Make it up as you go along.
Don't plan for it.
That is all.
As musicality is a recurring topic thought start a thread to get some practical ideas.
Suggest a format:
> name a track and singer
> the time in song where an interpretation might be nice
> what might be leadable, rockstep, double roll, slide etc
EG
>Sun Goes Down by David Jordan
>Every 7&8 beat in the choruses. These is a very heavy & beat, so get three strong beats in rapid succession every 6/7 seconds.
> ideas:
Can always lead short moves and get returns to finish on 6. As open at arms length let the follower decide an interpretation for 2 beats.
Some followers may freeze on this or just walk forward.
Perhaps try a rock step. More controlled if in first move hold, than rocking away from each other.
I could not think of a way to ensure could do an accent for most of the 7&8's. The above is limited to getting in the positions, which is hard every 7 seconds.
Over to your suggested solutions, and songs.
Make it up as you go along.
Don't plan for it.
That is all.
I do make it up and improvise, it is good to have other peoples ideas too.
As an alternative to specific songs, what do people do to emphasize the end of a 32 beat phrase. Most people have good ideas for breaks, but the music may not do that. A lean or dip might be good for some but not all.
You competition entrants should have some tips!!
Biggest challenge in my opinion is expressing the lyrics rather than the music....music can 99% of the time be predicted in terms of structure, accents,breaks etc....check this clip out of a couple competing in a WCS strictly swing comp....neither are regular partners...things to look for are when the artist sings
slide on over here baby and sit yourself down in my car.........
got to be a movie star!
you got to sit yourself down
all pretty simply done but very effective....economy of effort, lots of skill....the song in the track is Cause i love you baby by mike morgan and the crawl
The first time I heard this track I liked the strong beats and was thinking 'could do something with that' but by the end even of the first listening I was getting a bit bored with them. Just a bit too much IMO.
Better to just pick a few and highlight them. Yes, the music should drive the dance, but we don't need to be a slave to musical interpretation.
I'd call it 'lyrical interpretation'.
Genuine musicality and lyricality are more about responding than predicting, although the latter has its part to play. I tend to prefer the expression knowing to predicting You'll see she starts sitting plenty after its been sang so it looks like genuine responding and not cheating; as much as I like lyricality, you can argue many will just remember a few key bits they can do again and again! Often because the key part is in the middle of the lyric, theres time to put it in and it look great throughout the rest of the line. The movie star bit I'm not sure, this could be predicted with simple rhyming songs and "shes got to be a movie ...". If you're on the ball it should definitely be possible! But to be fair its more likely they've heard it a fair few times before anyway With me being so into music and not as much into lyrics, I'm probably going to struggle with this because I don't tend to listen to them all that much! Although I'm sure I'll cheat with the odd remembered one occasionally
Also i do think with more and more contempory music being danced to especially in WCS that is IMHO lacking musical originality, the way the lyrics are expressed in dance is quite often the difference between the good and the very good! I think the great thing i love about wcs and ceroc is the constant musical challenges that they represent, people are dancing to such a variety of stuff it never gets boring IMHO.....
I like to have fun with the lyrics, for example in "Straight to number 1".
I also find lyrics can be off-putting.
With the track "It's too late to apologise" which has been played a lot locally, I find the lyrics a real downer, and I have to block out the lyrics to stop myself feeling sad.
On the up side, it makes me focus more on just the music and the dancing itself, so I always have a good dance when it comes on.
I can understand this if you are planning a showcase but not if you are social dancing! But your request for our suggestions makes me think you do mean social freestyle dancing, in which case, I can cite ChrisB with...
...otherwise its not "freestyle" is it?
Why the "So"? He maybe doesn't, but there's nothing negative about that - apologies if you never meant that to sound negative. What you did on a break may have been brilliant at the time, but if you are not planning a showcase why would you remember how you danced in one of the many dances you do on a dance night?
Of course, this is a personal thing - i have in the past, when asked during a dance what it was i just did, replied quite honestly, "i have no idea" and no, I couldn't "do it again"
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