Liza May

SwingDiego 2014 Update #8 – 33 HOT SONGS YOU NEED TO KNOW!

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Louis, Louis, what would we do without Louis?

Never has there been a DJ who works so hard! His Competition music! His Filler music that makes us sing out loud, dance in our seats, do the wave! His music jokes, the bah-dah-booms, honks, squeaks, razzing, the all-day repartee with Royston on the mic!

His all-night social-dance music so good you put your shoes back on. Seventeen times. Till Louis finally releases you from captivity at 10am the next morning.

Two hours later he’s back in the ballroom to play another day of comps. And another night of songs good enough to heal the sick and raise the dead.

The man works without sleeping. From Thursday’s kickoff to Monday at daybreak, every week of the year, every continent of the globe, back there in the dark on his chair, earphones hanging on his neck, staring at knobs and dials and sound waves.

Doing the job – maybe the only job – we can’t live without. Floors are nice – but we’ve danced on grass, cement, mud, sand, we’ll even dance in water if we have to.

But music? Music we can’t do without. It’s music that makes us get up and dance. And no one knows better than Louis knows which music makes us wanna dance most.

He doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t take his eyes off the floor. He’s focused with such ferocious intensity - scrutinizing us – who’s dancing, who’s sitting, what’s the mood, what do we need now; adjusting the volume, speaker balance, tempo, genre, atmosphere, tweaking and tinkering.

With a face that says,

“I! AM! MULTI-TASKIN’! HEEYAH!!

“OKAY?!?

“DON’ TALK TA ME NOW! AR I MIGHT HAVTA THROW A 5-OWA-ENEGY ON YAW SHOES!”

Thank you for Louis! And his love of the community – the people in the community – not just the “idea” of community. Louis is a rare treasure.

Here are some of Louis’ delicious songs played for this year’s Champion level comps:

1. “Don’t Wait” (Mapei)

2. “Open” (Rhye)

3. “Let’s Groove Tonight” (Earth, Wind and Fire)

4. “I See Fire” (Kyogo)

(Jordan and Sarah danced to this song in Champion Strictly Prelim – right up close, front of the floor. When it was over I took a breath, blinked, then noticed Alexis Pero sitting a few feet away on the floor. She looked at me – we were both in tears, shaking our heads in astonishment.

It was one of those dances. They drive the slot – their slot is so long, without floating the anchor. They just … fly. They dance with their torsos. You can see the weight of their movement in their torsos. The way they stretch! All the way back, farther than you thought connected bodies could pull without breaking. The way she follows intuitively. The way he dances when he trusts his partner so much that he can dance his dance.

You just can’t capture moments like these on camera or video, like you can’t ever really capture the majesty of a crimson sun falling into the ocean. These are moments of beauty so fleeting, and when they’re over, they’re gone forever. So many of these moments in the dance world.)

5. “Scream and Shout” (will.i.am & Britney Spears)

6. “Beneath Your Beautiful” (Labrinth)

7. “She Makes Me Wanna” (JLS feat Dev)

8. “C’mon” (Ke$ha)

9. “2 On” (Drake)

10. “Summer” (Calvin Harris)

11. “Fancy” Iggy Azalea

12. “Shake Your Groove Thing” (Peaches and Herb)

13. R.I.O. Megamix (DJ Mix)

14. “Overnight” (Zac Brown)

15. “Volcano” (Damien Rice)

16. “Latch” (Disclosure)

17. “Back On It” (Bad News Brown)

18. “Sing” (Ed Sheerhan)

19. “Do It” (Pitbull and Mayer Hawthorne)

20. “Cry To Me” (Solomon Burke)

21. “Na Na” (Trey Songz)

22. “Doing It To Death” (James Brown)

23. “Eyes On Fire” (Blue Foundation)

24. “Rebound Chick” (Nelson Freitas)

25. “I’m The Only One” (Melissa Ethridge)

26. “Up Down” (T-Pain)

27. “Promiscuous” (Timbaland)

(All I can think of when I hear this song is Lacey dropping flat on her back and springing up again like it was nothing – this was maybe ten years ago? – can’t for the life of me remember which event, or who she was dancing with – here at SwingDiego? Or Reno maybe? I tried searching for videos but can’t find it. Anyone know when this was, or have the video? I’d love to show the world (esp places that haven’t heard of her) the amazingness that is Lacey)

28. “Don’t Wanna Go Home” (Jason DeRulo)

29. “Everybody” (Justice Crew)

30. “Set It Off” (Timomatic)

31. “I Care For You” (Usher)

32. “Can’t Let Go” (Faydee)

33. “Obedear” (Purity Ring)

Next Update … Songs from Louis’ SwingDiego team! And … SCORE SHEET NEWS!


Filed Under: SwingDiego

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