How Multiple Dances Can Create a Group Masterpiece
1) I chose the video because I thought it was entertaining and I thought the dance group performed very well in terms of matching their moves to the beat while expressing their individuality. This video is the famous dance group the jabbawockeez performing in what appears to be a hip-hop dance competition in front of a large audience. This video was particularly interesting to me because I previously had seen this dance group on TV and on other dance videos and always found them entertaining and great at expressing a unique and synchronized movement that reflects the sound and rhythm of the song. I had seen this dance group perform during a halftime show and thought what they were able to produce as a group was very impressive. The context of the dance was some sort of competition where groups of dancers compete with one another. I find group dancing more entertaining than individual dances because all of the individuals in the dance group each perform their own moves and occupy different locations of the stage while simultaneously contributing to the group dance creating a synchronous dance between multiple individuals which takes a lot of practice and dedication. For example, in the video they are all doing different dance moves at times, but all these dance moves by the different individuals being performed on the same stage at the same time add up to create one dance. Group dances are therefore a collection of individual dances created with a purpose to harmoniously create a larger dance which is entertaining to watch and impressive at the same time. Whenever I watch dances like these, I always wonder how long it took to master the dance and become in sync with one another while being in tune with the beat of the music. I also found it interesting that the dance group was so in sync with the song that it felt that their dance was part of the music. For example, they sped up the tempo when the music and rhythm sped up very synchronously creating a performance that felt like it was part of the music.
2) The dance I selected is similar the Camille Brown video in the sense that both videos depict dance moves in sync with the rhythm and beat of the song and are upbeat dances. They both were similar in the sense that the dances were expressing something through the movement performed. The differences between the videos is that in Camille Browns video she explained the dances and their origin and what they were trying to express. In the video I chose there was no explanation which gave the audience a chance to interpret the dance in their own unique way giving it a broader meaning and expression. Another difference is in Camille Browns video the dancers were not trying to create a group dance but the purpose of the video I chose was to create one large dance. The videos don’t directly challenge each other but they do build off one another in terms of reiterating the idea that dance is a way to express oneself and is considered a language. Since both videos had numerous differences it also suggested that hip hop dance is not defined as a set of dance moves or one thing but can be interpreted into a variety of different ideas and moves that all express a different aspect or contribute to a different purpose.
