HELP & FAQ
(frequently asked questions)

About Dance Plus
1 How long has Dance Plus been in business? Dance Plus has been serving ballroom dancers since 1981.
2 Do you have a retail location? Yes. Dance Plus is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We are open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm, with extended hours on Friday till 8 pm. Our address and a map to our store is available on our contact page.
3 What kind of CDs do you sell? Dance Plus sells 'strict time' ballroom dance CDs for ballroom dancing. We import the best ballroom dance CDs from all over the world. These CDs while primarily produced for International Style dancing, they are also used for American Style.
4 Do you carry any other products for ballroom dancing? Dance Plus also carries a full line of ballroom dance shoes including shoes by International of England, Equity, and Dance Naturals of Italy. We feel very strongly that dance shoes are a piece of sports equipment (despite how pretty they are), and therefore we believe you need to be fitted professionally. This makes it difficult to sell shoes over the Internet, however, we hope to at least display our shoes on this site in the near future.

We also carry books and videos for ballroom dancing and hope to add these products to our web site soon.

About Ballroom Dance Music
1 What is the difference between International Style and American Style? International style is danced throughout the world and is the standard for all International competitions. There are ten International style dances which are: waltz, slowfox, tango, quickstep, Viennese waltz, rumba, cha cha, samba, jive, and paso doble. American style which is danced primarily in the U.S. includes much of the above dances in addition to the meringue, bolero, swing, and mambo. While the styles are similar, International style is more disciplined and technical. When choosing CD music for American style you should keep in mind that our CDs are primarily produced for International style, which means you may not find as many boleros, mambos, swings, and meringues on our CDs as you would the main International style ten dances. Additionally the American style foxtrot differs from the slowfox in it's timing.
2 What do you mean by Standard/Modern, and Latin? Is that similar to Smooth and Rhythm? In International style ballroom dancing the ten dances are broken down into the five modern dances (also referred to the five standard dances), which are the waltz, quickstep, slowfox, tango, and the Viennese waltz. The five Latin dances are the rumba, samba, cha cha, jive, and the paso doble. In American style the dances are broken down into similar categories often referred to as Smooth instead of Standard, and Rhythm instead of Latin.
3 What is BPM? BPM stands for beats per measure. More information about the timing of our music is available in the following question.
4 What is strict tempo? Every dance feels its best at a certain speed of music. This is 'strict tempo.' Despite the word 'strict' the tempo can vary by 1 or 2 bars per minute. Here are the most common tempos for the ten dances.

Slowfox: 29 - 30
Waltz: 29 - 30
Tango: 32
Cha Cha Cha: 32
Quickstep.: 50
Samba: 52
Rumba: 26
Jive: 44
Paso Doble: 60
Viennese Waltz: 60
 

Finding and selecting CDs
1 How do I browse your CDs There are many ways to browse the CDs. The left hand navigation allows you to browse through the CDs in three different ways. You can see the CDs from a particular artist or orchestra (by series), or you can select the option to see all CDs from one particular country. Just use the drop down arrow to select your option.

Additionally you can choose to see all the new releases or all our best buys using the two buttons at the top of the navigation.

Finally, we have also included the ability to search for a CD with a particular song title. If you heard a song at last week's dance that you want to find, just enter the title to see what CDs it is contained on.
2 Do you have the CD.. .. ..?
Do you have a CD with the song.. .. ..?		 This web site only includes our regular stock items, we do have some CDs which have become hard to obtain or are are not as popular and so we do not keep them in stock. We would be happy to see if we can obtain a CD for you, but please keep in mind the following:

- We only carry strict time CDs and we do not carry CDs by popular artists that you would find at your local record store. Often we get requests for CDs that are by traditional artists and just happen to include a song which is in a tempo suitable for ballroom dancing. We do not carry these CDs are you are more likely to find what you want by contacting a traditional CD retailer.

-We are more likely to be able to obtain the CD you want if it is by one of the artists you see on our web site.

- Remember that you can search our inventory by song title. Perhaps the song you are looking for has been re-released on another CD.
3 How do I choose items I want to order? We have added one of the most popular shopping cart services for our customers. A shopping cart is just that. It is a program that allows you to browse our site and add items to your order as you browse. You can add, delete or change the quantity of any item as you go along. At any time during your visit, you can empty your cart thereby canceling your order. You should also know that this service is done over a SSL, a secure server that encrypts your order and prevents anyone on the internet from viewing this information.
You can continue to search and view CDs and add additional items to your cart. When you are done, and want to process your order, from any page, just click on 'MY CART' on the top menu bar.
4 How do I find an instrumental CD? To help you in making your choices, we’ve given each CD a vocal designation. We based the classification on the majority of the tracks. For example if more than 80% of a CD is instrumental, we classified it as 'Instrumental'. We used 4 classifications including 'Vocal', 'Instrumental', 'Mixed', and 'Some Voice'. A CD was classified as 'Some Voice' if a voice was used as a background instrument but there was no singing on the CD. 
5 What is the significance of the 'code' that accompanies each CD record? Each CD has a 7 character code that we recommend you use if you are mailing or faxing your order. This ensures that we know exactly what you wish to order.
7 What does (MDL) mean? When you see (MDL) after a song title, the song is a medley of two or more songs. When the medley does not have a name (such as Elvis Medley) we have listed the first song of the medley. Since space did not permit us to list all the songs in a medley, we have used the (MDL) designation to illustrate this.

