Playlist of the Week: Dancing Songs to Add to Your Music Therapy Repertoire

There are so many instances when songs related to dancing are brought forth in a music therapy session. Perhaps you are using the song to motivate movement towards physical goals and specific motor skills. Or perhaps, you are working with an older adult who used to go out dancing with their loved one every Saturday night! Whatever the clinical application, I hope you find these songs helpful to add to your repertoire!

1. Tennessee Waltz - Patsy Cline

Lyric: I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz Now I know just how much I have lost Yes, I lost my little darling the night they were playing The beautiful Tennessee Waltz

2. Footloose - Kenny Loggins

Lyric: Loose, footloose Kick off your Sunday shoes Please, Louise Pull me offa' my knees Jack, get back C'mon before we crack Lose your blues Everybody cut footloose

3. Sway - Dean Martin

Lyric: Like a flower bending in the breeze

Bend with me, sway with ease

When we dance you have a way with me

Stay with me, sway with me

4. Could I Have this Dance - Anne Murray

Lyric: Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Would you be my partner every night?

When we're together it feels so right

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

5. Can't Stop the Feeling - Justin Timberlake

Lyric: I got that sunshine in my pocket

Got that good soul in my feet

I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops (ooh)

I can't take my eyes up off it, movin' so phenomenally

6. Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest

Lyric: Dancin' in the moonlight

Everybody's feelin' warm and bright

It's such a fine and natural sight

Everybody's dancin' in the moonlight

7. Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol

Lyric: A-when there's no one else in sight,

A-in crowded lonely night

Well, I wait so long for my love vibration

And I'm dancing with myself

8. Twist and Shout - The Beatles

Lyric: Well, shake it up baby now

Twist and shout

Come on, come on, come, come on baby now

Come on and work it on out

9. The Locomotion - Little Eva

Lyric: My little baby sister can do it with me

It's easier than learning your a-b-c's

So come on, come on, do the loco-motion with me

You gotta swing your hips, now

10. I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Whitney Houston

Lyric: Oh, I wanna dance with somebody

I wanna feel the heat with somebody

Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody

With somebody who loves me

11. On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez

Lyric: Dance the night away

Live your life and stay young on the floor

Dance the night away

12. Dancing Queen - Abba

Lyric: Dancing queen

Feel the beat from the tambourine, oh yeah

You can dance

You can jive

Having the time of your life

13. I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack

Lyric: Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you danceI hope you dance

14. I'll Never Dance Again - Herman's Hermits

Lyric: My soul was swayin' to the beat of your heart

And your lips were sayin' that we won't dance apart

Now someone else is holding you the way I did then

So I'll never, no I'll never, never dance again

15. Save the Last Dance for Me - The Drifters

Lyric: But don't forget who's takin' you home

And in whose arms you're gonna be

So darlin' save the last dance for me

16. Cheek to Cheek - Fred Astaire

Lyric: Oh! I love to climb a mountain, And to reach the highest peak,

But it doesn't thrill me half as much

As dancing cheek to cheek

17. Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb

Lyric: Let's show the world we can dance

Bad enough to strut our stuff

The music gives us a chance

We do more out on the floor

18. Mambo Italiano - Dean Martin

Lyric: Try an enchilada with the fishy baccalà and then a

Hey cumpa', love a how you dance a rhumba

But take a some advice, paisano

Learn how to mambo

19. Just Dance - Lady Gaga

Lyric: Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm

Just dance, spin that record, babe, da da doo-doo-mmm

20. Waltzing Matilda - Slim Dusty

Lyric: Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me

He sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,

you'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me

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