I agree. Not everyone learns to dance to enter competitions and some people just want to be able to get around a floor and have fun, I do! One of the biggest gripes in our dance group is the "old fashioned" music played at dances and I constantly look out for modern music, with lyrics that can be danced to so the Blog is a great source of inspiration. Many people learn to dance so they can dance at social occasions such as weddings and you are much more likely to hear some Lady Gaga than a strict tempo instrumental Cha Cha by someone who was last in the charts in the 40's!

I would also add that Lyrics give another layer to the dance and allow you to get more feeling into your dancing.

Suggestion - could you have a blog within your blog for suggestions for music to be added?

I agree, a lot of people do dance and learn to dance so they can dance at social occassions. Not everybody is dancing so they can enter a competition etc. As a professional I do prefer the stricter tempo music's because it is how the dance is supposed to be danced.

However, socially and for a performance I think it is lovely to have some modern music included. This adds an extra element to the dancing and sometimes lets you engage with your audience. When teaching I routinely use modern music, and music my students want to use as this gets them excited. I can't force them to dance to traditional/old stuff if they don't want to. And they won't enjoy the dance as a result.

There are 2 sides to this argument. The old music is great, but we mustn't knock the importance of the modern music as well.

Your blog is fantastic and will help teachers and students in selecting appropriate music. Thank you for your blog!

Thank you :) I am very glad it has been found to be helpful. I do agree the traditional songs are just as important. I posted on my blog a few of my favorites I believe, but on my personal dance ipod I do keep plenty traditional as well. My reasoning behind this blog was to offer something new, and you can google traditional Cha-Cha music and have no problem finding thousands of hits. I saw no purpose in including a ton of those because the information is already readily available. I should be updating again in the next few days, so feel free to check back. I found a ton of really cool Bollywood style music and some Greek artists that work fantastic for salsa, samba, and zouk in particular.

Honestly, I'm far from a computer wiz. I chose google blogger because I wanted this to be an easy way to share my stuff. I don't really know how to add a blog inside the blog, though if you leaves me comments on the blog I can easily add your suggestions. I want to ensure the integrity of what I'm doing and double check all songs before I put them up. That's actually why I've been a bit stalled lately. I like to check even the ones I use with my partner, just for another opinion.

I see you have added Christina Aguilera's Hurt as a Foxtrot, but I would say this works better as a Rumba. Would you not agree??

It does also work as a rumba, I personally enjoy a slow silver foxtrot and prefer it for foxtrot. It all depends of personal preference on a lot of these. I may cross-list it now that you mention that though. I generally try to put the songs in all of the categories they work.

SalsaRod. If you look at the tunes being played by the worlds best Ballroom Dance Orchestras you will find that many of the songs recorded go back to the 30's.... 42'ND Street a Quickstep from the Film of the same name 1932. Also recorded and recorded again and again are the music from Fred Astair's films . Many of you are dancing to songs written in the 30's and dont know it. In those days the music was not only composed for films or Broadway Musicals. It had a double purpose, and that was it was written for people to sing along and to dance to.. So please dont knock those old tunes, without them maybe none of us would be dancing a Waltz or a Foxtrot or a Quickstep.Thats were it all started. The sale of sheet music should also get a mention. That is where in those days they made their money. We didn't have records or the means to play them. But every hotel had a piano and a piano player.

I suppose we need to establish what is considered old. Surely Feelings sung by Shirly Bassey. Would that be considered too old as a Rumba. Have you seen Donnie Burns and Gaynor on You Tube, dancing to the Greatest Performasnce Of My life, also by Shirly Bassey. Would those two songs be consdered too old . Both of those songs are not true Rumbas, But the Feeling is there and it brings out the Performances. Let us not forget that a true Latin Orchestra has in it many more instuments than an ordinary orchestra which have not. I think one of them is called a Caracas, as well as a thing that sounds like a lot of rice being shaken in a ball type instrument.

Like I've said, I personally agree the classics are great. I am only offering some information that isn't as readily available. I can find classical music with little difficulty, to find the type of music I offer, you have to be able to either count or really, really spend time digging to get anywhere.

Hi Oz. Please don't get me wrong, i am not in any way "knocking" older music but what i am saying this that socially, outside the scope of ballroom dance events, you are much more likely to encounter more contemporary or modern music. In addition, in order to attract a younger audience to ballroom dancing and keep it alive, playing modern music which they can recognise is much more likely to attract their interest.

I dance and listen to a great deal of older music but bmaniaci's resource is very useful for finding new tunes.