As I have mentioned in class, going to the dance performance last friday was a HUGE contrast to hip hop choreography. Watching that performance emphasized what real, impressive dancing is. Of course, I am not implying hip hop choreography is not real nor impressive, but the flexibility and acrobatic ability the dancers showed is a lot more interesting than what hip hop choreographers/dancers can offer. However, in the modern age (should i say, modern, modern, modern?) I feel as though the later generations will not be able to appreciate the type of art we saw on friday as much as hip hop choreography. This can be further emphasized by the current bias against dance forms like ballet and jazz.
Here are some examples I have: (WARNING: THERE IS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE IN THE VIDEOS)
You can watch both videos and pick which one you prefer over the other. The question is, the same way a person who watched the dance performance friday can choose which of the four was his/her favorite, which do you prefer and why? Notice the musicality the dancers have with the lyrics and beats to the song, or the formations the choreographer sets up, or the costumes they have on; similar to how you would judge one of the dances from friday night. Tell me what you think!
If the question arises, yes I do this type of dance. Weird isn’t it?
You are taking for granted that there was no hip-hop dancing at Fall for Dance. Please note that there were different groups performing every few days. I’d be surprised if certain hip-hop elements didn’t trickle down to several offerings. By the way, what did you think of the Alvin Ailey Company?
I thought that the Alvin Ailey Company’s show was impressive. I would actually say that there were a few elements of hip-hop in the performance, mainly in the footwork and the formations they used. The footwork was amazing actually, considering their amount of movement in a short period of time as well as endurance and stamina they showed. The formations also added to the performance because although the performance seemed disorganized, it was organized chaos. Their ability to memorize and coordinate accordingly at any given time was amazing as well because it takes a lot of practice to get it down perfectly. I think I would kind of know, considering any show i’ve prepared for only had maximum two months of practice, with mediocre results.
One can’t imagine that anything you’d do would be mediocre.
Yejoon, I really really tried to enjoy the hip hop dance that you posted. Although the technical skills and effort that the dancers put into these dances were evident and quite impressive, I found the dances to be overly simplistic. Let me clarify — I don’t think the technical aspect of the choreography is easy to do, or that it doesn’t require a great sense of rhythm and finesse — rather, I don’t think speaks. The music and the lyrics convey a clear (and in the case of the second video a rather blunt) message. But the dance, in my opinion, was almost sign language: It explicitly portrayed the lyrics of the music it was set to, without expanding on it. There was no subtlety to the dance. Art is more than just technical skill — piano scales take lots of practice to play quickly and correctly, yet no one would consider that art. To me, these were dances were just covers of the songs they were set to (much like a vocal cover), and lacked the same meaning that I found in the dances we saw on stage.
Not to say that this applies to all hip hop dance; this is simply how I feel about the dances you chose to share with us.