6.3.12 London Calling

This tweet, from one of those dads, got me all teary eyed. Adam is a game changer. I am so proud to be his fan.

Wow!

From yesterday:



Cassie,

Like you, the new Adam song I most want to see on So You Think You Can Dance is Underneath, choreographed by Mia Michaels, or maybe Travis Wall. It would be so emotional!

I really don’t know what makes a good hip-hop dance song, etc., and can really only talk about ballroom dance songs.

For ballroom dance music one has to consider the tempo, rhythm (which beats are accented), and flavor (emotion) of the song to determine which dances best go with the song. However, there are many “generic dance songs” which do not have strong accents which can be used for several different dances. Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) takes this concept to the extreme in order to use more popular songs for Paso and Tango. IIHY is one of my favorites from FYE but I would never want to dance a Tango to it as was done on DWTS. IIHY has the feel of a Hustle dance, but I could also dance a West Coast Swing or Cha Cha to it, but never a Tango!

Songs with heavy accents on the even beats are general “swing” songs. The tempo, flavor, and one’s technical mastery of the dance, would determine if the swing song is best suited for West Coast Swing (WCS), East Coast Swing (ECS) (aka Jitterbug), Jive, or Lindy Hop (listed from slow to fast). Songs with heavy accents on the even beats are more likely suitable for Bolero, Rumba, or Cha Cha (slow to fast). Songs with a steady consistent beat and very little accents are likely to be good for Hustle dances, but can often be used for any of the other dances listed above if the tempo is right. (I’m only considering the American Rhythm & International Latin dance styles here. Smooth dances such as Fox Trot, Tango, & Waltz would be a separate discussion.)

Most of the songs that the music industry calls “dance” songs have the feel of a very fast Hustle, way too fast for the average social dance. So when I first heard Adam talk about Trespassing being filled with “dance music”, this was my expectation. I was so very happily surprised when I heard the album and found it filled with ballroom danceable songs!!! Everything except BTIKM (which has very unusual rhythms that don’t fit any ballroom dance) and Underneath (which doesn’t have enough of a steady rhythm) could potentially be used as a social ballroom dance. Underneath would be great as a Theater Arts dance (ballroom competition category similar to a contemporary dance with lots of lifts). NCOE is the only song which fits the very fast Hustle category, but slowed down, it could be used.

So here is my list of which ballroom dances could be danced to the songs on Trespassing (my preferred dance listed first):

1. Trespassing – fast WCS, generic Cha Cha
2. Cuckoo – generic Cha Cha, fast WCS
3. Shady – mid-tempo sexy WCS!!! MY NEW FAVORITE WCS SONG!!!
4. NCOE – very fast Hustle, very fast WCS
5. Kickin In – fast WCS, generic Cha Cha
6. Naked Love – mid-tempo Huslte, WCS
7. Pop That Lock – fast WCS, generic Cha Cha
8. BTIKM – NONE
9. Broken English – American Rumba (too fast for International Rumba)
10. Underneath –Theater Arts
11. Chokehold – slow WCS!!! My new favorite WCS teaching song!
12. Outlaws of Love – American Rumba (once past the beginning & into the strong rhythm)
13. Runnin – slow generic Hustle, WCS, Cha Cha (could be used for any, but not ideal for any)
14. Take Back – great ECS!!!, fast WCS
15. Nirvana – Viennese Waltz (very fast waltz)
16. By The Rules – slow smooth WCS, Hustle (what we call a “smoothie”)

The important thing about some many of the songs being danceable for WCS is that WCS is considered a “club dance” like Salsa, rather than a traditional Ballroom dance. (WCS is not one of the traditional Ballroom competition dances, but has been added as a separate dance in many American dance competitions.) There are a lot of places where you can go social swing dancing all across the country, but especially in CA. And there is a Swing Dance competition circuit (separate from the Ballroom Dance circuit) which includes lots of time for social dancing. WCS is also one of the dances in Country Dance competitions and it has become very common at Country Dance events to have a separate dance floor dedicated to WCS and predominately play popular pop music .

NoAngel Add me to the list of those who will really miss your Sunday morning essays!

Do you all think Adam has read some of them and has taken note of NoAngel as well since he and NoAngel are such good twitter friends?