Pet Peeve: The Dance Has to Match The Music!

All day I've been wondering what I should talk about next on this blog. I have to admit I'm a little lazy (tons of pain meds since I got my wisdom teeth out), but it's also because I'm running out of ideas! I won't be posting daily from now on, I think. And then I saw this video, and I really had no other way to title this post because when I saw it, I just had to talk about this.

I'm talking about "Glitter in the Air" choreographed by Kym De Los Reyes. Just watch it first, then read the rest of my post.

Okay, you don't even have to read the rest of the post to see what I'm talking about in the title, right? The first thing I thought of when I saw the five girls on the stage (I knew this song before seeing this piece) is "gee, those costumes don't really match the mood of the song." Then I thought "wait, are they really whipping their hair in half-slow motion and being sexy?", and then came the final "okay, dance does not match music." And I have to say, no matter how exquisite the performance was (the dancers are pretty amazing), or how seamless the choreography was (it flowed well in most places, if not being a little competition-y for my tastes), that the dance did not match the music in any way, shape, or form. And this is one of my biggest pet peeves about watching dance.

The song is about appreciating small moments, love, special little things in life, like tossing a handful of glitter in the air, right? It's pretty emotionally vulnerable. I considered choreographing to this song. But...the dance and costumes are bright and cheery and happy and technical and...didn't match. More than once I felt like I was watching a piece that had a different song dubbed in the background.

I was determined to find a piece to the same song where the dance actually fit the music. I came up with this: "Glitter in the Air" choreographed by Derek Mitchell. It was the second hit on my search, and I really think it's matching. It fits the beat perfectly, has moments of suspension and release, and is generally rhythmical and in the mood of the music. Is it my favorite piece ever? No. Would I put it on any of my Youtube Best of the Best lists? No, I don't think so. But it fits. It fits. And that's what counts.

So if you're doing some choreography and you're worried that it doesn't fit the song, my advice is this: take a different song, and do the choreography. Film yourself doing it maybe. Does it look good? If it does, then either your choreography is fairly generic or it doesn't fit the song you chose originally. Be careful!