Last of A Dying Breed by Reggie Oliver | Step x Step East Coast | #SXSTV
February 24, 2015
We live in an era where dancers would rather be told “what to do” and “how to do it ” than experiment and have fun by exploring their creative freedom through dance. Now, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with being CHOREOGRAPHED and wanting to learn CHOREOGRAPHY at all, however, the cut off is when you’ve focused so much on being “told what to do” when given the opportunity to be yourself you “don’t know how” or you “freeze up.”
In my career thus far as a dancer I have grown and reaped from the ability to pick up, create, and perform choreography as well as freestyle! I know a lot of dancers in the same boat, however, I have been to events, classes, and scenes where only a few people out of a room of many will either take the circle and freely vibe out staying true to the essence of what is hip hop.
These days people take the FUN out of dancing and only focus on LINES, CLEANLINESS, and BEAT KILLING. Which is all good, however, it does not accomplish much when it comes to delivering performance and originality in some cases. Unless the FUN FACTOR is bought back to life and demonstrated from those who still add these elements to their lives as dancers, we will for sure be the LAST OF A DYING BREED and everyone will proceed to be “ChoreOBOTS” (CHOREOGRAPHY ROBOTS: LINES and CLEANLINESS with NO EMOTION).
Speaking for myself and on behalf of some of the people I know who apply this as well; the ENJOYMENT of dance will always come first! I love to see someone lose control to a good groove or vibe and GO OFF! Lets continue to challenge ourselves as well as others to continue to explore their art of dance and freedom all the time, not just “when told to!”
PRACTICE BEING THE BEST YOU that YOU CAN BE!
Musa Cooper- SYTYCD, Step UP 3D, Beyonce, Alicia Keys
“The Older generation of dancers danced from the heart! The Younger generation however, is simply doing what is up to date. Just as free-styling was up to date for the older generation; Learning Choreography is whats up to date for the younger generation. The younger generation are very talented they just lack some of the soul and freedom that the older generation dancers have.”
Russell “Guttah” Ferguson – SYTYCD season 6 winner, Side Street, Battlefield America
“A lot of dancers are like the radio. They just try and do what is trending. Such as choreographing to the latest songs for views. As a result of that, you find that the new generation dancers only choreograph versus working on their actual dance skills.”
2 thoughts on “Last of A Dying Breed by Reggie Oliver | Step x Step East Coast | #SXSTV”
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Great read Reggie. Keep doing your thing man. Keep representing Philly well.
I found dance about 3 years ago and as you mentioned I was stuck in chreography style dancing but at some point I felt limited and found a new dance school which enbodies freestyle dancing. I completely agree with your statement about people dancing our battle just to show clean moves. I personally when dancing around people in club, battles etc always do it just for the fun and expressing how the music makes me feel that for me is the most important part of dancing.