Lately one of the highlights of my week has been going to dance classes at Rhythm & Motion. Dance is an amazing workout, but it's also mentally challenging in a way that's totally different from work or writing. Picking up nuanced choreography takes a physical intelligence that I'm slowly developing over hours and hours of practice.
There are a few songs we hear a lot in one of my classes, and I was able to track two of them down to share with you. The first two are songs we often warm up to: MC Magic's "Dancer" and Ne-Yo's "Closer".
The third track is a bonus because I'd never hear it in dance class. Chris Cornell, an artist I've been obsessed with since I was a teenager, is releasing a new record this fall and the single "Long Gone" is a crazy R&B-tinged departure from his normal sway from stompy rock to sappy serenades. You can tell Timbaland produced it, which makes me love it even more. (Disappointingly, the other single I've heard from the album, "Watch Out", is egregiously bad.)
Watch Ne-Yo's video for "Closer":
Watch Chris Cornell perform "Long Gone" on Leno: