As a musical-theater teacher, Rachel Leigh Dolan feels a certain obligation to honor the music she’s using in class. After all, it’s right in the name of the genre, she points out. “I take that label seriously,” she says. “There’s never a time when music isn’t intentional.”
That means that a song is always her starting point for any combo or bigger piece of choreography. But the deliberate hand-picking of tracks really begins with the warm-up playlist that she uses for all of her classes at Steps on Broadway and Pace University. As a long-time yoga teacher, Dolan designed it carefully to put students in a “meditative state,” she says, adding that she uses the start of class not only to help dancers prep their bodies for the work ahead, but to get into the right mindset. She knows that many of her students are juggling other big tasks during the day, like auditions, and wants to offer them a helpful transition. “Music allows that opportunity to just be present and tap into whatever they’re hoping to have happen in the 90 minutes that they’re in class,” she says.
For that reason, her playlist slowly builds in tempo and volume to help dancers gradually tap into the energy needed. “I don’t like music that feels intrusive for the warm-up,” she says. “It should be more of a moving meditation.” She programs the songs to progressively create more sweat and heat in the room rather than asking dancers to hit hard, heavy beats right off the bat. “As a dancer, I don’t like having my eardrums blown out in class right away,” she says. “I’m maybe not physically ready for that, but I’m definitely not mentally ready for that, especially commuting to dance studios in New York City. I need a minute to ease into things.”
Only once it’s time to go across the floor does Dolan put on tracks with a more driving beat—“that kind of cadence that allows for you to step into the rhythmic quality of musical-theater jazz,” she explains. Then, when it comes to final combos, anything that sparks creativity is fair game. Maybe a song conjures up a particular character, or it gives a rhythm that she wants to teach her students to match.
But no matter the exact track, Dolan works to help her students feel the musicality rather than simply replicate counts in their bodies. “When you hear a trumpet, or a snare drum, or a kick drum, how do those things resonate in your body differently? Do you feel it in your chest more? Do you feel it up towards your head or your feet more? If you were going to animate it, what would the colors be?” she says, giving examples of questions she asks her students. “We start to understand that not every instrument creates the same accent choreographically.” This, she finds, helps dancers both deepen their own sense of musicality and also better grasp what choreographers might be responding to when they create phrases. “I like for dancers to hear those details and also have some agency over how they want to hit the movement.”
Her Warm-Up Playlist
Dolan created this warm-up playlist so that she can simply press “play” and dive right into class without stopping and starting. “I have the songs overlap a very specific amount so that we can stay in this kind of choreographed mindset,” she says.
“High and Dry,” by Radiohead
Dolan likes to begin class with this track thanks to its “soulful, easy tempo that allows dancers to start breathing and moving together. “The bridge of the song starts to motivate bigger, sweeping movement that helps raise our heart rates.”
“Light On,” by Maggie Rogers
“Ask any of my students, and this is the song they think of when it comes to my class—this is the song most sung along to! Maggie Rogers delivers heartbreak but optimism.” She uses the track to go through tendus and then down to the floor to begin ballistic stretching. “Similar to the first song, the bridge drives us into a new idea,” she adds.
“Chariot,” by Mega
Dolan uses this song to close out her warm-up. “The rhythm allows enough tempo for a final abdominal push while still winding us down,” she explains. “I love the message of this song, and the lyrics leave me with a warm feeling: ‘When you’re low, I’ll lead you home, Chariot. Take you back to where you’re from, Chariot.’ It reminds me that dance feels like home.”