Regina Spektor is a very quirky musician who doesn’t really fit into any specific musical genre, as each of her songs have their own distinctive styles. She has a broad vocal range, using different vocal techniques such as beat boxing flourishes in her ballads, titular sounds, accents, and most notably, glottal stops (like uh-oh, uh uh uh, hah uh uh eart). Her songs show influences from folk, punk, rock, hip hop, jazz, and classical music. More »

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I’m always proclaiming here that anything ironic is automatically cute. Take Martha Stewart for example. She’s done more time than most commercial hip hop rappers, yet she can whip up a mean heart-shaped eggs and toast. And yes, I am referencing the times Martha Stewart had Snoop Dogg and Ludacris as guests on the Martha Stewart Show. Luckily for you, my friends, you don’t have to be a rapper or do time (or both) to make heart-shaped eggs and toast. More »

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So the latest update on the boy story I started a while ago is not a great one - we’re no longer together =/ However, it’s definitely not as devastating as it sounds so this is not a boohoo post. It’s actually been a good thing in some ways, i.e. giving me an excuse to do cathartic Grey’s Anatomy catch-up sessions and traipse around campus in ridiculous heels with Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” blaring through my earbuds. I love the “Single Ladies” song, and now can fully enjoy it with my new single lady status!

Anyway, if you thought you were reading a relationship-talk post, think again. This is actually a DANCE post (I just couldn’t resist the personal life update and segue into the real content). I’ve been watching two dance videos of the “Single Ladies” song: the sexy hip-shaking high heeled original Beyoncé music video and a much funkier street hip-hop choreography to the same song by Luam (probably the best hip hop teacher at Broadway Dance Center in NYC - check out her site Wild Child Nation: Love Understands All Music).

Click “more” to see the vids and commentary. And check back some other time for relationship talk (I’ve been piling up a substantial amount of breakup experience and advice). More »

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Part of my dance group’s annual tradition is to go see So You Think You Can Dance on tour! This year we traveled to MGM Grand Foxwoods - this crazy huge casino in the middle of nowhere Connecticut - to see the finalists from Season 4 perform the most memorable dances of the show live.

We were seated at the very back of the theater even though we bought tickets AS SOON as sales went live, but the dancers are so forceful and talented that we could feel their energy from hundreds of yards away.

Joshua might have been the winner this season, but my favorite is still Katee. My favorite pieces include a large number of the ones with Katee and Joshua though, so all is forgiven =)

After the jump: Several youtube videos of my favorite SYTYCD dances, including one I took myself of their tour opening number! Vote for your favorite (or tell me if you have one that I haven’t put up here). Just a warning I’m a bit biased towards the hip-hop numbers (even though I’m a ballerina by training, weird right?) More »

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In case my post about what’s playing on my iTunes makes me come off as an emo nerd (which is true), here’s a sampling of the songs that I’ll be dancing to this semester for my dance company at school, Groove. It’s all mostly hip-hop and street jazz, which are not my dominant styles but it should be a fun time =) Very different tunes from my study music right?

I’m no Step Up 2 The Streets (I was trained in ballet), so this kind of dance is actually quite tough for me. Makes me appreciate female hip hoppers and b-girlers all the more. The great thing about hip-hop thought is that it’s very urban and democratic, so at its core it’s not about technique or training but rather about letting lose and hitting the beats. So press play on a few of these and get up to dance with me <3 More »

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