Dance

What is Dance...

This video will bring you awareness to what dance is, how it connects to your mental health, and its other capabilities.

Dance & Art as One

Chris Brown talks about his moves and artwork, while creating a masterpiece with his body for the first time!

Video for everyone to get a brief introduction to this page on Dance. Hope you guys enjoy!

Video For Site .mov

Special Letter to The Youth

The main intention of this site is to broaden the communities viewpoint on dance and what it's all about. The word "Dance" is a broad word when you look into the world of dancing. It can go from small delicate movements to BIG dramatic movements! I see dance as a form of art, not any art like Mona Lisa, but art as in when you shape a glop of clay with your hands and create your own unique vision of art. There is a giant vase made up of broken pieces of other similar broken vases, however each broken piece has its own texture, art and size to it... think of dance being this particular vase. There are pieces that are tended to more than the other depending who it is that lays their hands upon it. Similar to certain people being more intrigued to pick up a ballet shoe instead of snapback hat. So the passion and pride within this vase manages to stay content and not intrude on itself; with all the negativity within the world of dancing, dancers still manage to do what they love and keep flaunting their unique movements.

Most if not all these sites correlate in some way: dancing can help those looking to burn calories, maintain a healthy lifestyle, or help ease their mind before a big game/show, or possibly unite people into a comfortable space to influence each other. Dance can have any positive affect for the youth, elderly, even animals. There are videos of animals listening to music and moving their body like a human would! So animals have a sense of dancing, they're sensing rhythm within a song like they would in the wilderness for prey/predators or at home for their owner. A personal benefit of dancing is it brings a great amount of joy/calmness over me and hopefully as you scroll through this site you also have an awe moment.

I appreciate anyone who is taking the time to read this and visit my Dance site as well as the Mental Health, Animals, Basketball, Fitness, Art and Game Design site!

Different careers as a Dancer

Historians, Instructor, Educator, Non-profit Organizer, etc.Roberts-Tse A. (2020, March 5). Dance Jobs and Careers for Dancers. Retrieved from https://dancedispatches.com/dance-jobs-and-careers-for-dancers/

Different careers as a Dancer

* Historians, Instructor, Educator, Non-profit Organizer, etc. *Roberts-Tse A. (2020, March 5). Dance Jobs and Careers for Dancers. Retrieved from https://dancedispatches.com/dance-jobs-and-careers-for-dancers/

Research Video on Dance Benefits for Adults: Women/Elderly

Context of Video: A study upon Japanese elderly women researchers have found that women who danced had a 73% less chance of becoming disabled. The reason may be because dancing requires more of your basic cognitive skills (memory, thinking, listening, etc).

Ducharme J. (2018, Dec. 20). Dance Like Your Doctor is Watching: It's Great for Your Mind and Body. Retrieved from https://time.com/5484237/dancing-health-benefits/

Data on different motivations people have to Foxtrot (ballroom dancing).

Context of Chart: Both genders agreeing on socializing being there motivation for ballroom dancing connects to how dancing overall leads to people bonding with each other.

Goldman G. J. (2016, May 1). Why Dancing Leads to Bonding. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dancing-leads-to-bonding/

Academic Benefits of Dancing: Children

Although dancing can benifit a childs physical and mental being, it can also benefit how they socialize in school. Dancing can break the barrier of shyness for some children. For kids who don't have a passion for dance can result to artwork/music which connect to dance too.

Schlette J. (2021, May 13). 25 Benefits of Dance for Kids (and Adults). Retrieved from https://momlovesbest.com/benefits-of-dance-for-kids

How Your Health and Dance Co-exist?

It all depends.. whether you are looking to lose a few calories, maintain your weight, or have an interesting lifestyle, your health is being affected. In a POSITIVE way ofcourse! Moving your body at least to the rhythm of the music if dancing isn't your strong suit, keeps your heart pumping and blood flowing through your body. Dancing has no limit or one single structure you have to follow. This prevents "haters" or "fans" from saying you can't dance or you doing it wrong because who's to say you aren't making up your own moves.

Jazz Influencers

Jack Cole

(1911-1974)

Katherine Dunham

(1909-2006)

Bob Fosse

(1927-1987)

Mia Michaels

(1966-PRESENT)

Context of Video: Jazz originated from African folk dancing and adapted by Americans through slave trade. The Great Migration (1916-1970) of African Americans helped the influence of jazz dancing reach the cities in the north.

Jack Cole, changed theatrical dancing by mixing ethnic movement (East Indian, African, Carribbean) into it. Katherine Dunham, combined the influences of African/Carribbean dance movements to this European dominated dance world. Bob Fosse, reshaped the view of modern musical theater in films/stage with bowler hats, jazz hands and other Fosse moves. And Mia Michaels, created a company (RAW) with recreational dancers to break the formality of dancing.

Jazz is a extremely diverse genre in dance once you study and see all the familar moves and excercises. These jazz dancers (Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Matt Mattox, and Luigi) with influence amongst each other, also had a impact on jazz's connection with hip hop, ballet, contemporary & many more genres of dance.

Hip Hop Influencer

Context of Video: JaQuel speaks on him starting from copying iconic performances from the MTV awards and soul train, to then creating his own choreographs to be performed on stage.

JaQuel Knight is known for creating Beyoncés' choregraph on her video of the year (2008) 'Single Ladies' at the age of 18. Being raised in Atlanta, 16 year old Knight started a dance team there called 'Trustylz'. They performed from basketball games to celebrtity events. Frank Gatson Jr, choreographer/creative director for the Destiny Childs group, reached out to Knight because of his amazing teaching, leading and social skills. Knight eventually was able to get on Beyonce's radar and asked by Gatson Jr to choregraph Beyonces record Single Ladies!

