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Dance music is a broad term that includes many different styles of music. Explore the history of dance music and gain an understanding of its evolution from the 19th century to the present. How you can get the best dance music for your performances and where to find it.
If dance is your life, the right music is its soul.
Balanchine once said: "Dance is music made visible."
Ever since baby boomers woke up to rock and roll in the 1950s, dance music has had an important place in our lives. Music is everywhere, and from using popular music to sell products to driving social justice movements, dance music keeps evolving with times.
But sometimes, all one wants is to have dance music that makes us dance.
Dance music is music specially composed to facilitate or accompany dancing. Any music that people can dance to is dance music.
It could either be a whole musical piece composed for the purpose, or part of a larger musical composition.
Regarding performance, dance music can be classified as
Ancient Greek vases have shown dancers accompanied by musicians, and even the earliest Western dance music bears a resemblance to medieval dances. The waltz, which arose in the classical era during the romantic music period-when a lot of nationalistic dance forms like Mazurka, Ecossaise, Ballade, and Polonaise was being embraced by dancers, or its predecessor Baroque dance, which was one of the court dances performed for the nobility, dance music played an important part in popularizing the performances for the dancers.
In the romantic music era, the growth of ballet exalted the composition of dance music to new heights. Frequently, dance music started becoming a crucial part of opera.
Modern popular dance music traversed from palaces and ballrooms to commoners. Western ballroom and social dance music became a rage in the late 19th century. Public dance halls were enormously popular with the bourgeois class. The 1930s brought in Swing era when America was swinging its way into Swing Music. The 1950s rolled in rock and roll music, while 60s saw the rise of soul and R & B music. The 70s was the time for disco, and also by late 70s, EDM or Electronic Dance music started swaying people.
Waltzes, Tango, Bolero, The can-can, Salsa, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Cha-Cha-Cha, the Merengue.
No one knows which came first, the name of the genre of the music associated with it.
Generally speaking, Ballads are commonly chosen for slow-dance routines. Ballads, which was a dance form (the origin of the word "Ballad" can be traced to ballroom or ballet) is not fashionable any more due to its slow tempo.
Disco, funk, soul-pop, and salsa are broadly categorized as the disco when it comes to dance music used for these genres. Disco dance music contains elements of these dance forms and music that has been associated with these.
Electronic Dance Music- EDM is the music made using electronics- this genre is inspired by disco, but it became more popular due to the introduction of computerization in everyday lives. Synthesized music that includes techniques like looping, sampling, and segueing is used creatively to create trance music, techno music, and house music.
EDM is most popular with dance clubs, shows, and radio stations. Although electronic dance music is composed entirely on computers and synthesizers without any musical instrument, most of the EDM produces are trained in classical music before they move into EDM.
Other most popular upbeat genres of dance music that do not belong to any category include:
All these forms have their sub genres, and they have their unique fan base who dance to the tunes composed for their favorite type of dance music.
The dances covered in the Ten Dance are the five International Ballroom (Standard) dances: waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, tango, and Viennese waltz, along with the five international Latin Dances: rumba, samba, pasodoble, cha-cha-cha, and jive, as defined in ballroom dancing terms. Specific albums are covering all 10 dances, and there are also full albums dedicated to more popular dance forms like jazz.
Some of the most popular albums are:
Balanchine once famously said:
" See the music, hear the dance."
Be it a competition, dance recital or merely for practice, as dancers, you are always surrounded by music. From Bach to hip-hop, there are so many choices today, and the advent of EDM and remixes has only doubled the options to choose.
Many apps help you select dance music, create your playlist, and even detect the song for you. Check this blog 15 Groovy apps every dancer will love to find your favorite music.
Here are some of the most popular music platform for a glance:
Wide selection of dance music. Beats1 Radio is a live-streamed radio station that broadcasts music shows. Allows offline-listening for any music that you save.
Free subscription, but there are a lot of ads between songs. Luckily, allows at least 4-6 songs without an ad break. The free account has built-in shuffle play, that can't be stopped, meaning you can search for your dance music but can't always play your playlist. But the paid version has exciting features like custom playlist based on your listening history. Also allows offline listening.
Most diverse range of dance music available on any platform. You can even post your content. Therefore a lot of experimental and varied genres available. The subscription is free. However, a free account doesn't allow offline listening.
Dancers are bound to be obsessed with music, and most of them have favorite artists, favorite genres and even default playlists they love to play on the loop.
But to grow as a dancer, you have to let go of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to find music for dance. You will not only expand your music taste, but your dance skills will improve, too!
