All Together

Ballet is the foundation to all styles.  Ballet, modern, jazz, and hip hop all call for great strength, flexibility, and passion.  Each of these styles connect with each other through similar technique, feet positions, and movements.  Being aware of the dancer's body will help the dancer to execute tricks easier.  It's important for a dancer to have some type of training in ballet because with knowing where an arm, focus, leg, or feet position is important to performing the style to it's fullest potential.

This video is a combination of the styles ballet, modern, jazz, and hip hop in one routine.  This was too choreographed by the well-known Travis Wall.  Are you able to point out the different styles and techniques used?

Krumping

Here is what krumping looks like.  This style is the most newest style to hip hop.

Popping and locking

Here is a video of two boys popping and locking.  Mastering this style takes many years to do.

Breaking

This video is of a B-Girl name Bonita Lovett.  She is a part of a crew from ABDC called "Break Freaks".  She battles at all different competitions, and was the person who choreographed HPU's Dance Team's Hip Hop Nationals routine this year.  In this video, she does all different types of foot work, and break dancing moves (stalls) which is done mainly on the ground.

HPU Dance Team NDA Championships 2011 Hip Hop

Here is our hip hop video:) This routine involves some break dancing, old school, freezes, and popping.

Hip Hop Poses

Here are a few break dancing poses called hip hop freeze or stalls.  As you can see, hip hop (break dancing) involves the dancer to have a lot of strength to hold these poses.

Hip Hop

Hip hop is a dance style that is very energetic, and is usually danced to hip hop music.  It is a unique style that allows the dancer to perform with freedom of movement, adding in their own personality or "flavor" to it.  The style of hip hop has many different small styles within the 'hip hop' style.  The first dance associated with hip hop is breaking.

Hip hop was first mentioned in the 1970's when new moves were introduced to the dance world to accompany the sounds of hip hop music.  It all started in the Bronx of New York, and was found most popular among African Americans, and Latin Americans.  Then, it traveled to the 'Beat Street' corners of Compton, California where young people everywhere took notice of this style.

Because hip hop is more like a culture rather than just one style, there are many aspects to the 'hip hop culture'.  The culture of hip hop was influenced by several things; disc jockeys (also known as DJ), graffiti art, MCs (also known as rappers), and B-Boys and B-Girls.  Each of these things contribute to the dance style of hip hop as well.  The styles that are involved within the style of hip hop are breaking, popping, locking, gliding, ticking, and krumping.

Source:
-Bedinghaus, T. (2001). Hip hop - All About Hip Hop. Allabout.com. http://dance.about.com/od/typesofdance/p/Hip_Hop.htm.

HPU Dance Team NDA Championship 2011

Here is a video of our very own, Hawai'i Pacific University Dance Team at a college cheer and dance competition in Daytona Beach, Florida in April.  This is a different style of jazz which is done to a more hard hitting song (rock).  But technique and facial expressions are still the same as the other videos.  Hope you enjoy watching it, we worked really hard for this one shot:)

Jazz Video

This video is a group from California at a competition.  In this video, there are many tricks going on all at once, with high energy movements.  You can also see big facial expressions and movements from each dancer.  This style is way different from ballet and modern, although technique skills remain the same.  I hope you find this amazing, because I sure do!

Jazz

As you can see, learning ballet is very important because dancers use the same type of technique in other styles.  Whether they use it properly, or throw it all out of proportion, the basic steps still originate from ballet.  Another style that uses great ballet technique is known as jazz.

Jazz is a style that originated in the late 1800's, but took popularity in the mid 1900's.  The birthplace of jazz has various origins like New Orleans, St. Louis, Memphis, and Kansas City.  But New Orleans still remains the mains as the center of jazz.  Today, the style of jazz is performed all over the world.  Throughout Broadways, musicals, movies, and studios.  The movements used in jazz are bold and dramatic.  This style is a fun and energetic dance style that is usually danced to an upbeat song.

Source:
Borade, Gaynor. "History of Jazz Dance." Buzzle.com. 2000. Web.

All Styles

Can you point out the different styles put into one "hip hop" routine?

Ballet, Modern, and Jazz

Ballet, modern, and jazz are all styles that are very similar.  The five ballet positions that I've mentioned earlier are the basic steps or feet positions for each of these styles.  Ballet and modern are very similar in style and flowing movements with controlled lifts.  Ballet and jazz are also very similar because of the same technique used, strict body placements, and sharpness of certain movements.  Modern and jazz is also similar because they both call for self-expression and creativity.  Both styles are open to creating new tricks through improvisation.  But mostly, each of these styles call for great flexibility, technique placement (to do multiple turns), stamina, and body control.

