Loving this new song from Jessie Ware called “Alone”. Would be a great lyrical or jazz piece.
When the chorus comes in it has a really nice pick up and the whole song just kind of grooves.
Enjoy!
Tag Archives: music
Summer Playlist 2017
Happy (End of) Summer! Keep the summer vibes going as we move towards fall and update your playlists with fun summer tunes! Here is a list of songs I’ve mixed into my classes to keep them feeling updated. Most links open in iTunes store – The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate. All opinions are my own.
Is This Love (LVNDSCAPE & Bolier Remix) – Bob Marley: Instant beach vibes remixed into a good 3-minute warm-up song. (Link to YouTube)
Believer (Kaskade Remix) – Imagine Dragons: A fun twist on this summer hit.
Thunder – Imagine Dragons: Another one from Imagine Dragons, love this song right now
Someone Who Can Dance – Icona Pop: Another good steady beat for warm-ups
Most Girls – Hailee Steinfeld: My middle school classes love this song
LovE is LovE is LovE (Benji Schwimmer Edit) – LeAnn Rimes: Great message, fun song – have been using it for leaps and turns class (link to YouTube)
Celebrate (feat. AJR) – Ingrid Michaelson: A nice laid-back summer tune
Told You So – Paramore: Have been using this for tap warm ups in my senior classes. Has a good steady beat.
Switch (feat. Anitta) – Iggy Azalea: Would be fun for a tap, jazz or hip hop combo.
Location – Khalid: A nice groove for cool down and slower warm-ups. I also used it in tap with my seniors for a nice mellow
Enjoy!
Summer Playlist 2015
Happy Summer! Time to refresh those playlists with some fun summer tunes from the Billboard Top 40! Here is a list of songs I’ve mixed into my classes to keep them feeling updated.
That’s How We Do – Teen Beach Movie 2: Super fun and upbeat song – would be great for a tap or jazz combination – currently using it in my 7-10 year old tap class
Drop That – Jacob Plant: A nice funky electronic beat – fun for tap or hip hop – totally instrumental
You Know You Like It – DJ Snake & AlunaGeorge – have been using this in teen tap
This Feeling – L’Tric: A fun feel-good song – great for warm-ups
I Don’t Like It, I Love It (feat. Robin Thicke & Verdine White) – Flo Rida: My other go-to warm-up song
Fire Under My Feet – Leona Lewis: A nice moderate tempo for tap or jazz
Fun (feat. Chris Brown) – Pitbull: Another moderate tempo
Lean On (Remixes) [feat. MØ & DJ Snake] – EP – Major Lazer: Steady beat for across the floor combos for older students
Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix Radio Edit) – Omi: This song. I have a love-hate relationship with it. The kids love it and it has a nice calypso-y feel to it that makes it fun for tap, so I had to include it. Be warned – this will be the song that plays over and over in your head when you go home for the night.
Rude (Acoustic) – MAGIC!: This is from last summer, but I have been loving using the acoustic version for tap. Such a fun little groove.
Enjoy!
What songs have you been obsessed with this summer?
2014 Song Selections
Because I’m a huge music / stats nerd, I like to share my song choices from each year. It’s mostly for me to be able to look back and say “when did I use that song”? , but maybe someone will enjoy it too.
(Here’s 2013’s music list if you’re curious… and 2012… and 2011)
Our first half of our recital had a theme which was “dance inspired by literature or literary themes”, so you may notice that some of my songs are related to books.
Links open in iTunes, unless otherwise noted 🙂
TEENS
- A Little Party – Fergie: Senior large group tap, called this “At The Ball” and had the girls dress up in fancy dresses, gloves and masks as if they were at a ball out of a fairytale.
- Talk Nerdy To Me – The girls titled this dance! We mixed together three songs for this “nerd” dance: Cool Jerk, I Wish (Skee-Lo), and Boom! Shake the Room (whattup Fresh Prince!?). This was a lot of fun to put together…:P
- Royal Rebellion – another WAY overused song, but I mixed Royals (Lorde) with the instrumental half of Emily Well’s Symphony 2 and the Click Boom Boom (to attempt some originality) for a large group contemporary, ages 15-18
- Medicine – Daughter: large group contemporary, ages 15-18
- Youth – Daughter: senior contemporary duet, age 17
- Roar – cover by Tori Kelly & Scott Hoying: Tap solo, age 17 (YouTube link)
- Miss Otis Regrets – Bette Midler: Musical Theater Tap solo, age 14
- Eet – Regina Spektor: Contemporary solo, age 16 – can’t pass up a year without using a Regina Spektor song!
