Have you ever watched the halftime show at the Superbowl, or your favorite music video, and thought about how amazing the dancing in these performances is? Well, behind every wonderful performance is an incredible choreographer. Choreography over the years has changed a great deal and has impacted performances for years.
Today, the most popular choreography comes from big studios in LA, like Millenium and the Playground LA who create and cast stars left and right. This sometimes provocative, risque dance is very successful, seeing that videos like the one attached rake in millions of views on youtube. Choreo like this wasn’t always what was “in” though. So what did dance look like years ago?
In this clip from an infamous Shirly Temple film from the 1940’s we see an impressive tap dancing performance. Although tap is still alive and well today, it’s nothing like what we find “impressive” today. Tap dancing and shirly temple in general was so popular that across the US and world that little girls everywhere were getting their hair permed, and learning how to tap dance.
Fast forward to the 1950’s and you’re in the era of “swing dance.” This interesting form of self expression in choreography was so popular in the 60’s, that there were entire shows dedicated to it! Today, we wouldn’t even consider that type of movement to be cool, or entertaining, but it was a big hit back then.
in the 1960’s, we were gifted with ” the twist”, a crazy form of jumping and shimmying, that really required no talent at all. The era of rock and roll and Elvis created smooth moves like this one. According to research, it was teenagers who started this trend, which is very intersting and parallel to today, where we have people like “the backpack kid” coining dance related phenomenon (see: “flossing”).
Later in the 1900’s we encountered the era of hip-hop. The 90’s had come to change the dance scene forever. Breakdancing, headstands, and hinges ruled this new form of dance. It was exciting, it was fresh, and it was new. The worm and the running man were things you could see in the school hallways, on the street, or even on stage. This new wave style was to rule the industry for years and years to come, and still is. It’s interesting to see how music and dance go hand and hand. As music evolves, so does dance. So from tap dancing glory, to dabbing and whipping, choreography has come a long way.
I never realized how complicated choreography is! It’s also crazy how much it has changed through the years, I can’t even imagine in another 20 years! Well done, this was a great watch/read!
I have to say, I indulge in some binge watching of the videos posted by Millenium and Matt Stefanina. I am always amazed to see the talent and energy that vibrates through the studio. The amount of work that is put into these choreo’s are stunning.