Tag Archives: recital

Warrior for Peace

serra_angel_greg_staplesIt’s only appropriate to announce Warrior for Peace, an original spoken word soundtrack on International Peace Day. This emotional and relevant message was voiced by a 15-year-old dancer. Several dance teachers have gotten advance copies and will be using it this season. This unique 3:00 soundtrack is designed for a competition or recital dance routine.

The opening lines:
I will not give into fear
I refuse to learn how to hate
Even if you try to knock me down
Even though you might make me angry,
Even if you tell me I should be afraid,
I will remain a warrior for peace.

More spoken word soundtracks for dance are located here:
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Dance is What We Believe

tallahassee-dance-recital-2Dance is What We Believe is a magical and passionate spoken word voiceover from Squirrel Trench Audio. Using the instrumental version of “Sort Of” by Ingrid Michaelson, it is voiced by teen dancer Shaunessey Lambert. This unique 2:33 soundtrack is designed for a competition or recital dance routine, and is available exclusively from Squirrel Trench Audio via Legitmix. Highly recommended as a recital opening number.

https://app.box.com/s/ky6o4ufqn2zz0xwqfkaovp8cuieh48uj

This is what we believe.
There are things in this world, more powerful than words.
Thank you for sharing these things, with us.

Castle by Halsey

halsey castleHalsey has a haunting and beautiful song out called Castle. Get the official Squirrel Trench 2:51 or 2:21 edited version, for your next jazz or contemporary routine. Editing has been carefully done to provide the best possible foundation for your choreography. Squirrel Trench Audio is your source for clean edits and remixes created specifically for dance routines.

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Meghan Trainor debuts NO

Meghan-Trainor-No-2016Meghan Trainor is following up her previous breakout hit album Title, with Thank You, and the first single currently in pre-release is the catchy song NO.

Squirrel Trench Audio is first on the scene with a 2:29 edit of this song, perfect for your next jazz or tap dance routine.

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Don’t forget: what you do is amazing

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you amazing dance teachers, ographers, studio owners, guest teachers, and everyone else who helps young people develop their dance abilities. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your wonderful dance community.

Dance is a precious art form that requires a spectacular amount of dedication, knowledge, skill, and training. From concept to choreography, music to costumes, hair to make-up, and every movement, hundreds upon hundreds of hours go into a single routine of three minutes…. three amazing and beautiful minutes, never repeated in exactly the same way twice.

-a-deep-breathAt times, it may be hard to remember all the positives of dance, especially when you are dealing with crazy parents who don’t read the material you send, and students who don’t want to put in the time and effort, yet want to dance like Misty Copeland. It’s easy to be frustrated about the time and energy required to recruit new students, update your web page, chase parents who are late with their payments, coordinate recital ticket sales, pay the bills, and the thousands of other tasks on your plate which aren’t nearly as fun as inventing new choreography or being in the studio teaching your kids.

At those difficult times, take a deep breath, stop for one minute, and remember that:

  • you are creating something of exquisite fragility and beauty, lasting but a few performances before a new routine takes its place
  • you are making the world a better place with the beautiful routines you create in it
  • most importantly of all, you are building beautiful human beings, giving them a purpose, a pride, and dedication in the craft that they love so much

It’s the last one on the above list that is the most lasting and impactful. You never know when that small child you teach is going to herself grow into a beautiful dance teacher, and inspire yet another generation of dancers to take flight.

Never forget.

What you do is beautiful.

What you create is beautiful.

Who you touch, is beautiful.

No one can do it exactly the way you do, with as much care and passion for your students.

Break a leg this recital season, and don’t let the drama-mamas nor pompous-papas get you down!

Prince tribute for dance studios

Purple-RainIt is with great sadness to learn that the amazing musician and talented artist, Prince, has passed away. For many of us, his music is an integral part of the soundtrack of our lives.

It has been my honor to edit and remix some of his amazing music for dance studios and dance teachers. If you are interested in using a Prince song for a dance routine, here is an edited version of one of his songs that has amazing funk, yet is not very well known. It’s popular with the kids these days to say “Werk it!” but more than 30 years ago, Prince was already singing “Let’s Work!”. Enjoy this edit!

