Tag Archives: ideas

10 song ideas for your next jazz dance routine

Squirrel Trench Audio offers you ten songs for your next jazz dance routine. All songs are available in dance routine lengths under three minutes, on Legitmix at the following links:

1 – Uptown Funk (Squirrel Trench Clean Edit) by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars

2 – Hit Me by Dirty Loops

3 – Ain’t Been Done by Jessie J

4 – Heads Will Roll (Squirrel Trench Remix) by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

5 – Geronimo by Sheppard

6 – Lips Are Movin by Meghan Trainor

7 – Get My Name (Squirrel Trench Mix) by Mark Ballas

8 – Werk (Squirrel Trench Mix) by Ceresia

9 – That Man by Caro Emerald

10 – Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

For custom edits or remixes, use this form: Custom music edit/remix request form

Share this page or video with your friends so that they too can find fantastic music ready to be danced!

Songs for lyrical dance routines

Below are 15 songs that could be great for your next lyrical routine. If you have other great song ideas, leave them in the comments below and I’ll add ’em! If you want to use any of these songs and need them edited perfectly for competition, we’d love to serve it up for you. We also have song suggestions for Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Musical Theater, and Kid Friendly Hip Hop. If none of these songs grab you, here is Lyrical Songs Part 2, and the complete list of lyrical songs here.

FREE* edit available! (*Free if you already have Try, if not, it will cost $1.29):

Get more Squirrel Trench remixes at Legitmix

Blackbird (jazz cover) – Kathleen Grace
Blackbird (jazz cover) – Eve St. Jones

Hello World – Lady Antebellum

Timshel – Mumford & Sons

Candlelight – Imogen Heap (sample choreography)

Unlike Me (A capella) – Kate Havnevik

Colorblind – Natalie Walker

Porcelain Heart – BarlowGirl

Innocence – Avril Lavigne

River God – Nichole Nordeman

Miss Invisible – Marie Digby

Come Down To Me – Saving Jane

You Belong To Me – Ben Taylor

Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps

With or Without You/Where the Streets Have No Name – Emiel Van Dijk (acoustic guitar cover of U2)

If you didn’t find something that tickles your ears in the list above, we’ve got a bunch more lyrical songs here. And whether or not you wind up using one of these songs, we’d love to edit it to the correct length perfectly for you!

Songs for tap dance routines

Below are some music ideas for your next masterpiece of tap choreography. These will work for competition or recital. If you have other great song ideas, leave them in the comments below and I’ll add ’em! If you want to use any of these songs and need them edited perfectly for competition, we’d love to serve it up for you. Also, we have song suggestions for Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical, Musical Theater, and Kid Friendly Hip Hop. And here are even more songs for tap, and Songs for Tap, Part 2 and Part 3.

Get more taptastic Squirrel Trench remixes at Legitmix

Upside Down – Jack Johnson

Man with the Hex – Blue Babies
Man with the Hex – The Atomic Fireballs

We Speak No Americano (Mafia Boys Mix) – Yolanda Be Cool

Drive My Car – Bobby McFerrin

Showbiz – Mike Stern

Mr. Success – The Hit Co.

Creep – Richard Cheese

Jungle Drum – Emilliana Torrini

Mr. Pinstripe Suit (live) – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Need any of these songs edited? Let me know.

Find even more tap songs here, and Songs for Tap, Part 2 and Part 3.

Songs for jazz dance routines

Below are some music ideas for your next jazz dance routine. These will work for competition or recital. If you have other great song ideas, leave them in the comments below and I’ll add ’em to the listing in the header above (Song Suggestions). If you want to use any of these songs and need them edited perfectly for competition, we’d love to serve it up for you. If you like these, we also have song suggestions for Tap, Contemporary, Lyrical, Musical Theater, and Kid Friendly Hip Hop. There are even a bunch more songs for Jazz Routines.

Get more Squirrel Trench remixes at Legitmix

I Get A Kick Out of You – Tierney Sutton

Dirty Laundry – Bitter:Sweet

You’re The One That I Want – Grease (New Broadway version)

Real Love – Katherine McPhee & Elliott Yamin

Sneakernight – Vanessa Hudgens

What is Jazz? – Club des Belugas

Some Kind of Wonderful – Joss Stone

Flirt – Cameo

Just You, Just Me – Nat King Cole

I Am – Hillary Duff

A primer for editing dance music

I was scouring the intertubes to see what is already out there for information about techniques for editing music for dance routines destined for competition. I came across an excellent PDF by a dance dad in Oregon named Jim Lambertson, aimed at other dance moms and dads, but really, it’s great for dance studio owners and dance teachers as well.

Here’s the page where you can download this 3-page PDF called Music for Dance Competitions. It’s a good read, and quick too. Here’s an excerpt:

Music Quality
Music quality isn’t scored at competitions because it isn’t considered to be a creative element of a dancer’s performance. This outlook is somewhat ironic because, as you will discover in this article, a great deal of creativity is needed to produce high quality dance music.

Why Quality is Important
If music quality isn’t judged at competitions, why should dancers be concerned about the quality of their dance music? Music quality is important because the dance music is part of a dancer’s overall presentation, and every dancer’s goal is to put forth the best possible presentation.
Although music is not explicitly judged, it can definitely influence scoring. Pops and clicks, muffled music and poor splices all serve to distract the judges and give the impression that a performance is somehow less than professional. In fact, the better the music quality, the more attention the dancer, rather than the music, will receive from the judges and audience.