TWEENS
- Crazy In Love – The Puppini Sisters: Small group tap, ages 13-15
- My Anthem – Christina Grimmie: Tap solo, age 11
- Wings – Little Mix: SO overplayed at competitions, but my kids loved this one. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t picked such a popular song. Small group tap, ages 11-13
- Torn – Nathan Lanier: small group modern, ages 9-11
- The Gravel Road – James Newton Howard: Large group ballet, ages 9-12. Theme was “The Giving Tree”, costumed half as trees and half as children
CHILDREN
 |
| “I’m Late” – white rabbit tap solo
Loved this one! |
- I’m Late – Mary Martin: Tap solo, age 9, costumed as white rabbit
- Mr. Sandman – The Puppini Sisters: Tap trio, age 9
- Jungle Rhythm – The Jungle Book 2: Large group tap, age 5-6
- What’s New At The Zoo – Do Re Mi Soundtrack: Large group jazz, ages 5-6, hilarious song, costumed as different zoo animals. I only wish I had a little boy to costume as a zoo keeper
- Technologic – Daft Punk / Happy – C2C – Large group tap, ages 6-9. Entitled “Cookies”, they used Girl Scout cookie box props.
- Wizard Wheezes – Harry Potter soundtrack: large group tap, ages 7-10, called this “It’s A Mystery” and we used magnifying glasses – theme was supposed to be mystery books
- Hawaii 5-0 Mix – JiveBunny / Wipe Out – Surfaris: Large group jazz, ages 7-10. Used beach props (towels, beach ball, surf board)
- Define Dancing – WALL•E: Large group ballet, used for ages 6-8 and 7-10, entitled it “The Jellyfish Ballet” and used umbrella props
Can I get a show of hands for who used an “over popular” song this year and regretted it? What was your favorite song to choreograph to this year? Comment below.
Our “Frozen-Inspired” Dance Camp
Our most asked camp question since last December has been “Are you doing a Frozen Camp?” So due to popular demand… a Frozen (inspired) Camp is what we did!
What works best for our studio is doing a half-day camp, where the students come 4 or 5 days a week from 9am-noon.
Each year we do a different theme and base the week’s lessons around that theme. We hold an impromptu little “show” on the last day of camp for family and friends.
We did the Frozen (inspired) Camp for our Princess age group (ages 4-7) at the end of June, and we actually had to close off registration a week prior because of the demand! (For comparison, our July Princess Camp was half as full as the Frozen Camp was).
I’m going to break up the posts into a few different sections, and hopefully they will give you some ideas for your own camp.
1) Music (this post)
2) Crafts
3) Games & Activities
General Camp Agenda
8:50-9:05am – Parent Drop-off and Student Sign-in
9:05-9:30am – Warm-up and “Get to know you” activities – I like doing the Name Game as an icebreaker
9:30-10:00am – Ballet Dance class (learning choreography / technique)
10:00-10:45am – Craft Time
10:45-11:00am – Snack Time
11:00-11:40am – Tap class (learning choreography / technique)
11:40-12:00pm – Games / Cool-down
Dance Camp Playlist
All links open in iTunes – the Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate
I know you will all be surprised when I tell you that the most used album during our Frozen-Inspired Camp was… the Frozen album. Shocking, I know! But we also used a few other non-Frozen songs during our camp so that we (the teachers) didn’t go crazy from having songs stuck our head all day!
Songs We Used for Choreography
- Let It Go – Idina Menzel – for a ballet / lyrical
- Love Is an Open Door – Kristen Bell – for jazz
- For the First Time in Forever – for lyrical / sing along
- In Summer – Josh Gad – for tap
- Fixer Upper – Frozen – for tap
Songs We Used in Class (for creative movement, games, and technique)
- Winter’s Waltz – Frozen good for across the floor in ballet
- Ice Dance – Edward Scissorhands – creative movement and free-dance
- Let It Go / Vivaldi’s Winter – The Piano Guys – good one for dramatic dancing, freeze dance
- Waltz of the Snowflakes – The Nutcracker
- Love Is an Open Door (Instrumental Karaoke version) – good for pass the beanbag, or warm-ups
What non-Frozen songs can you think of that would fit in well?
Summer Playlist Updates 2014
Hope you’re all having a great summer!
Need some refreshments for your class playlists? Look no further – here are a few tunes to change up your playlist. I’m teaching mostly tap this summer, so my playlist tends to lean in that direction, but most of these songs could easily crossover into jazz / children’s hip hop / contemporary.