In this link Knight further talks about who and what sparked him to become a choreographer.

JaQuel Knight

LA Influencers

Context of Video: Four LA influencers explain how social media plays an impact on rising dancers themselves getting fandom and becoming the influencer they are now. They talk about their personal challenges, obstacles they passed and what they chose to do to after gaining recognition online.

Social media allowed for these LA influencers to become celebrities in their own way, gain a following and find success within the dance industry. They used their success and fandom to change what a dancer can/can't be. Amanda LaCount empowers body acceptance, Chelsie Hill empowers disabled people by showing that they can also be dancers, Chaya & Shivani brought awareness to South Asian folk dancing, and Chloé & Maud Arnold gave woman a voice in the tap world.

Amanda LaCount

Since she was 2 years old she had a passion for dance & as she got older she dealt with rejection because of her body type. She decided to break the body stereotype of dancers having to be slim and encouraged ALL body type acknowledgement.

Chelsie Hill

Started her own dance team, Rolletes, to help empower people with disabilities similar to her and also let it be known people in wheelchairs can be dancers too.

Chaya Kumar and Shivani Bhagwan

Brought south asian folk dancing to LA with jazz funk and hip hop mixed into it. Their dance class named BFunk to represent the Bollywood, Bhangra funk, jazz funk, and hip hop in their dance dance style.

Chloé and Maud Arnold

Created the all women syncopated tap group. Seeing the greatest tap dancers like Gregory Hines when they were younger and not seeing enough woman being praised motivated them to create a voice for woman in the men dominated tap world.

Jazz and Ballet Influencer

The Nicholas Brothers

Harold and Fayard Nicholas (left to right of photo)

Context of Video: The duo brothers, after 55 years, recreate one of their nostalgic tap perfomances in a film to their song "Lucky Numbers".

These brothers were known for their incredible acrobatics, tap and ballet moves. Fayard an Harold were born into the south by two musicians, which can explain where they got there rhythm, their mother being a pianist and father a drummer. Fayard got his unique style of dancing from the black vaudeville shows his parents performed at. And soon taught his younger brother Harold the tap dance moves he learned for him to shape into his own style. These two started performing at The Cotton Club in 1932, they performed with Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington's orchestra and Lucky Millinder, who all liked Jazz. (N.B influence all over Hollywood)

In this documentary about the Nicholas brothers, it speaks on how they created integration at The Cotton Club of Harlem for black patrons. As they made it on the big screens the Nicholas brothers managed to dance their heart out in films and bring inspiration to future dancers, while dealing with race barriers!

Context of Video: Misty Copeland grew up with her mom and 5 other sibilings in a motel. Being 13 living in a motel with her family, ballet was an unexpected career for young Copeland. With her passion for ballet she pursued this career and absorbed motivation and strength from African Americans around her to keep pursuing this career that gave her a voice in the ballet world. Copeland mentions Raven Wilkinson who was one of her African American mentor/inspiration.

Copeland, as the principal dancer for the American Dance Theatre in NYC, mentored dancers of color and changed the ideal view of a ballet dancer. She influenced colored skin dancers to be comfortable in their skin and not change themselves to fit in. Misty Copeland also writes books to guide younger ballerinas and give people an insight on how she once was a anxious teenager before becoming a fierce African American dancer.

Misty Copeland

Hip Hop Dance Video

Hip Hop consists of crunking, break dancing, pop n' lockin, floor dancing, the Dougie, cat daddy, the chicken noodle soup, the jerk and many more! This video only shows a smidget of what Hip Hop is all about. Hip Hop may be considered "ghetto", but it has this emotional pull that brings the inner crazy you can say from everyone.

Afro-Beat Dance Video

With afrobeat you have to let your body flow/bump with the music. Bopping your head helps you get comfortable with the rhythm and sound of the afro beats. This type of dancing is the most difficultest to replicate because for most African American dancers there rhythm and moves come naturally with no practice needed.

Ballet Dance Video

We all memorize Ballet being a delicate and fancy performance, but this video depicts that with a modern twist to it. This twist adds spice to Ballet and makes it more interesting for those who like to bend the rules of a ballet dancer.

Contemporary Dance Video

Contemporary and Ballet are like cousins when it comes to dancing. The word "contemporary dance" expresses the odd ball of ballet dancers who didn't want to follow the strict rules that come with being a ballet dancer. These dancers move with the flow of ballet, lyrical, modern, jazz and other genres in one!

Salsa Dance Video

Tempo is key if you enjoy or want to try dancing salsa. This dance style focuses on the movement of your lower body (feet, legs, hips, etc) just like Bachata y Merengue. Fun fact Salsa dancing was actually popular since the 1910s in Cuba, so its considered a 20th century dance!

The Lindy Hop

Praise Frank Manning for creating an energetic and challenging dance. The Lindy Hop evolved from the Swing, Charleston, Jitterbug, Jive, Tap, Jazz and other dance styles in that era. Now there's competitions on who can do the Lindy Hop effortlessy and with extreme energy! (LH Competition)

Swing Kids (1993)

Swing dancing in this film has similar uptempo music and tricks as Lindy Hoppers.

Hellzapoppin' (1941)

A piece from the Broadway film depicting flips, tricks, and excitement from lindy hoppers.

Tea for Two (1950)

A musical/comedic film showing the Charleston. The movements are focused in the legs and arms.

Extra Ballet, Salsa, and Contemporary Videos

The World of Dance is a reality competition tv series where dancers come on stage and compete against each other. Only one competitor can be called "The World's Best Dancer."