Commercial dance is a genre of dance that evolved from Jazz and Ballet, all three styles sharing some of the same terminology and techniques. Though now, Commercial is mostly more linked to Street dance and Hip Hop, being one of the faster and more common styles of dance amongst this generation of the 21st century. My project for these units was a character dance peice inspired by the Amazon Prime series 'Hazbin Hotel' I was one of many characters for each dance. Styles of dance in my routines varied from ballet elements, Jazz, Commercial and Street, meaning all the dance styles that are linked to Commercial dance. I had a very exciting experience choreographing these dance routines, and it taught me a lot when it comes to choreographing and teaching different styles of dance.
When it comes to the back story of Commercial dance, it began as a popular entertainment back in the early 20th Century, 1950's to be specific. Choreographers of Commercial dance now are more known worldwide, example Bob Fosse was a key icon for jazz dance which then evolved into commercial dance later in time. Bob Fosse was an American Dancer, Choreographer and Director who would revolutionize musicals with his unique style, including his use of Jazz dance and a signature which he nicknamed 'Fosse' style.
Another commercial choreographer well known for his work is Gene Kelly, legendary dancer and choreographer best known for his charismatic style in films such as 'Singing in the rain' which also adds aspects of jazz dance as well as commercial to show the evolution between the two styles.
There are loads of iconic broadway/west end musicals that have dance routines in the styles such as commercial, here are a few examples: the National Bandstand Dance (energetic high school dance scene) from "Grease", (1978) The Final Dance (the lift in the song 'Had The Time Of My Life') from "Dirty Dancing", (1987) Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan's climactic dance performance from "Step Up", (2006) which is one of my favourites beacuase of the style of dance is one that I'm really confident with, another one of my favourites is the dramatic, women empowered dance 'Cell Block Tango' from "Chiacago" (2002) which I have seen performed live and I absolutley loved every second of it. Some other examples are: the celebratory final dance in the prom scene from "Footloose", (1984) Natalie Portman's intense and haunting final dance from "Black Swan", (2010) the passionate tango scene from "Moulin Rouge!", (2001) the very vibrant dance number 'America' from "West Side Story", (1961) and one last one im going to mention is the charming Austrailian folk dance from "The Sound of Music". (1965) As you can see I've just listed a number of different musical numbers from an array of different musicals from loads of different time periods, which means the evolution of dance and dance styles has grown massivley and movements have definitley changed over time, it's really interesting to learn about how the evolution started and evolved through different time periods and then matching that up with how we look at and choreograph dance routines today in present time.
Legends of this century or lengends who passed away show the really different side to dance styles today, someone I need to mention who was nicknamed the 'King of Pop' is of course Michael Jackson, he was a legendary performer who would sell out shows in record time, he had some of the most significant dance moves known to dancing history, he put his own twist on specific moves to make them his own style and still to this day people put his choreography moves into their own dance routines, one of Jacksons most iconic moves was the 'MoonWalk' , originally called the 'Backslide', invented by Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar, Michael Jackson was known for popularizing it on the Motown 25 special in 1983. The 'MoonWalk' has now become so popular amongst dancers, I did it in my dance project, after only learning it three years ago it's one of my favourites moves to do in a dance routine.
Another legend or group of legends should I say that I'm going to mention is the world famous Hip-Hop/Street dance group called Diversity, they are some of my biggest idols and I actually danced with them back in 2015 when I was ten years old. It was a dream come true to do it and it is a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life. They won the talent show 'Britains Got Talent' in 2009 and they are now world famous who also sell out on tour very quickly, I have seen their tour called 'The Reboot' a few years ago which was amazing, and I'm very excited beacuse next year (2026) I'm going to see them again on tour. They are a diverse group of dancers and their style is moslty focused around Hip-Hop and Street, which also falls into the category of Commercial. They are one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to dance and I've always wanted to be as successful as them one day.
How has commercial dance evolved over the years?
Commercial dance has changed from an urban hip-hop style to a more theatrical jazz, that now adays is shown in most broadway musicals such as 'Chiacago' and 'Footloose'. However commercial dance as an urban hip-hop style is trending wildly amongst dancers and choreographers on social media platforms such as Instagram and is, to this day, still very popular in the dancer generation of the 21st century.
Below I attached some commercial dance masterclasses I did in university, the first was taught by a guy called Ben who had appeared in some celebrity music videos such as Sam Smith.
The second video is a more commercial fusion with another style called Dance Hall which is a Jamaican originated style of dance and is in the more on the sassy/21st century female rappers style, but it was still very fun to learn and as you can see in the video it was a routine I was very confident with. I learnt Dance Hall in university as an extra to my two main styles, Jazz and Ballet. I loved all of the dance hall lessons specifically becasue it is a very close related style to street and when it comes to dance styles that is my strongest, but again learning other styles of dance has really opened my eyes more to the dance world and the cultures that other styles of dance originated from.
Here is my one of a kind giude to dancers terminology-demonstration edition. In this video you will find a fun and easy guide on how to do an array of dance moves from different styles, such as Jazz, Contemporary, Hip-hop, Street and of course Commercial. I put a lot of work into making this video, and had a lot of fun doing it. It is an amazing experience to be able to teach these kind of dance moves to especially beginner dancers. I am not a very experienced dancer when it comes to things like flexibility and tricks but technique is a very important factor of dance and that is always been my main focus when it comes to improving myself as a dancer, and learning to or to improve more key dancer abilities such as flexibilty, balance and strength.