Gotta daaaaaaance! Gotta daaaaance!
June 7, 2010 11:02 AM Subscribe
Help me plan a real-life musical number! I need suggestions for music tracks for a real-life burst-into-song-and-dance musical sequence.
My roommate is a pretty talented dancer - enough so that he can extemporize steps to whatever music he hears. He's moving out at the end of the month. Sometime before then, when we're both hanging around the house, I'd like to hit play on something and burst into a musical number.
Please, dear hive-mind, help me as follows: I need, first, a perfect song. Ideally this should have some thematic connection with him being a good friend and moving out (and on to bigger and better, one assumes) but that's not entirely necessary. I would like it if the song had separate dance-style sections - i.e., if one part of it was a waltz and another part was in regular 4/4, or something like this, so we can do a couple of different kinds of dance throughout the song. Finally, and this goes in tandem with the previous requirement, I'd prefer something from a classic musical or something from the American / Broadway songbook - because I think this is a good place to look for songs that have a couple different dance-styles in them, as much as anything else.
As a second requirement, I need to plan out enough of my part of the dancing that I can just start doing it when the music starts playing. Any advice on learning basic waltz, tango, tap, or any other kind of dancing in the next 2 weeks? And/or any ideas for choreography, assuming my sense of rhythm and level of coordination are adequate for day-to-day life but not those usually associated with bursting into dance?
My roommate is a pretty talented dancer - enough so that he can extemporize steps to whatever music he hears. He's moving out at the end of the month. Sometime before then, when we're both hanging around the house, I'd like to hit play on something and burst into a musical number.
Please, dear hive-mind, help me as follows: I need, first, a perfect song. Ideally this should have some thematic connection with him being a good friend and moving out (and on to bigger and better, one assumes) but that's not entirely necessary. I would like it if the song had separate dance-style sections - i.e., if one part of it was a waltz and another part was in regular 4/4, or something like this, so we can do a couple of different kinds of dance throughout the song. Finally, and this goes in tandem with the previous requirement, I'd prefer something from a classic musical or something from the American / Broadway songbook - because I think this is a good place to look for songs that have a couple different dance-styles in them, as much as anything else.
As a second requirement, I need to plan out enough of my part of the dancing that I can just start doing it when the music starts playing. Any advice on learning basic waltz, tango, tap, or any other kind of dancing in the next 2 weeks? And/or any ideas for choreography, assuming my sense of rhythm and level of coordination are adequate for day-to-day life but not those usually associated with bursting into dance?
Response by poster: dbarefoot: Ruled out because a) Sondheim, so rhythmically complicated, and b) three-plus vocal parts.
Off the top of my head. Not bad, huh? :)
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 11:25 AM on June 7, 2010
Off the top of my head. Not bad, huh? :)
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 11:25 AM on June 7, 2010
Bosom Buddies seems like the snarky choice...
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:25 AM on June 7, 2010
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:25 AM on June 7, 2010
Best answer: Maybe Put On Your Sunday Clothes from Hello, Dolly!
"Out there... there's a world outside of Yonkers..."
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:11 PM on June 7, 2010
"Out there... there's a world outside of Yonkers..."
posted by davidjmcgee at 12:11 PM on June 7, 2010
how about gershwin's things are looking up? (btw this is the only streaming version i could find online, the song is more uptempo to start with than this version)
helps that it starts off with "if i should suddenly start to sing / or stand on my head or anything / don't think that i've lost my senses / it's just that my happiness finally commences"
you can easily change the lines about love to being about friendship :)
posted by raw sugar at 1:33 PM on June 7, 2010
helps that it starts off with "if i should suddenly start to sing / or stand on my head or anything / don't think that i've lost my senses / it's just that my happiness finally commences"
you can easily change the lines about love to being about friendship :)
posted by raw sugar at 1:33 PM on June 7, 2010
Ha! I was going to suggest Opening Doors or maybe even Our Time as well. Well damn.
Well, Movin' Out from Movin' Out seems like an obvious possibility, though not in classic American theatre rep.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:35 PM on June 7, 2010
Well, Movin' Out from Movin' Out seems like an obvious possibility, though not in classic American theatre rep.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:35 PM on June 7, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dbarefoot at 11:21 AM on June 7, 2010