Teoría musical para bailarines/as¨. Se podría decir…

Primero, lo primero. 

Esto no es para desmerecer o derrocar a nadie. 

Es sólo compartir mi perspectiva. 

Tómalo o déjalo. Léelo o tíralo a la basura. 

Lo que escribo tiene sentido o no lo tiene. 

No es la única forma de ver las cosas. Tampoco es únicamente mío. 

Si le preguntas a diez diferentes personas, digamos sobre Musicalidad, podrías obtener diez diferentes respuestas. 

Es un concepto intangible y no hay una definición estricta. Esto aplica hasta para las personas que han estudiado toda una vida, aplica mucho menos para las personas que no pasaron tanto tiempo en ello. 

Desempacar abstracciones es difícil, pero hay coincidencia, muchas coincidencias. 

Volvamos al punto. 

Esto es acerca de música y danza. Especialmente bailar para y con la música. Entonces tenemos que ir a la música primero si tenemos que empezar por algún lugar. 

No voy a ir en profundidad en Teoría Musical, pero lo necesitamos para entender algunos términos y definiciones. 

La razón es que los estudios musicales están más avanzados que los estudios de teoría en danza. Especialmente cuando aplica globalmente y a danzas de la Diáspora Africana. 

La mayoría de los conceptos y principios son los mismos para nuestros propósitos. 

Es lógico considerar la danza como un encauce desde la música, por lo menos en este contexto en particular.  

No todo movimiento es danza y no toda danza es limitada a ser ejecutada para música, pero de nuevo, en este contexto, debemos hacer estas consideraciones. 

Carece de punto tener amplias diferencias en opiniones por la misma cosa en una sola disciplina. 

Pero puedes tener múltiples palabras para una sola cosa, como a su vez, la misma palabra para cosas diferentes. 

Ok…

Todo movimiento necesita el componente del tiempo. 

Entonces las dos, música y danza, necesitan un sistema consistente de medida. 

En música tenemos lo que llamamos pulsos (beats) o conteo. 

Es la medida del pulso de la música, o lo que llamamos también el tiempo. 

La música está dividida en estos pulsos,conteo, usualmente expresadas en ellas el tiempo o minutos como BPM (Beats per Minute/ Pulsaciones por minuto)

Cada una de estas pulsaciones/cuentas pueden ser agrupadas en lo que llamamos compases.

Estar a tiempo en la danza es la habilidad de corresponder los movimientos o pasos, con ritmos en la música. Eso es, esos ritmos creados por la percusión, otros instrumentos, o incluso la lírica. Recuerda, todos ellos son consistentes con el pulso de la música. 99% de ella en nuestras formas de danza son con base 4/4 o bien,  4 tiempos por compás, marcado por una percusión dura. Con poca variación en el tiempo. 

Usamos un conteo de 8s,  pero eso es sólo el cómo elegimos agrupar una frase de pulsaciones dentro de un compás en el tiempo. 

Necesitamos entender Teoría Musical para ser un buen/a bailarín/a? 

No. Pero no lastima saberlo tampoco, y de hecho, revela mucha información útil acerca de la estructura de la música y su relación con la danza. Al mismo tiempo, muchos principios pueden ser descubiertos por pura experimentación, sin embargo, es mucho más complicado trasmitirlo a través de la pedagogía, lo que finalmente hará que sólo reinventes la rueda. 

Definamos algunas cuestiones para nuestra habla. 

MUSICALIDAD.

Empecemos con qué NO es. La Musicalidad NO es perseguir los beats o acentuarlos. Tampoco es sólo desplegar un único estado de ¨energía¨de la música. 

Es conectar tu danza, movimientos y pasos con la música. El flow (fuir), tiempo, tono, estado, sincronía, fraseo y pulso. 

Está el cómo se siente la canción y cómo la canción te hace sentir. Cómo vos te estás comunicando con estos aspectos?

Vamos a considerar dos marcos de referencia de la Musicalidad. El reactivo y el proactivo. 

Reacción es el entendimiento básico de cómo la música está estructurada, cómo funcionan los ritmos, la sincronía y el fraseo, el tiempo, etc. La habilidad de seguir la música, aún en un nivel avanzado. 

Ser proactivo/a es contar con la habilidad de interpretar, de sumar, y expresar la música a través de diferentes dinamismos y acentuaciones. Ser una percusión visual acompañando a la música.

Aplicado puramente al campo de la DANZA, las dinámicas no sólo significan ir rápido o fuerte. Es el CAMBIO. La diferencia entre el más alto y el más bajo, los niveles más rápidos y bajos. Necesitas una mezcla de ambos, y en ambos es requerido agregar tu propio instinto, o personalidad. Expresar e impresionar. O a quién le importa?

Charla honesta. Es un espectáculo, y si a nadie le importa mirarte, tal vez has perdido el punto. Tal vez estás bailando para vos mismo/a… pero seamos reales. No vayas a la fiesta o una competición entonces. 

Otro aspecto importante de  la Musicalidad está relacionado con la calidad del movimiento. Esa claridad en la entrega de los movimientos y pasos que no son sólo un puñado de movimientos mal ejecutados. Requiere una fuerte relación entre la mente y el cuerpo, lo que se refiere como la propiosepción. Si esa conexión es débil, tus movimientos no pueden lucir fuertes y tu definición se pierde. 

Groove, Swing y Syncopation (síncopa) 

Para Groove y Swing aquí va una definición genérica que dice: ¨Lo que te hace sentir bien¨

Pero no hay información en esa descripción. Es casi como decir que una buena comida sabe bien. O que la comida fue preparada bien. No te dice nada. 

Tengamos una definición que podamos usar para Groove, Swing y Síncopa. 

Es cómo tratas las ¨entre¨ notas. Como ya dijimos, hay 4 pulsos en un compás. Pero podés dividir ellos para tener 8 o 16, o 32 o 64!

La síncopa significa acentuar los pulsos que no son naturalmente acentuados. Simple como ello. 

Normalmente acentuamos la música en los pulsos 1 y 3 o 2 y 4. Estos están considerados como el tiempo fuerte (1,3), y el tiempo débil (2,4).

Para ser honesto, no hay diferencia en términos de seguir el tiempo, sólo en el sentir. 

En danzas de la Diáspora Africana, preferimos acentuar el 2 y 4, pero es puramente nuestra convención y sabor. 

Si eliges acentuar el primer y tercer pulso, no ESTÁS FUERA DE TIEMPO, sólo luce feo, fuera de fase con nuestra preferencia. Estar fuera de tiempo (off beat) es tener una inconsistente conexión con el pulso y subdivisiones de la música. 

Síncopa: 

Rompamos los pulsos en partes. 

1…2…3…4

1..y..2..y..3..y..4..y Acentuando esos ¨y¨ ¨pulsos¨ es Síncopa. 

1..e..Y..a..2..e..Y..a..3..e..Y..a..4 Acentuando cualquier otro de esos pulsos entre los números enteros es Síncopa. 

Groove y Swing es CÓMO vos usas esas Síncopas.  Cómo los molestas o los demoras, o los arrastras. Cómo cambias entre largo y corto. Cómo cambias la intensidad. 

Fraseo. 

Para ponerlo simple. La música está construida en frases. Agrupada y usualmente arreglada en múltiplos de 2 en  música 4/4.  Donde un completo pensamiento o motivo es expresado. Lo puedes escuchar en la mayoría de la música moderna. 

Estrofa, puente, coro…todos ellos están compuestos de frases. 

Los pasos de baile también están arreglados en frases. Si alguna vez hiciste el Electric Slide o el Candy Dance, vas a reconocer que la secuencia completa está hecha en frases. E incluso la secuencia en si misma puede ser considerada como una frase. 

También lo es el Twist-O-Flex, o el Fresno/Slot. O el Indian o Salsa Step. O el Fila, o el Steve Martin. Pas de Bourree o Loose Leg. 

Ellos no se ajustan aleatoriamente en cualquier lado. Entran en un conteo, en la MUSICA. Sobre la música. 

Podés jugar con ellos, pero si alterás su estructura de fraseo, no se ve bien. Y si están fuera de la música, de verdad vas a tener que intentarlo mejor. 

Sucede que algunos pasos tienen un conteo viejo, pero usualmente hay un ¨resto¨ que entra en el espacio, o bien lo combinás con otro paso. 

Tu fraseo tiene que tener un sentido visual y entrar en la música. Tu danza debería tener patrones, no necesariamente predecibles, pero no podemos contar historias sin ellos. 

Voy a terminar hoy dejando en claro mi verdad. Especialmente en nuestros estilos de danza. 

Como bailarín/a, no estás sólo proyectando habilidades. Estás proyectando habilidades para y con la música. La música no es sólo fondo. Es un paisaje que tenés que recorrer. 

No es una imagen teatral o la imagen de un bosque que usas como fondo. Es el bosque en sí mismo, compuesto de árboles, rocas, corrientes y otras características. 

Eso es lo que colectivamente hemos decidido. 

Sin música no hay danza. 

En la siguiente parte vamos a hablar de lo que significa ¨being in the pocket¨, comparar fraseos con lenguaje, y el entendimiento de por qué no deberíamos asustarnos de discutir estas cuestiones. 

No podemos refinar nuestro entendimiento si no hablamos abiertamente. 

Así también, si hay preguntas específicas, házmelo saber.

Thank you to Magdalena Ruiz for the translation.

Music Theory for Dancers. Kinda...

So, first things first. 

This is not a treatise on Music Theory. 

It's a compromise to bridge the understanding for dancers in our scene. 

This is not to diss or degrade anyone. It's just share my perspective. Take it or leave it. Read it or dump it. What I write either makes sense or it doesn't. It's also not the only way to look at things. Nor is it unique to me. If you ask 10 different people about, let's say Musicality, you may well get 10 different answers. It's an intangible concept and there's no single strict definition. And that's even for people that have studied for a lifetime, much less people that haven't spent much time on it. Unpacking abstractions is hard, but there is overlap; lots of overlap. 

Let's go right back. This is about music and dance. Specifically dancing to, and with the music. So we need to go to the music first if we are to start somewhere. I'm not gonna go deep into Music Theory but we need to understand some terms and definitions. The reason being that music studies are far more advanced than dance theory. Especially when it comes to globally and dances from the African Diaspora. Most of the concepts and principles are the same for our purposes. It stands to reason to consider dance as downstream from the music, at least in this particular context. Not all movement is dance and not all dance is limited to being done to music, but again, in this context, these considerations must be made. There is no point having wildly different definitions for the same thing in a single discipline. But you can have multiple words for the same thing and the same word for different things. 

OK... All movement needs a time component. So both music and dance need a consistent system of measurement. In music we have what are called beats or counts. It's the measure of the pulse of the music, or what we also call the tempo. Music is divided into these beats/counts and usually expressed in them; time signatures or in minutes as BPM(Beats per Minute). Each of these beats/counts can be grouped into what we call bars or measures. Timing in dance is the ability to match movements or steps to rhythms in the music. That is, those created by the drums, other instruments or even the lyrics. Remember, all of these are consistent with the pulse of the music. 99% of the music in our dance forms are based around the 4/4 or 4 beats in a bar time signature and drum heavy!! With hardly any variation in tempo. We do use counts of 8s but that's just how we choose to group or phrase our beats into bars sometimes. 

Do we need to understand Music Theory to be a good dancer? No. But it doesn't hurt and in fact reveals a lot of useful information about the structure of music and its relation to dance. At the same time, many principles can be discovered by pure experimentation but it's much harder to pass it on through pedagogy and ultimately you'll only be reinventing the wheel. 

