Freestyling. Probably the most expressive part of dance which allows the dancer to really express their feelings right there on the spot while they're dancing. Its, perhaps, also one of the most fun part of dance too. This is because you get to just dance out the thing thats is your head in the present moment and if you're with your friends, you could probably just play around with them. Haha.
Its also the part where most choreographies originated from. One advice: If you are trying to choreograph to a particular song, do it freestyle first! Play the song out, then freestyle to it. After that, incorporate what you think looks good into your choreography. You could even film down the whole freestyle session then look through it after everything is over, thats what i usually do by the way, only that i freestyle a lot more than try to choreograph something=)
You know what? Many of the inventions that now are part of our everyday lives are created out of a single thought or accident that just flashed through the creators mind. During a freestyle, instead of trying to remember what to do next, you just follow the beat and just do the thing that pops up into your mind, test everything out. Don't leave ANY moves untouched!
I think that everyone has their own dance inspirations. Mine is Michael Jackson. I used to think that dance was a boring thing and i was TOTALLY not interested in it. This changed when Michael Jackson passed away last year june, 25. I was a fan of his when i was about 5 or 6 when my brother used to blast his songs on speakers and i would sit at a side and look at him trying out MJ moves, but as i grew up, i thought nothing much of it and forgot about the legendary king of pop(maybe partly because of his low profile for a period of time).
Well, his death just jolt me from my muddled and almost boring life into the world of dance. I searched through youtube about him again, i watched his concerts again and again. I listen to his songs on my phone all the time. Then i realized that there was a name for the style that he dances and it was called popping. I started with moonwalk, gliding and the typical MJ moves. When i was into it for about one month or so, i was already searching youtube for videos like "popping tutorial" or "how to pop". I also spent MUCH of my time watching videos of professionals like salah, popping hyun joon, and of course more of MJ. I even learnt the choreography of Beat It and copied the moves during a billie jean performance(though even now, im not really good at it).
So, this post is all about inspirations. I think that all dancers have their own inspirations, like dancers whom they admire and look up to. I personally think that it is quite important to have an inspiration in dance, because that would be the style that the dancer would start to develop in before developing their own styles. There can be more than one inspiration, afterall, there's enough for everyone in the world! Also, being exposed to different styles of different dance professionals will also let the dancer realize that the styles can be varied and there is an unlimited way of expressing dance.
i'll end of with this song from step up 3!! it makes me feel like dancing when i listen to it!=)enjoy!
What is popping? From wikipedia: Popping is a dance style and one of the original funk style of dance that came out of Fresno, CA in the 1970s. It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in the dancer's body, referred to as a pop, tick or a hit. This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song in combination with various movements and poses.
Well i think that popping is one of the coolest dance styles because even though it looks really stunning, most of the moves have astonishingly easy steps. Popping is just making an impressive illusion into dance, like for example a head isolation which makes the head looks like its dislocated. Haha, this is just one of the reasons i dance, to see people's jaws drop open and say,"Omigawd, is he human?". An example of a popper would be Madd Chadd, remember him from the previous post?=9
Jerking
Sort of a the main thing in popping. Its done by contracting and relaxing your muscles on the part of the body thats moving and stop the moving. So it looks like as if your hand or body knocked into some invisible solid. It also can be used for robotic actions. You know how sometimes a robots in a sci-fi movie moves? It has a stiff feeling to it and the robot sort of jerks to a stop whenever it moves. That's what some dances do, and thats ultra-cool and what i do too=)
Waves
This is the exact opposite of jerking. It concentrates on being smooth and "inhumanly" liquidy(if there is such a word). The illusion here is that the popper moves his fingers, then his wrists, then his elbows, then his shoulders to his other shoulder and down the opposite way in a upward direction. With this sequence, when done quickly, it creates a illusion of a wave through the hands. This concept can also be used for other variations like from head to toe or linked from hand to toe.
Isolations
These moves are illusions which look like the persons head is dislocated from his body. Like when a person move his head to one side sort of like a indian dance move and his body moves in the opposite direction he looks like his head is dislocated.
You can be a good dancer when you constantly have a proud and humble attitude while dancing, proud so that you will not think of reaching your "peak" in dancing and believe you will stop progressing but know that there's always room for improvement. Humble so that you can constantly be in a learning mood like always willing to accept other dancer's corrections to improve yourself.
Never be in rush or doing a move just for the sake of doing it. Take your time and change the moves a little bit, be creative.
Putting things and aspects of your life into dance. Emotions, just like many people use dance to express themselves. Raw emotions or feelings perhaps brings more feeling to dance and thus makes it look better.
