How to make your dance EXCITING & ENGAGING!? 

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"How can I make my dance more exciting and interesting?" is a very common question among my students at secretsofsolo.com
And the answer is... with contrasts!
The key is of course not only to understand and agree with it, but to put it in action! 🤪 . If you’d like to make your dance more dynamic, surprising and interesting there is one thing we can work on - contrasts.
Contrasts are what keep our attention, create suspense, and make sure to keep us awake as a performer and an audience. Imagine a song that has no change whatsoever. Same pace, same key, same rhythm, same distances between the notes, same intonation, intensity…I could go forever. We would most likely fall asleep or transcend to another state.
Contrasts in jazz music makes it so exciting. We hear a 16 pack blowing horns on the head and when all of a sudden we hear trumpet alone taking a solo our eyes sparkle, In a moment the swinging rhythm of bass and drums and piano join in to support and ride with the trumpet we go ballistic. Waves of exciting changes, intonations, various volumes, textures and lengths.
So here you are swinging with the even rhythm, doing your swinging 8th notes and waking bass with constant bounce and all of the sudden you break and throw a couple of syncopation and explosive poses. We are thrown off the beaten track full of excitement, what’s next!? How unpredictable and surprising! You were dancing something big with powerful kicks, full of energy and as a snap you zoom in on a tiny bounce and minuscule stomps with a wink in your eyes. We will say “Aaaah!” and be grateful for taking us on a journey.
“Contrast is the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or close association” - Oxford Languages . What types of contrasts can be? For instance: Small - big Even rhythm - syncopated Frontal - circular On the spot - moving around and many more . “Contrast is the difference in luminance or colour that makes an object distinguishable” - Wikipedia .
How interesting that contrasts is there not only for itself, it is actually helping to spotlight the other element that we are contrasting against.
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