Not too long ago I resurrected my YouTube account and starting a half-organized effort at keeping track of music videos and videos in general that I found interesting or memorable. Eventually, this meant that I started rather exclusively hoarding videos of choreography and dance troupes. Keeping track of anything is just the brain and body's way of saying, "I will return to this" and all too often we don't. But hurrah! I have returned to a video sent to me through Expressions Dance Company at Harvard. Aside from the flashy stage, there is some sick choreography in this 4:44 piece, and some details that easily worth noting. You may end up watching an interval 2 or 3 (or 50...) times. Whatever. You will enjoy.
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"it's gonna be the day" 0:07-0:10 - I think it was a superb choice to have all dancers isolate their shoulders like they did. It was super soft and super effective. I think that was definitely a great way to start off the piece (can you believe it's only 4:44?). With so many dancers on stage your eye is immediately drawn to the three showcased ones in the center. Not only because of numbers and lighting, but the levels help create the dynamic texture on stage. While most dancers are kneeling, several are standing legs hip-width apart and--here is my favorite observation--they aren't just in the back row! They are in the middle row, too, making the layering almost 3-D instead of flat.
hard house music 0:10-0:32 - So, for those who don't already know, I am really a fan of house music and techno in choreography for any style of dance. It is entrancing and persistent, and makes a good canvas for repetitive motions executed canon style, like in choruses. These dancers did the music justice by virtually staying in place instead of bouncing all over the stage-- they really made it easy to see all the cool body extensions and playing they were doing. Oh, and the two moments were a horizontal line forms across the front of the stage? Brilliant and visually very effective
"the hoochie leg" 1:01-1:03 - I just really like this move. They executed it well, again, with all dancers doing it.
four part ensemble 1:16-1:31 - So, not only is this approach pretty visually effective, it's very easy to do and do well as long as the groups of dancers know their choreo step for step. But what made this even more awesome was the subtle thread of the dancer in the grey jacket and scarf moving imperceptibly from group to group until the very end, when everyone rotates over their left side. So dope.
formation(s) 1:31-1:39 - For me it was a little messy. I could tell what they were going for, but their right/our left side was a bit late and off-spacing for, like, a second, but then everyone gets back into it at 1:39, which does indeed look hella cool.
footwork! ahhh! 2:02-2:05 - I LOVE ISOLATED TORSOS AND BOUNCY FEET, AHH!
and right after that, the audience goes vocal for the first time, ACTUALLY, where the beat drops at 2:05, after "Mr. Hugh Hefner," and I think I've finally figured out why.
So, the beat picks up, maybe even double-times, and the girl SMACK in the middle with those ridiculous boots really brings out that quickness because of how her head sort of rocks back at forth as almost an after-shock result of what her legs are doing (stomping one at a time). It really is a nuance that she nailed down hard. Almost all of other dancers do it too, but to a less crazy degree. The girls that do it best are the middle girl and the two girls at the top of the formation, closest to the stage, not quite on the outskirts. A girl that seems to not do it is the one in the white jacket on the far left/our right: her head doesn't rebound as hard, and the double-time effect is that much more lost. Fortunately, the young lady in the center has enough rebound and stage crunk for everyone.
It's all just super baller.
And, note the music:
Intro: Peanuts Enhancer (Mobbing Remix) - Benny Benassi
Walking on a Dream (Treasure Fingers Remix) - Empire of the Sun
Losing My Mind - Cold Flamez
Bitch You'll Gag - Jay Karan Pendavis
Closer: Cheap and Cheerful (Fake Blood Remix) - The Kills
It's funny, really, because a friend of mine just sent me "Ohm-O-Genik" by Alle "Mobbing" Benassi, Benny (Marco) Benassi's cousin.
This is all around a really, really great video.
rossi
:) I watched the video once on my own before reading anything you wrote, then watched a second time pausing to see what you were pointing out each time. It was fun seeing what you as a dancer / person with different perspective would notice versus what I noticed. For instance, I didn't notice the one dancer slowly transferring groups across the stage at first. Things that struck me: the impeccable timing. Good god. Every movement of every dancer seemed perfectly in sync, which with that many people on stage, was very necessary in order to achieve the effect of the whole being more than the sum of its parts. Also, i loved how intrinsically the music tied into the dance. The choreographer tethered the dancers not to the major surfaces of the music, but to subtle details like the quiet hand-clap rhythm of the second or third song, or to vocal rhythms, or to lyrics themselves (throwing heads back at "haha", etc). Lastly, I loved how smooth the transitions were; that's one flaw I notice in a lot of choreography is sketchy running about between "scenes" or vignettes or whatever you want to call them. This flawlessly transitioned from movement to movement, almost imperceptibly, but it was clear that even the transitions were part of the spectacle. Well done.
ReplyDeleteExcellent observations! Thank you for sharing them.
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