The Expression of Art 

 

“No matter how long you’ve been dancing, you’re still learning.” I love this quote because you can never truly master dance. Dance is about the artistry of moves and emotion. And Just like art, you’re always learning. In this essay you will learn about the different styles of dance, their artistry, techniques, difficulty, and prime movements. Let’s get started with Hip Hop! 

 

Hip Hop: 

 

Hip Hop is a diverse style of street dance. Its main styles are popping, locking, and breaking. 

It is commonly being used in music videos, concerts, and even music genres like K-pop/J-pop. 

Hip Hop began in the 1960s and 1970s. It was inspired by African dance and was later formed into a modern dance style which merged tap and swing. Once people started to discover this style of dancing, Hip Hop competitions became popular in the 80’s-90’s. It started with free styling dance battles to more advanced choreographed ones. Nowadays, it is being taught in professional studios all around the world, and is one of the most popular dance styles. For example:   Usher was considered one of the best Hip Hop dancers of the 90s, the exact time when it was really growing in popularity. Today, Kaylee Rice and Sienna Lalau would be two of the most well known Hip Hop dancers.     

 

 

 

Jazz: 

 

Jazz is a dance style that arose in the 20th century and was formed in the 1940’s. It originates from the African American dance styles. Modern jazz dance also originates from the Caribbean.  

There are assorted styles of jazz including: Gospel, traditional, theatrical, primitive Afro-Caribbean, and Broadway jazz.  

 

Jazz uses techniques from a variety of other dance styles like contemporary, body expression, and classical ballet. Jazz is a difficult style to master as you need control over the mobility of your torso, your foot position, flexibility, balance, and stage presence.  

 

 

Ballet: 

 

Ballet is a style of dance that tells a story with its smooth movements, stage presence, and music. 

For ballet, you need to have complete control of your body; ability to move on the balls of your feet; flexibility; and enormous strength in your calves and feet. 

 

Ballet was born in  Italy and formed in the 1500’s. It’s name of ballet comes from the Italian word “ballare” which means “to dance.” Ballet is popular because of its artistic style, coordination, balance, choreography and alertness. It is one of the hardest dance styles to start learning because of the commitment and risks you must take for it. 

 

Contemporary: 

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Contemporary dance is a dance style that borrows from classical, modern dance, and jazz styles. Contemporary dance is similar to ballet with how its smooth movements make most of its artistry. Just like ballet, contemporary dance can be used to tell a story. It has emotion, artistry that connects with the audience, and strength. 

 

This dance style uses a lot of floorwork, fall and recover, and controlled leg work and movements. Its prime elements come from African dance, which uses bent knees, and movements from the Japanese contemporary dance, Butoh. Contemporary dance techniques include: improvisation, self-choreographed (It has a better feel of emotion when choreographed by the dancer), lyrical dance, and modern dance. 

 

 

Did you learn a thing or two about dance? 

 

In this essay we covered the history of dance and where it originates. We also talked about the risks you have to take to become a dancer and being aware of how much strength and commitment you must put in. We also covered what the most popular techniques, how commonly you will see them, and the stage presence and artistry of all dance styles & dancers. So I’ll finish by posing this question: Do you want to become a dancer now? 

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Here's an example of two difficult Hip Hop dances to learn with the basic techniques of dance: