NMM: September Contemporary Playlist

It been a while since I’ve done a New Music Monday post, so I thought I’d share my updated music from my contemporary classes.

I’m teaching a beginning contemporary class this year of ages 10-14, instead of just my usual 15 and up class, so it has been a challenge to find some music that is relatable to a 10-year old.  In fact, when I tried playing the slower, lyrical-type music for the younger class, they asked if I had any faster or “fun” music.

So far (third week in), I have found a balance of “fun” and “serious” music keeps everyone happy – we are working on emotions in combinations, but then we keep it more upbeat during technique portions.  What do you find works best for this age group?

Songs For Contemporary Combinations

All links open in iTunes 

Songs For Contemporary Class – warm-up, across the floor

New Music Mondays: SYTYCD

Because I only have until Thursday to be obsessed about this season of So You Think You Can Dance, this week’s New Music Monday is all about the music featured on the show.

if you’re looking for an original song you won’t hear anywhere else, SYTYCD pretty much guarantees you won’t find that. You can safely bet that a song used on SYTYCD will be overused on the competition circuit this upcoming season. BUT it is a great place to find new artists!

The other option is to use a song that isn’t used in a dance, but is used during a montage or other part of the show. SYTYCD seems to unearth good songs by little-known artists.

How To Find Your Song
So – you’re looking for a song and didn’t catch the split-second subtitle or you missed this week’s episode. What to do? Go to the Fox website? Not much help. If only there was someone who tirelessly reviews each episode and posts a comprehensive list each week… Enter PureSYTYCD!

This blog, which is all about SYTYCD all the time, had a great list of music posted after each episode. If the song is available on iTunes, she even posts the link directly to the iTunes store!

You are our SYTYCD music savior! Thank you!

Our Favorites From Season 7
Here are our favorite new artists we discovered this season thanks to SYTYCD:
Florence + The Machine (basically the whole album “Lungs”) Lungs
Lissie (“Everywhere I Go”)Lissie
Black Gold (“Shine”)Shine
Christina Perri (“Jar of Hearts”)Jar
Janelle Monae (“Tightrope”)Janelle

More New Music Monday posts