Tag Archives: public dancing

Road Trip Mixes are a Necessity

Posted in Music, Songs by

dancing-in-a-car-waynes-worldI’m sorry for being such a slacker last week.  I literally didn’t post anything, but I promise I have a good reason…kinda.  I moved from Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles, California last week.  Plus everything that could go wrong went wrong.  My older brother got into a sever car accident where he was hit head on by another car.  Both cars were totaled.  My brother is still recovering.  He has some stress fractures in his face and his left hand has been bothering him since the accident, but he is getting stronger everyday.  Driving from Boston to Syracuse, New York my breaks came loose on the right side of my car where it was making this grinding noise so that was terrifying.  And finally, the Uhaul place gave us the wrong size truck.  Instead of the seventeen foot truck that we ordered they gave us a fourteen foot truck.  From what the Uhaul company explained you only put in a “request” for a truck, it does not guarantee you that size truck which I understood, but if you are going to give the customer a different size truck wouldn’t you give them a larger one?  Needless to say, all the stuff that my parents, brother, and I had did not fit so we had to rent a trailer, which made everyone have to drive by themselves.  Thank you Uhaul!

It took four days to get to sunny LA driving from sun up to sun down every day.  I never want to drive that much again.  I don’t think the experience of being in the car is bad, but when no one is in the car with you it can be pretty boring.  Knowing that I was going to be driving alone I made some epic playlists, but I could not play said playlists because my jack in my phone stopped working on the third day of the trip.  I seriously cannot make this up.  Luckily, I didn’t have to channel surf in the car to find a music station because I have Sirius XM, but listening to one station for twelve hours you get to know the music they play because just like normal radio stations they loop songs every four hours.  So, of course I was channel surfing between the 80s, 90s, and 00s stations for the last two days.

This brings me back to my point of the importance of road mixes or as we come to know them as playlists.  The problem with playlists if you iPod doesn’t want to work or cooperate you need a back up.  Granted most CDs hold maybe two hours of music which is pushing it, but it’s better to have multiple CDs with music you know you like rather than switching channels every time the “Macarena” comes on.  Here is my note to all of you road trippers out there.  Do not depend on your iPod or iPhone to get you through a long car ride.  You need to have some CD back ups of those epic playlists because if you don’t you won’t be able to scream “Hold on,” boy band dance to “I Want It That Way,” or bang you head to”Bohemian Rhapsody” to entertain yourself from boredom.  Instead you will have to guess with the radio on what the next song is, unable to skip if you don’t like it, and most importantly you can’t really plan your next dance move while driving.  These are the important things in life.

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What to Expect when you Bring a Dancer Out in Public

Posted in Dance by

Have you ever seen the music video of Sara Bareilles singing Gonna Get Over You?  It is one of the happiest break up songs I have ever heard.  Not only is she in the middle of the grocery store dancing and singing, but she somehow gets everyone else to join in too.  Granted, at the end of the video she comes to the realization that it was all in her head and bows her head in embarrassment and shame, but it basically sets the stage for what you need to know about a dancer in public.  Needless to say, when out in public with a dancer they can be extremely embarrassing to a non-dancer.  They can decide to jété down a grocery isle, or if music is playing in your general vicinity expect there to be random dancing to that bass pumping beat.  I can admit I’m embarrassing when I go out in public.  Just ask my brother who had to deal with my random dancing when we were last in Los Angeles together.  He had to deal with my bust a move mentality up and down third street in Santa Monica while street artists were getting their jam on.

So why do dancer do this?  They just can’t help themselves.  Imagine your whole life having various three minute sections of your life choreographed to music.  Now imagine repeating these sections so many times that your brain is going to fall out.  Between recitals, competition, professional performance gigs, choreographing, and charity events you have a tendency to lose your mind a little that anytime you hear music you just need to move.  In some situation random dancing is appropriate like on iCarly, a concert, or a music festival because not only are their other weirdos like you, but your friends or siblings that look at you as a crazy person are now joining in on the music that actually exists.  In my brother’s case, he gets the head bob going with his hands in the air like he just don’t care; there is a lot of jumping around and dancing like an idiot.

Lastly, a dancer can randomly start dancing when there is no music playing, but just so you know there is a constant soundtrack in their head.  Let me tell you it never turns off.  You know how I was saying that a dancer has the constant pleasure of repeating pieces or dances over and over again?  Well, that carries over into other parts of their lives.  For example, I become obsessed with certain songs and learn every word.  Then I am singing it for a week and every time I’m singing it to myself I get in my own head, think I’m alone, start choreographing to it, and all of a sudden I can have five people looking at me in the park because they think I’m a spaz.  I leave you with this. The next time you see someone dance randomly in public, I can 95% guarantee they are not crazy they just love life and want you to too.  Join in on the fun and make a flash mob out of their moves or make your own and connect with someone on an artistic level by dancing it out.