Here is Let’s Go Crazy from the movie Purple Rain. This version has all objectionable lyrics omitted, has been remastered, and edited specifically to be optimized for a jazz or tap dance routine:

And for dance studios interested in a mix that pays homage to “The Purple One”, we are pleased to present this 3 minute mix that includes five of Prince’s more popular hits:

This 4:55 production mix starts with Let’s Go Crazy, and includes Let’s Work:

This 4:45 production mix is similar but starts with Purple Rain:

You can get ALL of these Prince edits and remixes for an amazing bargain price in this album:

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Protect your hearing at dance competitions

hd-bw-solo_1024x1024We all love the music that our routines are choreographed to, and that’s why dance competitions usually play your music really LOUD. Sound pressure levels of greater than 95 decibels are common in competition venues. You can easily get an approximate measure of the sound pressure level of any environment you are in with a free smartphone app. (I use Decibel Meter-Free for iPhone.)

Most dance teachers and choreographers are unaware that exposure to sound sources at these volumes (94 db or more) for more than 60 minutes consecutively can cause permanent hearing loss (source:National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)).

That is why I ALWAYS use hearing protection at dance competitions. You can use the cheap, foam type found in pharmacies, but that type tends to muffle the sound, and is therefore not enjoyable to use. I use Ear Peace protectors, which reduce the volume uniformly across all frequencies. The result is that the music sounds just as good as without the ear plugs, but the sound pressure is reduced so that you don’t damage your hearing or leave the competition with a splitting headache. I find that music actually sounds BETTER at competitions or rock concerts with the ear plugs than without, because at super-loud volumes, music actually distorts in your ear drums. Best of all, you can get a pair of HD Ear Peace protectors, with carrying case, for less than $20.

The other great thing about Ear Peace protection is that you can still have conversations with people that are next to you.

Just as you wear sunglasses in bright sunlight situations, consider hearing protection to be the equivalent device for your ears in loud settings. Do yourself a favor and protect your ears the next time you are at dance competition, especially when the solution is quite inexpensive.

Proud to sponsor YPAD’s new memberships

ypad-logo-webI am proud to be an Advisory Panel member of the organization Youth Protection Advocates in Dance (YPAD). YPAD has just launched a membership option to further their mission to educate dance choreographers, studio owners, teachers, parents, and competition owners about the harmful effects of creating hypersexual routines for students.

And therefore, it is natural that Squirrel Trench Audio, your source for clean edits and remixes for dance studios worldwide, would be among the first to help sponsor YPAD’s new membership levels. In this exclusive opportunity, becoming a YPAD member will give you a discount of 10% off all of the clean music in the Squirrel Trench-Legitmix catalog. (There are currently more than 300 clean edits and remixes in the catalog, and more are frequently added.) Becoming a YPAD member will not only help further YPAD’s education mission, and get you other benefits, but it will also enable you to buy your competition and recital clean edits and remixes at a 10% discount.

Learn more about YPAD Membership here, and then make the purchase to get your Squirrel Trench-Legitmix discount code!

Check out the Squirrel Trench Audio catalog of clean edits and remixes on Legitmix:

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You can view clean edits and remixes by dance style here.

I Get to Love You by Ruelle

Brand new, a beautiful and moving song for a lyrical routine, the heartfelt I Get to Love You by Ruelle. Not only is this song lovely to listen and dance to, the official music video features the talented dancer, Ms. Brianna Roland, who has won numerous competition titles using Squirrel Trench Audio-created remixes. She is the first dancer seen in the video, and is featured throughout it.

Squirrel Trench Audio has three edited lengths of this routine, ready for your next competition or recital lyrical or contemporary routine, at 2:55, 2:43, and 1:57.

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Enjoy the official video featuring Brianna Roland:

To learn more about the titles that Ms. Roland has won with Squirrel Trench Audio-created soundtracks, here is info about her Starbound senior title (2013), Starquest title (2012), and OnStage New York title (2013).

Stand by You, Rachel Platten, Squeaky Clean

rachel platten huge smile on stageDue to popular demand, Squirrel Trench Audio is pleased to present a squeaky clean version of the new hit Stand by You by Rachel Platten. All instances of the word ‘hell’ have been replaced with the word ‘fire’. This cleaned song is available in a full-length (3:33) version as well as a 2:24 shortened version. Enjoy!

Get more Squirrel Trench remixes at Legitmix