Dancing All Day

Have you ever watched one of those reality dancing programs? Everyone seems to have so much energy, passion, and enthusiasm – all the time. Where do they get that?? Perhaps the camera inspires them to be "on" so much. But what about afterwards? Bet there's a lot of foot soaking and rubbing!

This song is a humorous nod to all those driven dancers, onscreen and off. It's set in a Latin style, which is common for dancing, but adds a bit of pop flavor to keep it contemporary and more in tune with what kids are hearing these days. This includes the hand clapping (which is optional, but really fun) in conjunction with the electronic claps.

The best way to present this tune in a performance is with a bit of melodrama. Let your singers overact a bit to sell it. Be sure they enunciate the words clearly so that your audience understands the complaints. When they get to the chorus, have them put a glottal on the first "o" in "Owie, owie, ow," but slur the rest as indicated.

Adding part 2 - When you get to the coda, you will see that the song breaks into two parts (optional). Part 1 is reiterating the chorus as before, so there's nothing new to learn for them. Part 2, however, is a whole new element and adds rhythm and levity at the same time. Again, make sure singers pronounce the words clearly. Perhaps let them sing louder than part 1 even, if that helps. To assist in learning, we have isolated part 2 and put it on our web site where you can download it for free. (See details in the box on page 70.)

Dance dance dance! - Because this song is all about dancing, it only makes sense that you would want your kids to dance! At least some of them. Melissa Schott (our choreographer) has created some really exciting movement that you can use as is or adapt to fit your situation better. You'll find a video of her suggestions along with a PDF of her notes on our web site. Also free! (See details on page 70.)

We would be remiss if we didn't mention the exceptional Spanish nylon guitar work as performed by our own Sandy Williams. In fact, our entire rhythm section really did a splendid job with this one. If you have a chance to focus on that with your students, please do.