If you study at a busy dance studio, there is always competition for the sound system and music. On a busy evening, there may be one or two group classes and up to 3 or 4 private lessons taking place simultaneously at my studio. Of course it's worse just before a performance when everybody needs to practice and they need to practice to the music as much as possible. Our studio has folding walls that do a very good job of dividing the room both spatially and acoustically, but even so, getting the music you need playing can be a bit of a challenge - which is handled graciously, as you might expect, but a challenge none the less.
Now this is a problem that you can make go away by throwing a little money at it. I've put together a bluetooth rig with a couple pairs of headphones so that I and my partner can have music that's completely private. The rig generally runs off my phone, but works on ipods or anything else with a headphone jack.
Headphones:
The main goal here is something that won't fall off when you spin. Based on my experience wearing headphones at the gym, I picked a style that wrapped around the back of your head.
These are nice and solid and really stay on. If you wear glasses as I do, there's a lot of stuff running over the top of your ears, which then stick out a little, and you eventually get a little pressure inward there, though I've worn mine for several hours without much discomfort. Plus they hold my glasses on... Specifically, I ordered two identical GoGroove AudioActive headsets - I picked them because they looked like what I wanted and were relatively cheap.
Bluetooth: I can't find a way to connect a single bluetooth transmitter to two headsets, so I wasted some time trying to find a way to do this with my phone's built-in bluetooth. The answer is a pair of bluetooth transmitters that plug into a splitter cable, which plugs into your audio jack This makes it more versatile than using your phone's bluetooth anyway - I can use my partner's phone, or a computer or an ipod. I picked up a pair of TaoTronics TT-BA01 bluetooth transmitters, because they were pretty cheap and fairly well reviewed.
Setting up is pretty easy - pair each headset with one of the transmitters (I've added yellow tape so I know which headset and transmitter to use when I'm practicing solo), and plug everything together in the obvious way. I've had to re-pair the headsets to the transmitters a few times, but it just takes 30 seconds or so.
I'm very happy with the results. I've danced an energetic East Coast Swing with these, and neither me or my partner had any problems with slippage. I've used them solo for several hours now, and probably a couple of hours with partners (though one of the women I dance with won't try them for unknown reasons). We have had occasional gaps in the music stream, buy I honestly don't know if that's the bluetooth rig, or my phone. Since both headsets seem to have a gap at the same instant, I suspect it may be my phone. It's disconcerting because you're suddenly off the beat, but I treat it as an opportunity to dance through the obstacle, and it's better than having to do everything without music. Usually I get about one of these skips every hour or so, but one evening we got 4 or 5 in a single practice and I was pretty worried. That hasn't recurred, I don't know why, probably I rebooted my phone. The other smartphone factor is that if you get a text. a call, or a calendar reminder, it's disconcerting for that notification to suddenly sound in your headphones (and with my phone, the music is interrupted and you're suddenly off the beat again).
I happened to choose headsets that insert pretty fully into your ears, which helps to screen out background noise and the other music playing, but doesn't keep you from talking to your partner while dancing (though I pop one ear out for longer, stationary conversations. Each headset has a volume adjustment which is very handy (there's also a pause/play/fwd/back control which is inactive due to the splitter cable). Generally, I just put the music I want on auto-repeat, and let it stream endlessly. Compared to constant negotiation to get the song on just once, it's a luxury.
Accessories:
I've added a few individually packaged alcohol wipes for the cleanliness and convenience of my dance partners, and I got a zippered bag to carry all this in - in fact I ended up with a separate bag for the chargers. I also bought a 4-port USB charger power supply so I didn't have to carry four wall-wart chargers and a power strip to get everything recharged. It's still a rat's nest of charging cables, though I tolerate that so I can recharge everything simultaneously. The whole shooting match came in at about $150.
If anybody else tries this, I'd be very interested to hear about your experience and what hardware you chose, and how you liked it.
