing is here at least for five years minimum. This dance craze is sweeping over the nation and is going to be here for a long time."
Jim Spencer, president of Video Learning Library, which tracks nontheatrical titles, says, "Even dance schools know that they won't have their customers for a long time, and so in order to generate revenue, they'll have to sell these videos. Mail order and infomercials have become another outlet at the local studios as a retail outline."
Spencer adds, "The dance people are fanatics. In fact, more men buy these dance videos than women. They want to learn to dance for social events. And if the 99% of the women don't buy these videos for their partners, they buy them to exercise."
Swing has certainly replaced workout sweat for "Learn To Dance In Minutes," first released 10 years ago by PPI Entertainment in Newark, N.J. The series has caught on, with sales of more than 800,000 units, according to the company. Youth leads the way.
While the target audience has always been ages 45 and over, 18- to 25-year-olds are getting into the groove. "It's big everywhere, and it's not going to go away anytime soon," said Cal Pozo, PPI's VP of health and fitness programming and series director. "Even places like Nebraska, Idaho, and Arizona are looking to buy swing dance videos."
One indication of interest: "There are about 17 major swing dance commercials on television right now," Pozo says.
Not wanting to miss the beat, PPI is campaigning to reach more music outlets; place ads on major networks like ABC and NBC; and launch an East Coast publicity campaign, centered on New York. The Home Shopping Channel has already sold a fair number of "Learn To Dance" tapes, with few if any returns.
Pozo says retail customers like the steps they've learned. "PPI's returns are about 3%," well below the industry average, "and 32% of all the consumers who purchase one will buy another in the line," he notes.
Why the enthusiasm? "Young people haven't had a music of their time other than rap and hip-hop," Pozo theorizes. "Swing brings people together‹it's all about feel-good music. It's amazing to see 20-year-old couples and 60-year-old couples all dancing to swing. In fact, it is our own native dance."
Wayne Eng, president of producer Dance Vision in Las Vegas, has also seen a big increase of sales of swing dance videos over the last two or three years. "They've been selling like hot cakes. We have over 400 instructional tapes, and the swing dance tape is our best seller," he says.
Targeted to 20- to 30-year-olds, the marketing strategy has been as simple as word-of-mouth. But Eng wants more. Dance Vision, too, is beginning a network ad campaign.
Says Felix, "Swing is king."