CHILDREN / TWEENS
– Call It Whatever (Bella Thorne)
– Really Don’t Care (Demi Lovato)
– Dar Um Jeito/We Will Find A Way (Avicii / Santana) – FIFA World Cup theme, a really good upbeat song – the whole album “One Love, One Rhythm” actually has a lot of fun “world” music
– Can You Do This (Aloe Blacc) – I’ve been using this as part of an improv combination – on the chorus we trade 8’s in tap class
TEENS
– Love Runs Out (One Republic) – its been all over the radio stations, but I love using this in tap class for warm-ups
– Basically I (Robert DeLong) – good warm-up / across the floor song
– On Top Of The World (Imagine Dragons) – a happy little song that makes me smile
– Problem (Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea) – another Top 40 rounds out my summer playlist update
The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate.
Refreshing Pop Song Covers: Postmodern Jukebox
I
regularly troll YouTube looking for covers of pop music, however when you search “cover + song title”, you inevitably end up with 100 acoustic covers done by anyone with a piano, guitar and a voice. Generally nothing too exciting, usually a slower version of the pop song.
Side note – if you ARE looking for acoustic covers of pop songs done really well, check out Boyce Avenue, Madilyn Bailey, and Savannah Outen.
Anyway, when I stumbled onto Postmodern Jukebox, I knew I had struck gold. Pop songs with a vintage twist, they are such a unique cover band. Do you like Doo Wop? Ragtime? Swing? Ever wonder what pop songs would sound like if they were sung in speak-easies? Yeah, me neither, but now I can’t stop listening.
Here are my three favorites (although it was very difficult to choose – check out their album, aptly named “Twist Is The New Twerk” on iTunes for more!):
We Can’t Stop:
Their doo-wop cover of “Timber” is pretty amazing as well.
A little jazzy version of “Careless Whisper” with a little “Take 5” thrown in there for fun:
And this last one has to be my favorite, simply because it includes tap dancing (!!!):
Grab their album on iTunes and listen on repeat!
The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate.
Warm-Up & Work-Up Playlist
I love starting class with cardio-inspired workouts to get the blood moving before we move into larger movements.
Here are some songs that my dancers love “working out” to! (links open in iTunes)
Pop Music
One in a Million – Down With Webster
The Spark (ft. Spree Wilson) – Afrojack – These first two songs are lesser known, which means they aren’t overplayed on the radio and the kids don’t know every word, but they still have a great beat.
Timber – Pitbull ft. Ke$ha – I have a killer tap stamina warm-up to this song for my advanced girls – I get requests for it every week… not sure if the kids like the tap exercise or just listening to the song. 🙂
Weekends!!! – Skrillex (feat. Sirah)
Indie Music
Changing Of The Seasons – Two Door Cinema Club
Further On – Bronze Radio Return
Now I See – Tessa Rose Jackson – a little more laid-back – would be good for light warm-up or cool down
A Few Others
Danza Kuduro (feat. Lucenzo) – Don Omar (oldie but a goodie)
Devil With the Blue Dress On / Good Golly Miss Molly – Mitch Ryder
The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate.
Halloween Playlist
Looking for some new songs to add to your Halloween playlist? Here are some suggestions to spice up your playlist.
All links open in iTunes – The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate
Tap
Superstition – Stevie Wonder – classic with a moderate tempo
Love Potion No. 9 – The Clovers
Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
Devil With the Blue Dress On – Mitch Ryder – keeps those toes a-tapping
Headless Horseman – Kay Starr – tells the story of the Headless Horseman in a cheery sort of way
Little Demon – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins– a fun 50’s rock-sounding tune
Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical
I Put a Spell On You – From “Hocus Pocus” soundtrack, or Nina Simone, and the cover by She & Him is particularly haunting
Howlin’ for You – The Black Keys – we’ve been using this for across the floor combinations in my jazz classes this week – works good for turns and battements
Strange and Beautiful (I’ll Put a Spell on You) – Aqualung – a melancholy melody in 3/4 time
Other Fun Songs
Dinner With Drac, Pt 1 – John Zacherle
What’s A Girl To Do – Bat For Lashes – basically the plot to Twilight summed up in a song
Grim Grinning Ghosts Remix – (link opens to YouTube – couldn’t find a link) could maybe use this for hip hop?
And of course, you have to add The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) – Ylvis just for fun!
Looking for more ideas?
New Music: Feelin’ Good – Christina Grimmie
This song came on my iPod this morning on my drive to work and I couldn’t help tapping along to the steering wheel. I think I’ll be using this song to warm-up to in the fall…enjoy!
Open in iTunes: Feelin’ Good – With Love
By the way, her whole album With Love – Christina Grimmie is worth a listen.
Full disclosure: The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate 🙂
The Dance Buzz 