Let's define a few things for our parlance. 

Musicality. Let's start with what it's not. Musicality is NOT just chasing after or hitting beats. Nor is it just displaying a single 'energy' state of the music. It's about connecting your dance, movements and steps, to the music. The flow, tempo, tone, mood, timing, phrasing and beats. There's how the song feels and how the song makes you feel. How are you communicating these things? Let's consider 2 frameworks of musicality. The reactive and the proactive. Reactive is a basic understanding of how the music is structured, how rhythm works, timing and phrasing, tempo etc. The ability to follow the music. Even at an advanced level. Proactive is the ability to interpret, add to, and express the music thru DIFFERENT dynamics and accenting. Being a visual percussive companion to the music. Dynamics does not just mean going fast or loud. It's the CHANGE. The difference between the highest and lowest, fastest and slowest levels. You need a mixture of both and in both of these it is required to add your own flair, or character. To express AND impress. Or who cares? Real talk. It's a performance and if no one cares to watch you may have missed the point. You may be dancing for yourself but let's be real. Don't even go to the club or competition then. Another important aspect of musicality is related to quality of movement. That's the clarity of the delivery of the moves and steps so that they are not a bunch of badly executed movements. It requires a strong relationship between the mind and body. What we refer to as proprioception. Your movements can't look strong and definition is lost if that connection is weak. 

Groove and Swing and Syncopation. 

For Groove and Swing here is a generic definition, which is 'what feels good'. But there is no information in that description. It's almost like saying great food is food that tastes good. Or food that is prepared well. It doesn't tell you anything. Let's have a usable definition for Groove, Swing and Syncopation. They are all how you treat the 'in-between' notes. As we discussed, there are 4 counts in a bar. But you can divide those so that you have 8 or 16(or 32 or 64!!) syncopation means accenting beats that are not naturally accented. Simple as. We normally accent music on the 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 counts. These are known as the downbeat(1,3) or upbeat(2,4). To be honest there's no difference in timing terms. Just in feel. In African Diasporic dance we prefer to accent the 2 and 4 but that is purely our convention and taste. If you choose to accent the 1st and 3rd count, you are NOT offbeat. You are just ugly. Out of phase with our preference. Really being offbeat is having an inconsistent connection to the pulse and subdivisions of the music. So Syncopation... Let's break the counts into parts. 

1...2...3...4... 

1..and..2..and..3..and..4 Accenting those AND 'counts' is Syncopation 1..e..and..a..2..e..and..a..3..e..and..a..4 Accenting any of those counts between the whole numbers is Syncopation. 

Groove and Swing are HOW you use those Syncopations!! How you tease them or delay them or drag them out. How you switch between long and short. How you change their intensity. 

Phrasing. Simply put, music is built of phrases. Grouped and usually arranged in some multiple of 2 in 4/4 music. Where a whole 'thought' or motif is expressed. You can hear it in most modern music. Verse, bridge, chorus...These all consist of phrases. Dance steps are also arranged in phrases. If you've ever done the Electric Slide or the Candy Dance you'll recognise that the whole sequence is made of phrases. And even the sequence can be considered a phrase. But so is the Twist-O-Flex or the Fresno/Slot. Or the Indian or Salsa Step. Or the Fila or the Steve Martin. Or the Pas de Bourree or Loose Leg. They don't just fit randomly anywhere. They fit in counts, in the MUSIC. On the MUSIC. You can play around with them but if you mess with their phrasal structure, it doesn't look nice. And if they are off the music, you really should try harder. It happens that some steps have an odd count but there is usually a 'rest' that fills in the space or you combine it with another step. Your phrasing needs to make visual sense and fit the music. Music doesn't just change at random intervals. There is a pattern. Your dance should also have patterns, not necessarily predictable but we can't have storytelling without them. 

