I like "smooth" by santana for a cha cha.
2 "tea for two" is another classic.
3 my third choice is the Eagles: "in the long run" or even "hotel california"

If by well-known you mean contemporary music, two "pop" songs I like are Enrique Iglesias' *Bailamos* -- it's technically a samba, but also is really nice cha cha. Another one, currently on the radio (at least locally), is Leann Rimes' *Can't Fight the Moonlight* Other possibles: Celine Dion, *Love Can Move Mountains*; Michael Bolton, *How Can We be Lovers* or *Time Love and Tenderness*; Santana *Black Magic Woman*; Melissa Etheridge, *Come to My Window*; Fleetwood Mac, *Little Lies*; and Lee Ann Womack, *Ashes by Now* -- some of these you can of course dance other things to, but in my opinion make good cha

Some more mainstream song ideas:

Marc Anthony - I Need To Know
Pink - Get This Party Started
Christina Aquilera - Lady Marmalade
Smashmouth - Walking on the Sun
Prince - Kiss

Good luck!

just to furthur explain the situation i also compete in bikini contest and in this one we need a talent, i am doing a chacha and would like to use a mainstream song, and because of the type of contest I can have no partner, the judges know nothing about dance so any tips, or things i could do would also be greatly appreciated

Jennifer Lopez - Let's get loud

Thank you all for your help the more posts the merrier especially ones like from the ditz she gave me some tips, it is wierd to dance by yourself when you are used to a partner and the crowd and judges don't know the steps so any tips of what to do in my routine would also be greatly appreciated and it is for a bikini contest again, if that helps thanks again all

We practice to "Smooth" by Santana and I still never get tired of it and someone here said to try "Never There" by Cake - I LOVE it and it is unexpected

tourist

MC Hammer - Can't Touch This
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Both of these would be really cool for a bikini contest.

As for dancing by yourself, there are salsa videos with shine (dancing by yourself) routines. You could probably adapt them to cha cha shines. I don't know of any cha cha shine videos.

Let's Get Loud - JLO
MAke you Sweat- C and C music factory

Lots of chas by JLo and company if you want a funk vibe...Santana if you want a funk/latin...enrique has a hero remix that is a cha latin/funk as well.

Let us know how it goes!

You can preview any song at a P2P site like Kazaa or limewire...it can save lots of time and money!

Good luck!

Let's see Bikini contest = male audience which means you need a good crowd starting music, preferably something that would be played in a stadium. Shoot, I have a song running through my head, I think it's mainly instrumental and starts with the "Let's Get Ready to Rumble...". ESPN has put out a couple of sport anthem CD's, shouldn't be hard to find. You might even look into some more rock-type WCS. "Let's go Girls" is mainly danced as a WCSwing, but has enough hits and lyrics that are fun to play with, and a strong enough beat you can do a cha-cha to it.

Mainly, you're goal is to please the audience, pick a song that gets them rowdy, and that you don't mind acting to. Because that'll be more of what you will be doing, a little shimmy, a little pose, and a whole lot of acting. So concentrate on your arms, head, and hips as much as possible. Because as my teacher says, "once you get out the studio door, not a whole heck of a lot of people know the difference between good technique and bad technique. Their just impressed you can dance." They do know a good show though.

Good luck,
-TheDitz