I will always listen to new songs through a dancers’ ears — after all I am a dancer-at-heart. That said, I’m constantly thinking, “Will this make a good piece?” or “I would LOVE to dance to this!” Hence, here is my secret list of five songs that I’ve always wanted to choreograph to, but have not had the chance to yet:
5) ‘Creator’ by Santigold, 2007
I’ve seen many dances to this song, all done really well and each and every one super unique. I think that’s what I love about this song. It’s so odd and has a bunch of crazy, weird sounds that can be interpreted in many different ways. If you follow the music, your moves can be wacky and quick. If you focus on the lyrics, you can hit a little harder and be more aggressive with your movement. If you switch back and forth, you can create a very diverse, fun to watch and perform routine!
4) ‘Still Not Over You’ by Mike Posner Feat. Eric Holljes, 2009
Okay… I’m a little biased on this one because I love Mike Posner’s voice. This one’s a little slower and can verge on the Lyrical/Hip Hop side. There are a lot of cool snares and backbeats to accent and the chorus provides very fluid lyrics to play around with. To make your choreography a little more challenging, try hitting the quick beats in the background and then switching it up to milk your movements through the chorus.
3) ‘Killa’ by Cherish Feat. Yung Joc, 2007
This song would be more inside my personal comfort zone. It was actually my ringtone for awhile, so I’m very familiar with the chorus. It starts off with a bunch a quick beats and then switches up to a quick chorus by Cherish and then a breakdown section by Yung Joc. Depending on how long your piece will be, you can choose which section you use accordingly. As I mentioned previously, body rolls are my go-to move and this song is perfect for them!
2) ‘Cricketz’ by New Boyz Feat. Tyga, 2009
I’m not sure about anybody else, but I got kind of bored with the whole jerking phase pretty quickly. However, my girls and I blast this song all the time. Something about the clicking, cricket and bell noises in the background just makes me want to dance. This piece would require a lot more swag and sharper movements to cleanly hit the fast beats. That being said, this would just be a FUN song to get down to. Have confidence with this one and take time to listen to all the cool noises going on!
1) ‘Rude Boy’ by Rihanna, 2009
Okay, so my number one is probably one of my favorite songs ever! Personally, I think really strong female vocal artists are the most fun to dance to. Especially with an artist like Rihanna, you have to be confident and playful at the same time, but this opens up some really fun choreography for you! Imagine if you were singing the song with as much attitude as Rihanna puts forward and incorporate that into your dancing.
So there you have it — that’s my secret list of top 5 favorite Hip Hop dance songs. However, nowadays there are so many wonderful songs to choose from out there — in the end, it’s really all about what personally gets you groovin’.