I'll finish today by stating my truth. Especially in our dance styles. As a dancer, you're not just performing skills. You're performing skills to, and with the music. The music is not just for background. It is a landscape you have to navigate. It's not a theatrical picture of a forest you perform with as a backdrop. It is an actual forest. Complete with trees and rocks and streams and other features. That's what we collectively decided.

No music. No dance. 

In the next part, we'll discuss being in the pocket, compare phrasing to language use, and understand why we shouldn't be afraid to discuss all these things. We can't refine our understanding if we don't speak openly. Also if there are any specific questions, let me know.

Kev's Quick Guide...

....to battling.

I know it's been said before but I'll just re-iterate it here because I see that many people still don't understand it. If ure at an event to battle there are a few very important things to keep in mind if u wanna get thru the qualifiers, both as showcase or as straight battles like World BBoy Classic.

The first, and most important, is to look like ure there to battle!!
Like really!!
Treat the judges or the audience as ur opponents and battle for ur life.
It's doesn't mean u need to be rowdy and all up in people's faces, but u need some fire.
I see so many people with their heads down and zero intensity. It's not gonna work. Ure not in the training hall. U need to show an almost desperate need to qualify.
Or u won't.

Secondly, we wanna see u know what ure doing. Even if ure at a basic level. Lie to us. Present ur movements with conviction. The simplest step done with the correct power can appear impressive. If u can't do a move, don't attempt it unless ure just using the opportunity for practice. Can't hit it 90% of the time? Leave it out!!

Thirdly, I'm watching u from before u even hit the floor. Ur body language tells me what time it is. Be in gear. Don't stand there gawping. Look like ur gonna punish someone, like u can't wait for them to finish so u can show them who the boss is. And even after uve finished, r u gonna shuffle back to the line or return like u killed everyone on the room? I know what I wanna see. 
Ur time starts the moment u step up to the line and doesn't end til the judges call a result. Seriously, people give so much information away in their body language. Were they happy with their run, did they do enough, did they mess up, r they confident, do they feel defeated etc.

Finally, I need to talk about form. For me it's very important. It really makes a big difference especially in a close call. I can tell straight away if someone understands their basics. If they have the condition to perform the things they r trying. Flares that scrape the floor; moves that are not under control and take u into the crowd; bad footwork shapes; no clarity in movements; rushed throwdowns with no finesse; no snap. There are so many giveaways. 
So even if u did a good run, the final decision may be based on how cleanly it was presented and how clear it was visually.
And if I'm judging, it's MY decision. Not ur fans and friends. They r not looking for what I'm looking for.
Here endeth the lesson.

K.

U Must Learn!!!!

Think u know about these dances?
Really?
U been here a few years, done nothing, been nowhere and u think u have it all figured out?
Had a few workshops and took some pictures with ur favourite dancer and now ure an expert?
'Poe said this', 'Brian said that', 'Greg said...', 'Pete told me...'.
Without context these statements can mean anything. I have these lame discussions with noobs all the time. They actually think their opinion carries weight. It's a sad affair.
Can u imagine this attitude in any other field? U'd be laughed at. But for some reason, our dance is a free for all where even the most inept beginner feels that they have some deep insight into something they barely understand.
It's even worse when it comes to comments on judging. Then they really show their ignorance. Their opinion that so and so was robbed cos somehow they know more than Pete or Storm or Link or whoever.
Judging is subjective and people don't necessarily like what u like. Or what uve been told to like!
If u don't understand, JUST ASK! I know all these guys and they are all more than willing to fix ur lack of understanding. But don't look for one line sound bites. Try to understand what they are trying to convey.
Try to increase ur knowledgebase so u can know what ure talking about.
I've been here 30 years and I'm still learning. It never stops.
So don't think u have it all figured out when u just got here.

K.

