JAZZ LYRICAL DANCE FULL
JAZZ LYRICAL DANCE PROFESSIONAL

“You can get in your ‘feels’ and it feels good!” he says. He believes that - in contrast - lyrical is popular in studios and in competition because it can help kids, tweens and teens get in touch with their emotions through dance. Campros, disagreeing somewhat, notes that there aren’t really lyrical companies or full-length productions - although it is seen “a little bit here and there on stage…it’s just not something I’d pay to see for two hours,” he says with a little laugh. Kuhnberg teaches mainly recreational students, so that’s not something she sees as often, she says.īufferd believes that some of what we call “contemporary” is actually interchangeable with “lyrical”, because of a centrality of storytelling and high level of emotional expression.

JAZZ LYRICAL DANCE PROFESSIONAL

There may also be a difference between what a lot of competition lyrical calls for and the skills 21 st century professional dancers need to get hired and thrive professionally.

JAZZ LYRICAL DANCE FULL

“There’s some freedom within definition of style, but I’ll often see ‘lyrical’ that’s full of acrobatics and think, ‘That’s not what I expected to see.’ It can feel a bit phony, and there aren’t many jobs for those skills,” Campros explains. “Many teachers have been doing lyrical for a long time and really set the stage for its proliferation and growth.”Ĭampros believes that a lot of the lyrical at competition isn’t really lyrical, because acrobatics and other technical tricks often overshadow storytelling and emotional expression - things that lyrical, strictly speaking, should put first. “You could dance lyrical to Celine Dion or Missy Elliott or Beethoven…the possibilities are limitless,” Bufferd affirms. That brings the question of what kind of music can accompany lyrical, or typically does accompany it. Lyrical began as a way to tell a story of a particular song through movement. While it’s certainly not a scientific sample, one can see here that there’s no shared, strict definition of lyrical amongst dance teaching artists. Kuhnberg says that dance parents will often ask her what lyrical is, and her go-to definition is “ballet technique with jazz styling with a mix of storytelling tied to a song.” That usually suffices to clear up parents’ confusion, she explains. He also believes that lyrical itself is “a style, not a technique.” With a riff on that sentiment, Bufferd says, ”Lyrical is a vibe if there’s a story to it, you’re probably dancing a derision of something that is a mature version of lyrical.”īufferd offers an analogy of an impressionist painting, particularly applicable to lyrical amongst dance forms - technique is the strokes in the painting, and style is the aesthetic effect one experiences when stepping back to see the full, clear picture. “If you don’t have that strong technical ballet base, it’s not going to feel good,” he affirms. What is lyrical? Where does it come from?īufferd sees lyrical as a derivative of jazz, “a freeing and beautiful jazz idiom.” Campros sees that jazz and ballet technical base but underscores ballet over jazz. Similar dance steps may be used in both styles but it is the way in which they are sequenced, performed, and matched with sound and music that can make them different.To get clarity on these questions, Dance Informa speaks with three teaching artists: Jen Kuhnberg of Arlington Dance Place and Cheryl A Sullivan’s School of Dance and director of OnStage Dance Company Emily Bufferd of Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center (BDC) and producer of The Young Choreographer’s Festival and Eric John Campros of BDC. Whereas contemporary dance distorts ballet technique, is generally avant-garde, and is dancer-centric, with a focus on the choreography or a theme, idea, or concept. Lyrical dance is fluid and dynamic, it should follow and match the tone of the song and lyrics being danced to and is emotionally expressive. It is also important to understand that there IS a difference between Lyrical and Contemporary dance, especially for those entering competitions.

Technique and amalgamation of both disciplines need to be mastered so that the dancer can concentrate on emotionally performing the steps rather than on their execution. Lyrical dance is generally an addition to the ballet or jazz dancers’ arsenal.

Movement in lyrical dance is used to show intense emotions and music and lyric choice helps to determine the emotional tone and choice of the choreography of lyrical dance. Poses showing off dancers’ flexibility and strength are held as long as possible, jumps are high and explosive and turns are fluid and melt into the next.

Jazz lyrical dance