Dance
For some of Australia’s most-talented dancers, freestyling continues to be at the heart of dance culture. We explore why improvisation is so important.
With every other tween-to-millennial finessing the latest TikTok routine and international dance studios garnering cult Instagram followings, hip-hop is having a real moment. Bite-sized choreography clips have people mesmerised and attempting to replicate the moves a few hours and a few hundred takes later. But while good dancers can copy, perfect and get the take, great dancers can freestyle.
When freestylers do their thing the energy is electric. Especially when that energy is harnessed in a dance battle competition like Red Bull’s Dance Your Style, where the moves are improvised, the music is a surprise, and the audience is the judge. So why does improv dancing have such an impact?
The music and the moment
According to some of Australia’s top street style dancers and Red Bull Dance Your Style contestants, freestyle dancing isn’t just powerful, it’s crucial. It’s the most potent way for dancers to connect with themselves, each other and the music, which is what the continued evolution of dance relies on.
“I feel like freestyle, it's become a very ritualistic thing that we all need to do in street dance culture,” says Nadiah Biddle, an internationally recognised dance teacher, founder of a dance and krump studio for women and Red Bull Dance Your Style contestant. “If no one embraced their creativity in freestyle, none of the moves would exist. It won't even evolve.”
You might not look like the pros when you bust a move on the dance floor at a party or in your bedroom, but the freestyling of untrained dancers is exactly how hip-hop and the whole spectrum of street dance styles came to be. Without improvisation, there would be no invention.
Without improvisation, there would be no invention
Part of what fuels that potential for invention is the social aspect of freestyle dancing. Most street dance styles have battles at the heart of the culture. Whether it’s hip-hop, krump, popping or breaking, being able to react spontaneously to the moves and energies of other dancers, as well as your own intuition, is where much of the joy and creativity comes from.
That context of pure spontaneity also changes the relationship between the dancer and the music. When reproducing choreography, it’s easy to get caught up in remembering the steps, rush the moves in anticipation of the beat and disconnect with the song. Improvising, when done well, is rooted in the moment and the music.
“The best freestyler, the best improvisation dancer is someone that connects with the music and is able to express that very freely,” says Arisse, a hip-hop dancer, dance battle DJ and Red Bull Dance Your Style contestant.
“There's a difference when you're watching a dancer and you're like, ‘Oh he's thinking about the beats, he's thinking about what move to chuck out next,' as opposed to someone who is just in the moment and just, ‘Oh they just somehow hit the beat really well,’ and you know it wasn't premeditated or anything, it's just coming from that feeling.”
The lifeblood of dance
For dancers, one of the most hallowed aspects of dance improvisation is being able to form a connection with yourself that transcends conscious thought. While choreography surprises an audience, freestyle allows dancers to surprise themselves.
That’s the sensation described by Ian De Mello, a krump phenomenon, Red Bull Dance Your Style contestant and founder of Katalyst Kreator.
“I enjoy observing what comes out from me,” he says. “And sometimes it's such a weird thing, I can catch ideas and do it, or I can just not catch the idea and just keep going. And literally every round I don't know what I'm gonna do.”
Similarly, Nadiah says that unpredictability is her favourite thing about freestyling.
“It's like you're just peeling layers and layers of how you think, how you feel, how you act, and then you end up surprising yourself as well,” she says.
It all comes back to what is at the core of dance improvisation: self-expression. Freestyling is an opportunity to be raw, honest, and, as Ian puts it, “embrace yourself”. That’s especially true of street styles, which were born from the desire of marginalised people to make space for their identity and emotions. Where there is opportunity for self-expression, there is opportunity for catharsis.
“You can dance to any type of music that you want and express whatever feeling that you have,” says Arisse. “If you're feeling sad, you can dance to a sad song. You get that energy out and then afterwards you feel so much better.”
Nothing can replicate the feeling invoked by freestyling. By being so personal, so spontaneous, and so transient, it’s completely unique as an art form. Plus, it’s just wildly impressive to witness when elite freestyle dancers take the floor. So while there is much to admire in the polished synchronicity of routines, improvisation remains the lifeblood of dance.
To see improvisation in action, check out the Australian Red Bull Dance Your Style National Finals on Friday, October 8 at 7pm by heading to the Red Bull Australia TikTok.