Chux on the Definition of a Dancer
June 15th 2006 03:33
Hey It's Chux back again, for another little bit of information on dance. My specific focus is usually on styles of hip hop dance, but this will be a more broad range topic.
Just to let people know, since someone asked before, I'm located in Sydney, Australia, and I have been dancing for 2 years now. Current styles i practice are popping, milking, and krumping.
Heres a clip of my group at work
Sneaker Pimps Performance, Chux, Raljk and BJ
My focus is on individual dancers. What makes someone a dancer? what draws the line between someone who happens to dance and a Dancer?
In my (humble) opinion... I see it this way.
in HIP HOP dance, dancers originated as soloists, that is, individual dancers with amazing skills, some that often banded together to form extremely well known crews, such as Rock steady crew in NYC, or the Electric Boogaloos in California.
To consider yourself a dancer, to do routines is not enough. you must have individual ability to move to the music. You must have personal skills, wether good or bad. if you cannot move by yourself when music comes on, then you are not a dancer. you do predetermined moves to the music, moves that can be "cut and pasted" to other songs. You must let the music move you, dance with a personal connection to the music you are dancing to.
i find it strange how people assume that hip hop dance is all the same. that movements cannot originate anymore. People thought for decades that new dance styles could not emerge. a perfect example is the recent emergence of krumping. a definite new style to each other hip hop style, yet influenced by all styles. Why can i not find inspiration for my own moves? why must i have bitten moves from video clips? the truth is that a lot of so called "dancers" give true dancers a bad name. By biting and reusing old moves from movies and videos, instead of letting their own skills influence them. True dancers, although some times their moves may resemble others that you have seen, it is on a personal level that they create those movement sequences. This is not biting, this is (to borrow from biology) something i call convergent choreography. dancers interperet music and move their bodies in similar ways, and thus similarities occur.
A Practice Clip of A Guy Located in Cali
Practice, such as this clip here, is very important. it proves your dedication to a dance style, and your willingness to work at it to improve. That's one of my guidelines for being a Dancer.
So far we've got 2,
Individual ability Ability to learn Choreography
Practice & Dedication
My third guideline is a short one. Humility
It is important to understand that in the dance world, no matter how good you get, there will always be someone better than you. and if by your extreme hard work and practice you do get to the top, then there are unlimited dancers under you that could be better if you slack off for a day. So my idea is to approach it like this.
All dancers will continue learning forever. True dancers always remain students to the art, and are not overconfident, or cocky.
if you don't really do any of this, then you dance, that's cool, but i don't really think you have the dedication enough to call yourself a dancer. its like i called myself a basketball player because i play once in awhile.
These are my guidelines that i set on myself, and i've found a lot more people respect me as a dancer when i abide by them.
Chux out, Get Funky
Just to let people know, since someone asked before, I'm located in Sydney, Australia, and I have been dancing for 2 years now. Current styles i practice are popping, milking, and krumping.
Heres a clip of my group at work
Sneaker Pimps Performance, Chux, Raljk and BJ
My focus is on individual dancers. What makes someone a dancer? what draws the line between someone who happens to dance and a Dancer?
In my (humble) opinion... I see it this way.
in HIP HOP dance, dancers originated as soloists, that is, individual dancers with amazing skills, some that often banded together to form extremely well known crews, such as Rock steady crew in NYC, or the Electric Boogaloos in California.
To consider yourself a dancer, to do routines is not enough. you must have individual ability to move to the music. You must have personal skills, wether good or bad. if you cannot move by yourself when music comes on, then you are not a dancer. you do predetermined moves to the music, moves that can be "cut and pasted" to other songs. You must let the music move you, dance with a personal connection to the music you are dancing to.
i find it strange how people assume that hip hop dance is all the same. that movements cannot originate anymore. People thought for decades that new dance styles could not emerge. a perfect example is the recent emergence of krumping. a definite new style to each other hip hop style, yet influenced by all styles. Why can i not find inspiration for my own moves? why must i have bitten moves from video clips? the truth is that a lot of so called "dancers" give true dancers a bad name. By biting and reusing old moves from movies and videos, instead of letting their own skills influence them. True dancers, although some times their moves may resemble others that you have seen, it is on a personal level that they create those movement sequences. This is not biting, this is (to borrow from biology) something i call convergent choreography. dancers interperet music and move their bodies in similar ways, and thus similarities occur.
A Practice Clip of A Guy Located in Cali
Practice, such as this clip here, is very important. it proves your dedication to a dance style, and your willingness to work at it to improve. That's one of my guidelines for being a Dancer.
So far we've got 2,
Individual ability Ability to learn Choreography
Practice & Dedication
My third guideline is a short one. Humility
It is important to understand that in the dance world, no matter how good you get, there will always be someone better than you. and if by your extreme hard work and practice you do get to the top, then there are unlimited dancers under you that could be better if you slack off for a day. So my idea is to approach it like this.
All dancers will continue learning forever. True dancers always remain students to the art, and are not overconfident, or cocky.
if you don't really do any of this, then you dance, that's cool, but i don't really think you have the dedication enough to call yourself a dancer. its like i called myself a basketball player because i play once in awhile.
These are my guidelines that i set on myself, and i've found a lot more people respect me as a dancer when i abide by them.
Chux out, Get Funky
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