Emotion: Aggression

 

This video is also from "So You Think You Can Dance", choreographed by Travis Wall.  This dance shows a different emotion about anger and hurt.  Both of the dancers use great technique and lifts throughout this routine.  The emotion that they project to the audience is emphasized through their movements.

Emotion: Sorrow

This next video is also from "So You Think You Can Dance", and is a number that was choreographed by Travis Wall.  This piece meant a lot to Travis because it was a story about his mother who was really sick.  This is more of a modern dance compared to the other video "Hard To Love".  The movements done is more abstract, and the mood or expression is strongly shown throughout this video.  Hope you like it!

Emotion: Hard To Love

This video is from a show known as "So You Think You Can Dance".  This is a modern/contemporary dance choreographed by Travis Wall, a well-known dancer and choreographer.  The beginning of this video explains the story of the routine.  Throughout this dance piece, you can find proper ballet technique, as well as ballet technique that has been altered or thrown out of proportion, but with control.  But really notice the emotion used throughout their movements.

Emotion

As I've mentioned earlier, the style of modern dance focuses more on the emotions or mood the dancer wants to show.  This type of style usually tells a story with abstract movements and expressions.  It is best for dancers to use facial expressions to convey the story to the audience in a way that is believable.  Modern dance can tell stories of aggression, sorrow, and love.  The type of music that is used can either have lyrics, or just a melody that best fits the mood.  For a complete picture, it is important for the dancer to project their emotions through their movements, technique, and facial expression.

Ballet Technique Video

Here is a video that shows jumps, turns, lifts, and more that dancers would do in a ballet piece.  This is also done on point.

Amazing Ballet Video

Because watching a classical ballet piece may be boring to some people (unless you have interest in the art), I was happy to find an INCREDIBLE/AMAZING ballet piece that would keep your interest :) Notice how much flexibility and strength it takes to do certain techniques with control.  Also, she is dancing on the tips of her toes with special shoes called "point shoes".

Modern Technique

Martha Graham "Mother of Modern Dance"

Isadora Duncan

Partner Work

Modern also calls for some partner work and lifts: 

Partner Lift



 Because modern dancing is expressive, it calls for many abstract/interpretive poses.

This also requires strenght for many controlled falls and jumps (similar to ballet technique & flexability).

Falls, Jump, & Poses



Modern

Modern is a dance style that rejects many of the strict rules of classical ballet, focusing instead on the expression/emotion of the dancer's feelings.  It encourages the dancer to use their emotions and moods to design their own steps and routines.

Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan are two of the many influential choreographers who have helped in the development of modern dance from the past 150 years.  Martha Graham used releasing techniques where she rejected the primary importance of ballet positions, and did her own movements where the source of energy was the center of the body.  Isadora Duncan used ancient Greek for her inspiration of dancing where she learned to project vivid personalities through music, motion and stillness of self-expression and passion.

Modern dancers often use their body weight to enhance their movements, whereas classical ballet dancers strive to be light and airy of their feet.

Reference:
-Susan Cooper. Staging Dance. London: A & C Black Limited, 1998.
-http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-modern-dance.htm

Dance Fact

Did you know that there are over 48 different dance styles that exist?

Click this link to see a list and description of the different styles:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/types-of-dances-and-different-dancing-styles.html

Ballet Technique

Here are the five ballet positions created by a well-known French ballet teacher and choreographer, Pierre Beauchamp

Ballet also calls for flexibility and strength to be able to do certain moves like:

Arabesque

Passé

Jete

Ballet

One of the most popular forms of dance that is still performed all over the world is ballet.  Ballet is a very strict form of dance where a person’s posture, arm movement, feet placement and focus have to be perfectly placed.  It originated in Italy, and was performed between acts of classical comedies, tragedies, and operas called intermezzos.  By the "18^th century the center of dance activity had moved from Italy to France.  This is where most of the ballet terms know to people is from.  In almost every ballet term used, there are meanings that describe the movement being done.  For example, releve which means to rise and the movement would be to rise to the balls of your feet."  It wasn’t until the 20^th century that the art form of ballet took root in the United States.  Lots of different styles emerged from ballet like religious dancing, folk dancing, (as well as the most popular form of dance today) modern, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop.  Ballet is the foundation to all dance styles.

Reference:
Wendy Burke. (2010). "Dance History." Dance4it.com. 13 Feb. 2011.

Intro

Hello people!  Welcome to my blog.  An interesting fact about me is that I LOVE to dance.  I've been dancing for 16 years (since I was 3 yrs. old), and hope to continue to do it as long as I can.  The four styles of dance that I will be mentioning are Ballet, Modern, Jazz, and Hip Hop.  Hope you enjoy it :)