Holiday music for class

12/11/2016

AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, we all want to do something to celebrate the holiday season. One of the easiest things you can do to get your class into the festive spirit is to mix in some festive music to your lesson plan. I've saved you from hours of surfing, by finding my top danceable, festive tunes. Enjoy !

1, Rocking around the Christmas tree. Perfect for a warm up and to get your class off to a festive start. Give me some "step tap" with lots of layers!

2, Let it snow. Who can resist the voice of Dean Martin? Perfect for some non traditional snake arms or figure 8s! or how about a short repeating combo ?

3, Last Christmas. If anything says December in the UK in 1980 something its "Last Christmas". Did you love George or the other one? (Andrew - don't say you'd forgotten!) This tune has everything, a nice beat for hip drops, an emotional melody for showing off your acting skills. Who could want anything more ? And it has to be Wham - dont fall for Taylor Swifts charms...

4, Merry Christmas Baby. If you want something a bit more Ooooey, Goooey for you class, I suggest this Otis Redding classic. You still have a regular beat, and those sleigh bells, so its also perfect for layering and interpretation, but let your liquid moves shine through.

5, Walking in a Winter Wonderland. Its time for something a little more "rockin". While rockin might not be your first thought when you think of Walking in a Winter Wonderland, I would like you to consider dancing to Selena Gomez's version. I can see some great fusion happening - even if it kind of sounds like she hired a group of 14 year olds to play for her...

6, Santa Baby. If there is one number that is just crying out to be performed by your belly dance class, it has to be this classic by Eartha Kitt. Not even Santa could resist !

7, Sleigh Ride. If your students arn't the Santa Baby types, why not consider the Karmin version of Sleigh Ride? It has a great slow beat that would be super easy to dance to, making it perfect for a beginners class, or a group who struggle to improvise. I love that sax and sleigh bell mix !

8, Merry Christmas Everyone. Get ready to shimmy.... Beloved in the UK, but not well known in the USA, this song is the ultimate feel good tune to shake your coin belt. Just excuse the terribly awkward video...

9, All I want for Christmas. It wouldn't be a Christmas list without the ultimate sing along tune. This number is perfect for keeping a class full of belly dancers smiling during those boring footwork drills. I picked the Mariah Carey version over Fifth Harmony (hello 2104!), and the Love Actually videos. No one can hit those notes like Mariah, but we can all dream ! Oh and who can see her costume turning into an amazing bedlah...

10, Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Personally I love the Bruce Springsteen version for my Christmas mix tape, but the Pentatonix version is much better for belly dance, with its unexpected layering to the well known tune.

11, Silent Night. I have purposely lent towards silly pop songs so far, but you should also consider some of the wonderful covers done by Middle Eastern and fusion musicians. I particularly like this version of Silent Night by Brothers of the Baladi. It breaks my "non religious rule", so I personally would not use it in class, but you might feel that it would be well received by your students.

Brothers of the Baladi

12, Finally, consider searching for your favorite Christmas tune in Arabic. There are plenty available, although most are just a simple translation and dont have any more belly dance soul than the original versions (zero!). However, some of them, like this one, include the lyrics - which are great for those of us who are trying to improve our Arabic skills.

Thank you for reading this blog - wishing you and yours a very Happy Holidays !

Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.

She has taught more than 4,000 belly dance classes, both in the UK and US. She now teaches in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the SF bay area, as well as workshops world wide. Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context. Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching.

Sara’s first book “Teaching Belly Dance” was published in 2014. Her second "Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage", co- written with Dawn Devine, Alisha Westerfeld and Poppy Maya, is a stagecraft handbook for belly dancers of all styles and levels. Both are available on Amazon.