Dance as a language

When I watched dancers before I began dancing, I thought that they were just vibin. As I danced more, I realized that dance is a language. And like all languages, you need to understand the language to appreciate the content.

The process of dancing taught me to appreciate the beats and microbeats within music, as well as the emotions and “story” that each beat describes (which I can’t yet explain in words). As I tried to freestyle to the beats, I realized (upon rewatching my dance) how each move corresponds to a feeling. For instance, I realized I often jerked when I heard a sharp bass drop. Attempting to actively choreograph to a song, I further realized the intricacies of the music’s beats, and the emotional expression of dance moves (i.e. choreography as the art of translating my subconscious musicality into a conscious emotional understanding of the song). 

Through these experiences, I learnt the “lexicography” of dance. Now, as I rewatch dancers, their actions speak to me. I subconsciously connect their moves to my new understanding of the move’s “associated emotion”. I imagine and relieve the experience of executing their moves — fully indulging in the same emotions which I think the dancer is experiencing. As dancers hit a beat that I missed, they introduce me to a new subtlety in the song. Similarly, if other dancers move in a way differently from how I would've, I am introduced to a new interpretation of the song. By watching dance pieces, I learn to appreciate the music deeper. Only with this understanding of dance and music, can I appreciate other dancers and their craft.

The awesome hip hop battles between Waydi, Les Twins, Paradox, along with others, filled my weekend evenings. When people say that Les Twins’ dances tell a story, they don’t mean it literally. Les Twins rarely choreograph their moves to the lyrics of the song, and their moves don't act out a certain mood or action either. Instead, Les Twins have an expert appreciation of dance moves and the emotions they elicit (both when spectated and executed), along with an expert ability to dissect music to its different levels of beats and layers. While Les Twins have crazy moves in their arsenal which make their dance fancy, it is ultimately their ability to still add textures to the moves that make the dance further elevated. For instance, they even culturally tailored their dance moves in India and Barcelona for the local spectators. They possess the wisdom and nuance to select layers of the music to dance to, and pinpoint the perfect moves to express the song. From there, the synchrony of music and dance harmonizes to tell a beautiful story.

I lack the medium to convey my appreciation of a dance piece (yet, at least) to someone who isn't a dancer, as one needs to first dance to understand the “lexicography” of dance. Dance is a language where one communicates via our understanding, experience, and interpretation of physical movement.

As an academic form, dance is no different from other disciplines. Similar to dance, we need experience to gain a deeper understanding of all kinds of works: from appreciating the nuances of words to understand the finer expressions and arguments within literature; appreciating the canonical knowledge and alternative arguments established in an existing discipline to understand the full arguments and pre-emptive counter arguments purposely established in a research paper; or appreciating the deeper implications of and assumptions behind a concept, to understand the true elegance and rigor behind a formal proof.

Systematic evaluation of dance

Beat — This is like grades for a class. It's the basic requirement you have to fulfill, even though you might find it meaningless and dull, and a possible flawed way to judge the artistic value of dance. Yet, without hitting the beat, dance pieces just doesn’t look good. Dance, at its core, is supposed to be a visual representation of a song. The most common way to dance is by hitting the beats of the song, thought not all beats must (and usually should not) be hit when dancing.

Hitting the beat refers to how movements match up with the different beats of the song — base beats, supporting instruments, background noise; or lyrics (words), tunes, vocals (sounds); or in rare cases, opposing the beats in the music to paint a different story. 

Pace and tonality — The pace of your dance and overall tone is essentially, in a way, choosing which beats to hit. All songs have beats. Most songs have fast beats, for instance, but you don’t go about hitting all the fast background beats in a robotic dance fashion if a beats is accompanied with slow and sad melodies above it. Which beats you choose to hit (or not) determines your pace (speed of movements) and tone (types of and expressions from movements): strong, powerful, sloppy, big; or weak, graceful, precise, small? 

Based on the beats you choose to hit, a dance illustrates how they interpret a song. The pace and tone of the dance in relation to the pace and strength of beats / voice and tone of the music exudes complimentary or opposing vibes.

Mood — I refer to mood as the tone set by things other than the movements of the dance, which affects the vibe and composure you give off. This refers to the mood conveyed by specific actions (e.g. semi-acting, corporealizing lyrics, small subconscious movements, cleanliness of dance, and facial expressions).

For example, a loud happy song and a loud cool EDM song may both have similar beats, a loud tone, and fast pace. But the type of big, fast, and sharp movements that you dance for each song is different. That distinction is the mood of the movements and the song.

Cleanliness — how isolated movements are (both the tension in the body part that is moving, as well as how fixated the rest of the body is), smoothness of body flow, smoothness of isolation transitions.

Sharp — how clean and fast the movements are. Sharper dances are nicer and easier to visualize.

One does not have to have to match the song to be beautiful, it can also be opposed to the song, or up to the dancer. Some dance is nicer to the eyes and more appealing to the general public, while others are more esoteric and niche. Either way, any dance will be appreciated by someone or another.

Dance philosophy — Overall, dance is an art, and artists can go about showing their appreciation and flair in the art in many ways: portraying the given story of the song; portraying a personal story or personal take on the story of the song; using movements to help people visualize the music; using movements to help people feel the music; using the dance to convey your personality; using the dance to spread a message or belief.

Dance philosophy governs the way a dancer choreographs to a song, and turns a good dance to a whole new piece of art and legacy in its own right.

Crowd appeal — of course, there's still this criteria. Which mainly involves having cool moves that make the audiences hyped more