Musicality (dance)
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Musicality means making the dance fit the music. The goal is relating the dance to the music, to its rhythm, melody, mood.
For example, dancers usually step when musicians play notes or rhythm and hold when musicians hold (play rests). Or, dancers move more exaggerately when the music goes louder, and more simply when the music goes quiet. In a song with many instruments, dancers may chose to respond to any one of them, or any group of them.
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Improvization
Improvization is easy in open position, because each dancer can do his or her own thing. Improvization is tricky in closed position. This is like jazz improvization. In the moment.
Choreography
Choreographers have time to plan their dance, but the issues remain the same. They strive to make the dance fit the music, even if there is no improvization.
Notes
Tempo: Slower music gives dancers more time to play, more time for style and variations. Faster music forces dancers to be more focussed and use less style and simpler variations.
Follow: Follow may mirror the lead with her arm, feet, and head styling, or she may do the opposite of the lead, or she can do something independent of the lead.
Footwork: For advanced dancers, foot work is largely independent of body work. Except for needing to move, which foot moves is unimportant. Advanced dancers can do any kind of footwork. The foot work is open to any interpretation.
Song Structure: Certain types of music have a regular structure, which an experienced dancer can frame his or her moves around. For example, the chorus in most swing music consists of 32 bars, which follows an AABA structure, where each letter consists of four 8-count sections and the B letter has a different melody. The fourth 8-count section of each letter is often an ideal time to execute a break.
See Also