Ordering
1 Can I order by fax or over the telephone? Certainly. If you would prefer to place your order by fax, you can fax your order to 1-416-251-9892. To ensure we know exactly what you want it is helpful if you include the 7 digit code for each CD with your order. Several of the CDs have similar names or volume numbers, and this ensures we know exactly what you want.

You can also phone our order desk at 1-888-844-4122 or 416-251-5998 which is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm.
2 How much is shipping?

At Dance Plus, we understand that high shipping charges are frustrating! Therefore we are offer FREE regular shipping on Internet orders of 2 or more CDs sent to U.S. addresses. We regret we can no longer offer free shipping on orders of only one CD.

Because of a increase in Postal & Courier Rates, Only 2 CD products must be purchased in order to receive free shipping, and double CD sets count as one CD. Shipping for one CD to the U.S. is $4.00. This offer maybe rescinded at any time, and does not include our quick shipping offer. Quick shipping to the US starts at $18.00 for orders under 2 lbs. Our quick shipping option will get your order to you within 1-2 business days to most cities. This offer is only available to customers located in Canada and the U.S.

Only CDs are eligible for free shipping. Other products such as books, videos/DVDs, and accessories will incur a shipping charge based on the total weight of the order and will be shipped by Fed-Ex Ground.
3 What forms of payment do you accept? On the Internet we only accept Visa & Mastercard. If you wish to arrange other payment options please contact us.
4 Why are your prices in Canadian Funds (CDN)? Our prices are in Canadian funds because we are located in Canada and our bank will only let us process credit cards in Canadian currency. However, we have provided a currency converter for your use. Please be aware that these rates are the midpoint and your bank may charge more. 

While we charge in  Canadian Funds your Credit Card company will convert the amount for you. For more information please see our currency information.
5 How fast will I receive my order? That’s hard to determine and will depend on where you live. However, we usually ship out an order within 24 hours of receiving it. For a limited time we are offering FREE regular shipping on Internet orders only (that's a savings of up to $10.50). We usually ship by Fed-Ex Ground which takes between 5-9 business days. The length of time it takes to receive your parcel depends on where you live. However, if you want premium delivery, which takes 1-2 business days, the cost is $17.00 CDN to the U.S. and $12.00 within Canada. All prices quoted above are in Canadian funds.


About our web site
1 Is your web site secure? When you shop at Dance Plus, please be aware that through the use of industry-standard SSL encryption on our secure server it has been made safe.
When you enter your credit card number into our order form, it is transmitted across the Internet in an encrypted (scrambled) form, then decoded when it gets to us.
Please note that you can ALWAYS Mail in or Fax in your order.

According to CNN,
'The prevalent opinion...is that on-line credit card use is actually no riskier for consumers than traditional low-tech transactions.'

'We order products online all the time, both as a company and as individuals. When we use a credit card to buy something online, we feel at least as safe as we would using one in a store or restaurant.'
2 Which Internet Browser should I use to view your site? While we have endeavored to create a site that can be seen by as many browsers and on as many systems as possible, the site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and above, with a screen width equal or greater than 800 pixels. You should also have your browser set to accept cookies in order to use or shopping cart system.

Policies
1 What if I want to return an item? We guarantee the quality of our products. However, due to the nature of music products we can only accept returns on merchandise that is defective or unopened. If a CD is defective we will accept the return and send out a replacement. However please DO NOT return the item by UPS or any other courier service. When a courier service is used to send goods between the U.S. and Canada, large brokerage fees are charged by the courier company. We will not pay these charges and the parcel will be sent back. Only use US Mail or Canada Post.

You must also write on the outside of the package, 'GOODS BEING RETURNED FOR CREDIT.' We can not accept returns unless they are defective or unopened and adhere to the instructions described above.
2 Is everything available all the time? What if an item I order is out of stock? No. It is impossible for us to anticipate demand perfectly, although we try, and there are some items which are not always popular. Some CD’s that have been available for a long time decrease in popularity, therefore they can not always be kept in stock on a regular basis. We have included all the CDs we try to keep in stock at all times, but sometimes we can still run out due to unforeseen demand. However, if we run out of an item that is a normal stock item, we will put the item on back order for you. We will not charge you for the item until it is ready to ship. We will also not charge you shipping if the back ordered items were part of a larger order that has already been shipped. Shipping is charged only once if the items you order are regular stock items.
3 Do you charge tax? By law. We must charge 7% GST on all orders placed by Canadian residents, and 8% PST on all orders placed by Ontario residents. U.S. & International orders are exempt from tax charges.
4 Does Dance Plus have a privacy policy? Be assured that any and all the information you give us is private. We will not sell, rent, or release any information about our customers. You can read our full privacy policy here.
5 Do you use cookies? Dance Plus uses a feature of your Internet web browser called a "cookie" to assign a unique identification to your computer. Cookies are files that your web browser places on your computer's hard drive. Dance Plus then uses these cookies to track your clicks as you use the Shopping cart system to add product items.

Cookies cannot be used by Dance Plus to retrieve any personal information about you. We do not and cannot use cookies to retrieve personal information about you from your computer unless such information was knowingly and willingly provided by you.

We are available to answer your questions and take your orders Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm, with extended hours on Friday until 8 pm.
  

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