Can Traditional Dances and Pop Music Mix?

Do traditional dances work with popular music?

Absolutely. The great thing about popular music is that it’s so versatile and encompasses so many different forms of rhythms. Carrie Babcock, an instructor at The Fred Astaire Dance Studio, in Montclair, NJ, recommends Madonna’s album The Immaculate Collection. It’s 95 percent cha-cha with a little rumba mixed in; you can dance rumba to most of Celine Dion’s songs. Marc Anthony’s are cha-cha and salsa; Earth, Wind and Fire combines the hustle and rumba.

”Play me a song and I can most likely teach you a traditional dance to do to it,” says Babcock. (Okay, maybe not one by Korn.) Babcock suggests turning on a few of your favorites and trying it! You’ll be able to tell if a song works with a traditional step—if you feel like you can move pretty naturally to the beat, it does.