SDL 004 : Getting into Freestyling and accessing the magic within Freestyle

So lets get into Freestyling What is freestyling? Definition Freestyle rap Typical journey John started out seeing street dancers do moves that he thinks looks cool, so wants to learn and goes on that journey John will then learn some moves either at a class or from the TV and perform them in front of family or in front of class mates John will most likely get some applause along with some oohs and ahhhs which make john feel special John either stops learning because he feels he has accomplished his mission or he keeps learning as the hunger and passion for street dance has grown whilst he has been learning John does the same moves around his class mates and realises he must try something new to impress the others and maintain teh woos oohs and ahhhs John continues to learn and discovers that in order to really learn the "good stuff" it will take time, patience, practice, heart, will, dedication and other things - this is where people can give up their journey if their passion is not strong enough In this story john continues the journey. He has a new found respect for others who have put the "hard work" in and are seeing results. He is also learning new ways to get into the music and get cheers from his peers who understand more about what he is trying to do John then learns that some of the most difficult and challenging moves do not at first look visually effective and therefore do not get enough cheers. So when performing he decides to not pay attention to teh cheers and look out for the oohs and ahhhs John has been now dancing for a few years and is clearly not a beginner. He sees people start dancing for the first time and who remind him of how he used to be when he fist started, and sees people cheering. He understands at a deeper level what the cheeering means and persues with his passion to no longer be concerned about what other people think and more about achieving goals he sets himself, like being able to do a certain move, or piece of footwork that he finds challenging John then gets his first experience at a high level street dance event where he sees top street dancers for the first time. When he watches he is amazed at how they connect to the music, the freedom, their range of movement, their ideas, confidence he is truly blown away. He has experienced the magic of some of the highest level dancing in the world. There were no big tricks, it was all about the music and how they connected to it. John saw the kind of level he wanted to achieve. You cannot get there by following crowd applause. You can only get there through hard work, passion etc The magic of pure creativity When you see people who really understand their craft dance, you will know what I mean. What I want to get out of your head is any dancers that you have seen on TV shows and competitions. These are all a prepared set of movements. You cannot create magic, it just happens. If you prepare choreography, you will not beable to create the same kind of magic that I spoke of For this we need to look into REAL street dance, not the cheezy commercial world. Im also not talking about studio dancers that dance really well to choreography but who you never see freestyle - that is a whole other podcast right there In the real street dance world, moves like the windmill and many others were made up on the spot, in the heat of the moment, in a cypher or battle. When street dance first began, in some areas it was either be a part of a gang, sell drugs, or dance. If you chose to dance there was still this gang element which in turn brought heated cyphers, aggressive battles, high energy, high ego where the creative brain would created amazing stuff on the spot in order to stay on top. I am not saying you have to get aggressive, I am saying you have to understand the creative and freestyle aspects of real street dance. Popin pete. You cannot create magic, it just happens. If you prepare choreography, you will not be able to create the same kind of magic that I spoke of Freestyle rap, we used to freestyle for a whole night, and when we got into it we would sometimes come up with some lines that were pure genius (for me it was rare but sometimes we were like ohhhhh". It only happened when we were in teh moment. If you try to prepare a verse it just didn't work. You cannot create magic, it just happens. Freestyling, where do you begin? Learn some basic vocabulary of a certain style. Learn the techniques and movements and get your self some music Practice linking those moves together Learn how to groove - again that is a whole other podcast there Stop dancing and practice the different ways of moving from a particular move Do this whilst dancing to the music Learn the more difficult moves Learn how to variate the moves and make them your own Put your own style on to it Explore different freestyle techniques and learn how to get into the music at a deeper level Crowd applause Why do people cheer? It is their son or daughter They see a move they think looks cool People see someone they know dancing They cheer because they feel like they should Listen to, appreciate, and ignore the "wooos" Crowd applause is great and if you are working on a particular set in which you are trying to achieve the desired audience response - like make them laugh. But if you are just freestyling then don't listen out for the crowd reaction. Sometimes people are amazed and stay silent. Sometimes people cheer but your dancing was rubbish. There are so many variables so don't allow it to penetrate your thoughts. Keep your mind on the music The problem with crowd applause and affection when you start dancing young age is that if you are say 7 years old or 8 or 9, and you are small, and you learn a couple of cool moves, a lot of the cheers you get will be from "cuteness" - the cuteness factor. That person could grow up expecting that kind of applause and then go through some kind of personal identity crisis when they don't get the same crowd respect. I see this all the time. How to train Drills/technique practice Workshop on yourself Party time So just recapping, we went over: What is freestyling? Typical journey The magic of pure creativity Freestyling, where do you begin? Crowd applause How to train Again I hope that helped and if there is anything you want to add to this list send me an email sg@ss4a.com I would love to know any tips you have for recovering from your dancers drought, inspiration dissipation All of todays points and links I mentioned will be available in the show notes and to access them all you have to do is go to ss4a.com/4 Special thing Thank you so much for listening and if you liked this episode please leave me a review and

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SDL 004 : Getting into Freestyling and accessing the magic within Freestyle is an episode from SS4A Podcast: Street Dance Life - dancing, training, competing, performing, making a living.

This episode is 24:11 long.

This episode was published on Sep 23, 2014.

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