Matching Music to a Dance

Foreveradvanced

Foreveradvanced

Member
Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums, and to dancing really. I've just started to pick up dancing, American Ballroom to be more precise. I know a few dance styles including Foxtrot, Tango, Waltz, Salsa, Rumba, Nightclub Two Step and East Coast Swing. I don't have any dancing background, however I do have a heavy musical background, specifically in percussion. So with dancing, come music, and what has been one of my favorite parts of this whole experience of learning these dances is going through music and trying to match them to dance styles. However, Its really hard to peg some of the, especially being the novice that I am at the moment.

So to the question at hand, I've got a huge interest in finding modern songs, especially those in musical genres not typically associated with traditional ballroom dances and what I'd like is your collective opinions on what, if any, these songs will work for. The music might not be tyour taste, and don't get me wrong, I love the classics, but this is a fascination of mine, and maybe of others here.

I'll start off with these two, especially this first one:

Burndt Jamb by Weezer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo1zQAy85jg
(I was thinking maybe a fast rumba or nightclub two step?)

My Heart by Paramore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLvcE2vFrl8
(A Quick Waltz?)

Any help would help, or even song suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and if I get a good reception I have many more question on this and related topics that I'll be sure to ask.

Thanks for your time, and looking forward to sharing dance and music with you all in the future :D

-Chris
 
Foreveradvanced said:
Burndt Jamb by Weezer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo1zQAy85jg
(I was thinking maybe a fast rumba or nightclub two step?)
Click to expand...

Not NC2S. Too fast.
My first impulse is actually to say samba. It doesn't have the samba feeling at all, but it does have the 3-quarter - 1-quarter - 1 beat pattern in there somewhere. It sounds more 2/4 than 4/4 to me which would make it more samba than rumba, although you could do a rumba to it too -- the individual beats are around the same duration in rumba and samba so they are substitutable in general. (And quickstep is twice as fast, so you can often substitute quickstep and samba if you want to do Latin during Standard practice or something)

Foreveradvanced said:
My Heart by Paramore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLvcE2vFrl8
(A Quick Waltz?)
Click to expand...

Yeah, there isn't much of a choice with triple time. Fast waltz or slow Viennese waltz.

This is a pretty fun topic you're getting into -- as a place to start you should get familiar with the tempi (in measures/bars per minute): http://ballroomdancemusic.info/tempos.htm

Have fun!
 
The first song would work as a good west coast swing. It wasn't on your list of dances, but would probably be my choice. You could easily adapt a triple step ECS to the music.
 
asdepique said:
Your songs are not suited for ballroom dancing.
Click to expand...

Well, The point is not for them to work traditionally exactly. The point to it really, is that music is all around us, and comes in many a form, fashion, style, and occasion. For me, I'm a young guy surrounded by friends who are theater majors, dancers, artsy folks from San Francisco lol. SO basically, wouldn't you think it nice to be able to pick out any sort of song and adapt it, without having to change up beats and musicality, and just simply dance to it? Plus, its so much easier to attract people to dancing when you can use a song from the type of music they love to hook them into it, then when they are hooked work them on to the classics? Anyways, if its not your cup of tea, its not your cup of tea. The songs I post here aren't ones I'd necissarily use to dance to every night, but are ones I could see working an unconventional routine around just to shake things up, or like I said, to dance to with friends, or get others hooked into dancing. Anyways you look at it, my intentions are good here :D

And thanks for the help and sugestionsTak and Kayak, thats the kind of response I was looking for. I'll be sure to post a couple more up for scroutiny! :p

Thanks again,
-Chris
 
asdepique said:
Your songs are not suited for ballroom dancing.
Click to expand...

Lies!!! You can dance to anything!!! Lol :tongue:

Welcome to DF, Foreveradvanced! My first instinct on the 1st song is, same as you, also nightclub two step, or american rumba. West Coast Swing would work too, and maybe Mambo as well.

2nd song is a definite Viennese.
 
Here are some others with the same theme:

Wake Up by Coheed and Cambria
(I know this will work for at least Nightclub Two Step)

Holiday by Green Day
(Now I was told this works for East Coast Swing... but it juuust doesn't seem right, I can tell it works, but I wouldn't be surprised if it worked for something else better. The drum beats fairly dancy)

Too Good To Be by New Found Glory
(You know, I'm not really sure? I'm not sure if their is a dance style thats like a fast rumba? and I know I'm showing how much of a novice I am, but I figure something along those lines.)

Again, Thanks for the help :)
 
well I put up another post, but I guess it has to go through administrator approval first? Which is.. odd to say the least, especially since I posted it a few minutes ago? Any particular reason?
 
Welcome to the DF, asde. Your post, however, is quite inaccurate. One of the greatest things that our studios offer is to show persons that they can dance BR to their fav music regardless of what it is.
Foreveradvanced said:
well I put up another post, but I guess it has to go through administrator approval first? Which is.. odd to say the least, especially since I posted it a few minutes ago? Any particular reason?
Click to expand...
A PM to you will explain.
 
'Burndt Jamb' could be a Rumba, a Samba, or Nightclub Foxtrot with its infamous "Step-Tap" "Step-Tap." WCS could work, as well as Mambo. I'd say anything that goes &-a-1-&-a-2-&-a-3-&-a-4 is fair game.

I'd (also) say that 'My Heart' is indeed a Viennese Waltz.
At least it doesn't change tempo on you mid-song, like 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls. 'Iris' goes from a 1-2-3 to a 1-2-3-4 in some places. Really fun to play with, though. (Check out the song ~2:40 - ~3:20, and tell me if I'm crazy...)
 
Foreveradvanced said:
Holiday by Green Day
(Now I was told this works for East Coast Swing... but it juuust doesn't seem right, I can tell it works, but I wouldn't be surprised if it worked for something else better. The drum beats fairly dancy)
Click to expand...

It seems quite right to me. It's an excellent swing, get's you moving in that 1-a-2 beat.

Today I watched a very enjoyable hip hop to a string quartet version of Cold Play's Yellow in SYTYCD result show. Love seeing unusual picks like this (though this one wasn't a ballroom example). I danced a foxtrot showcase to Bleeding Love last spring. One could also dance a rumba to it, and it was used as a hip hop in SYTYCD few seasons ago.

You'll find lots of modern/new songs, and some old, non-traditional ones, that can be used for ballroom. It's a fun game to play, going digging for a good beat.
 
Br0nze said:
At least it doesn't change tempo on you mid-song, like 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls. 'Iris' goes from a 1-2-3 to a 1-2-3-4 in some places. Really fun to play with, though. (Check out the song ~2:40 - ~3:20, and tell me if I'm crazy...)
Click to expand...

You're not crazy...it's on the practice playlists on our team's iPods and it drives me nuts...
 
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