Face the Music

So busy the last couple of days but now Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas tree is up and there is time to catch up. I’m ignoring the fact that there is still shopping that needs to be done.

Last Tuesday, the studio did their annual pitch in dinner/party/dance. I guess this type of thing has started to be called Friendsgiving as I heard that used a time or two. I remember a time when there were just a handful of people but they’ve certainly grown and the place was pretty full.

Anyway, I was chatting with some people and the subject of solo routines came up. This guy wanted to know if PJ picked the songs we use. Its an interesting question. I think he was under the impression that she selected the songs.

The answer is that it is a joint process. Actually, I’ve picked two songs that I liked and we made those work. My problem is that I can usually hear a certain dance but I’m a terrible judge of tempo so when I pick things, they can often end up being too fast.

When we did the Hustle, I knew I wanted to do an ABBA song so we went through the list and discarded the ones everyone did and eventually hit on the right one. Same thing with the Bolero. In this case, the Showcase was Queen themed so we picked a Queen song. Most of the ones I liked were Swings and those got kicked out just because we were already doing a swing. Of the remaining choices, this one jumped out.

So the actual answer is that it is typically a joint process. Based on the theme or dance, she picks out some options and then we listen to them and usually one will just jump out at me. Its an art, not a science. Some songs just speak to you for different reasons. Well I guess all songs speak to me but some of them just say “Nope, I’m not the one”.

Sometimes it is the beat because I have to be able to hear it. Or it could be that the song easily lends itself to some kind of opening. That was the case with the Cha-Cha we’re going to do at the Snowball. Love the song but the opening just kind of wrote itself.

I do think it is better when it is something of a joint process. You have to love the song to really own the routine.