song-choice anxiety!

mel919 started this discussion · 4/23/2013

I will be competing in a little over 2 months and I am beating myself up about choosing a song! I can freestyle all day to just about anything (I actually pride myself in being able to go from genre to genre), but when it comes to picking a song for a competition I just can't seem to narrow it down to just one! I find myself flipping through my ipod and spotify, and just about every other song is "THE" song.. am I the only one with this little predicament?

3 replies

Serzi · 4/23/2013
Just nerves. I've never competed, but I have performed publicly twice and had the same dilemma. Can you narrow it down to an artist that you really love? My first performance I kinda chose a song I don't really love just because I thought it would be more of a crowd-pleaser. I advise AGAINST doing that. My second performance was much better because it was a song that had great meaning in my life. I knew every note and word by heart, was helpful. ;)
mel919 · 4/23/2013
good point... I love crowd-pleasing though! haha. I've been in one competition prior to this one, and my song choice was definitely desperate. Great song, just didn't really transfer well ("Little Bird" by Annie Lennox). I can dance the heck out of some slow songs, but so many people do slow songs! and honestly, unless it's super amazing, I get bored watching slow choreography :x
korinne · 4/24/2013
I don't compete usually, but I publicly perform quite a bit. 1. Make sure it's a song you're super familiar with... If something goes wrong, you can freestyle through it because you're so comfortable with the song. 2. Pick a song you love and feel throughout your body because it shows when you're dancing. If you are happy and feeling it, it will come across to the audience/judges. 3. A song that is super popular will please the crowd but can take away from the audience focus on your dance. If the crowd is rocking out to the song, they may be less... concentrated on your skills. I use this a lot to my advantage when I freestyle because the audience is loving the song, they tend to be more forgiving when a rogue toe goes unpointed. (Crowds love Journey- but that depends on your audience) For competition, you may want the judges FOCUSED on you and not your music. 4. Don't pick a song that is generally considered unpopular or unsuited to the competition. Make sure it meets competition requirements (if they have stipulations about vulgar language or length, for example). In one of the few comps I did do, I had points (unfairly) deducted because the judges did not like my music. --Everyone else was doing R&B and Top 40 and I did Puscifer... In the end, just bite the bullet, pick one that meets your criteria and commit. Once you do that, it's easy to focus on your routine and move past.