Hip Hop Dance Choreographers
The Work Process of the Hip Hop Dance Choreographers... How does it really work in the industry?
Here you can learn about the work of the choreographer. How they take a song and create a dance.
Phase 1- Gather movement material
At this point the choreographer arranges the beat and words. They think about what kind of movements will create the right mood. Eventhough every song is different, it is possible to break songs into styles and dances as well.
A quiet song/ slow song
If the song is quieter, romantic, or speaks of love, then the moves will be softer and slower. The choreographer might even choose a couple's dance in order to fit more with the story and to express those same energies.
A song about "sex"
If the song is about sex, which is very popular in the Hip-Hop industry and in the world (we all know "sex sells") then there will be beautiful girls, and the hip hop dance choreographer creates a dance based on sexy, provocative, strong and outspoken moves. These usually are combined with physical contact.
A monotonous song
If the song is monotonous with a repetitive rhythm, the dance will be robotic, fast, with short and broken moves. Usually the dancers will perform this in unison like soldiers or well-oiled machines.
Freestyle
There are dances where the dancers get only a short explanation about the character of a song, and the dancers improvise. For example, if there is a song where most of what they say is " shake that ass", or a song about a thong or a special girl the guy's fallen for, everyone dances in his/her own free style
Usually during the audition they pick their ideal type. It would be a dancer that "has what it takes", one to which it comes naturally. She'll get to do her own style and flow with the dance, because they trust her. She will get general guidance- where to stand and where to start doing her thing.
Phase 2 – building the Hip-Hop combination
What is a Hip-Hop combination?
A combination is a collection of structured moves that are performed in continuity
Hip-Hop music is broken down into beats. A combination in Hip-Hop is broken down to 8 beats, and so we have 8 moves that are built on each one of the beats. You can think of a combination as a sentence in a song, or a short musical section. You can count the beats yourself. The 8 th beat usually is the end of a sentence in a song or when you can "feel" a new section of the song coming up, like a chorus. If haven't yet read about the Hip-Hop combination, now is the time
At this point, the hip hop dance choreographer builds the Hip-Hop combinations to use in the dance. Now its time to combine it to a dance...
Phase 3 Connecting the combinations
Once the hip hop dance choreographer has a wide collection of combinations, material with which to work, they connect one to the other.
Some hip hop dance choreographers build their combinations one after the other, according to the song. Others, create the combinations first, then decide on the order in which they go.
The way there doesn't matter, what matter's is the outcome- the dance should flow.
Sometimes a combination is repeated, cut in the middle, or reintroduced slower or faster then before. Why?
The viewer's eyes pick up on certain moves, and once they are repeated that catches their eye. The viewer then feels more connected or even part of the dance. Sometimes the viewer knows which move comes next because it's already familiar to him/her.
That's how a dance is created- a collection of combinations connected in different layers, rhythms, and combinations.
Now we move on to a very interesting part- from the work of the hip hop dance choreographers - now the choreographer auditions the dancers...
A little quiz: Who is the Sugababes Choreographer? click here for the answer.
