Contemporary dance

Contemporary dance is considered to be an expressive type of dance. This dance has many different dance styles such as modern, ballet, and jazz in it. Also, jazz can be danced to many different genres of music from classical, country, R&B, jazz, etc.



Contemporary is not as strict as ballet is. Contemporary dances allows the dancer to move with the music. Sometimes the dancers do not wear any jazz shoes. Jazz shoes can be hard to move around on sometimes. Also, it is less likely for a dancer to hurt their ankle with all the movement in contemporary music.The beat and the words of the music flows with the dancer and how the dancer incorporates the music shows through her dancing abilities.



There can be a lot of floor work in contemporary music. Also, there are level changes. Level changes is where a dancer might start into a jump or turn, lands on the ground (floor work), and then get back up and start dancing again.



Some contemporary dances do not look like normal dance moves. That is completely normal because the dancer is listening to the music and words. Then the dancer comes up with a movement that reflects what they are feeling. There is a term called "Relaxation and Release" which is where a dancer takes all of her frustration, anger, and stress and then through dancing releases all that built up energy and releases it on the dance floor. This makes for a powerful and moving dance routine and lets the dancer let go of everything that the dancer has bottled up.



Below is a audition from So You Think You Can Dance. Lauren Froderman does an excellent job on her audition. You can tell she connects to the music, uses her own style, and can captivate the judges with her interaction with the song and lyrics. Enjoy!

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