3 Times Dope

Soul Mavericks. 3x UK national champions.
This was a definite milestone in recent times for breaking in the UK.
For the third time in a row my crew won the UK Regional Conflict finals which qualifies them to represent the country at the World Finals in October. 
It was a tense day for me. I had 2 Maverick crews, a new female crew I'm teaching, Soul Superior, and my grand students Breaking Hearts, in the comp.
There was a lot of expectation for us to win and of course a lot of people would love to see us fail. 
All 4 crews performed superbly. It's not about winning or losing, of course we want to win, but more about getting out there and representing. Being fresh. Presenting ur skills. Showing ure part of this community and not just a tourist.
Both female crews did very well. Even as beginners, they performed in a way that made me proud. Heads up, dancing, battling, representing to the max. If they stick with it u'll be seeing a lot more of them soon.

Soul Mavericks had a sticky start facing what was probably the other strongest crew of the line up in the first round. It was a crew of Bulgarians and Dizzy from MDC!! They were international level and no joke.
Luckily, they were beaten 2 votes to 1.

Apart from that, both Mavericks crews brought fire with Mavericks X making the semi's and losing to La Familia who were beaten in the final by Soul Mavericks. An interesting fact that I think many UK crews should pay heed to, is that Mavericks will still be going to IBE to qualify and to put final touches on the preparation for October. Basically IBE acts as a qualifier for Champs where 3 crews will advance to the World Finals.

Spin gets MVP for getting to the finals in solo and team battles and repping hard as a ninja all day. 
For me he is still the UK solo champion.

K.

2010 In Not So Brief

Phew!!
That was a busy one!

2010 has been another great year for me.
I did a LOT of djing and a fair amount of judging.
Covered many of the usuals but I've also observed a few things that are new.
I can't cover every event but some have stuck in my head...

At the beginning of the year Juste Debout added toprock as one of the categories at this major dance event.
I had the privilege of djing this milestone.
The winner, and deservedly so, was Y Not.
In my opinion he has been very instrumental in bringing toprock back into focus.

World BBoy Classic was dope.
The dutch seem to come up with these dope concepts all day!!
I was one of the judges and the competition was fierce.
Winners were Thesis and Keebz.
I was honoured to see Lamine KILLING it all day.
Showing everyone that older dancers can still compete at this high level.
(Along with Ness, Poe and others who also still rep).

Focus opened a dance school in Finland.
Called Saiffa, it's a step in the right direction for producing the next generation.
Flomo are one of the only true school crews in the world. They have stuck to their style throughout the years.
Not following trends, but making them.
They also have 2 of my favourite bgirls of all time. Taya and AT.
Hatsolo is also one of my favourite bboys. Raw character that only few dancers have these days.

IBE?
Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig.
'Nuff said.
This is THE mammoth event of the year.
Too many things to cover.
Judged the UK qualifiers with Lamine and Kwikstep.
Unanimous calls every battle except maybe one.
Heard so much BS after.
IF U DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW JUDGING IS DONE, JUST ASK!!!
Don't make shit up cos ure ignorant.

UK Champs!!
For the first time in 8 years a UK crew made it through the first round!
This may not mean anything to any of you, but for us it is a 'making history' achievement.
Not only that but it is the crew I gave birth to and train/ed.
Soul Mavericks.
I am so proud.
We still have a long way to go but things are definitely changing.
Overall winners were Vagabonds, making a great return, and Flying Buddha in the solos.

Battle of the Year moved venue, and country, to Montpelier, France.
12,000 people at a bboy event!! Insane!
Had a great time.
Dj'ed for the solo competition, which Thesis won.
Jinjo won the crews.

Redbull BC One was the last big event of the year.
Looks like Redbull are here to stay.
Absolutely crazy on a production level.
It was on the level of a TV program.
Interesting battles with a few surprises.
Neguin was crowned winner. Killed it all day.

I finished off the year by being voted best BBoy DJ of 2010 on BBoyWorld.
Thank you to all those that voted for me and recognise my hard work.

A World Premiere

I have just returned from France.
There was a dance event in Valenciennes, near Lille, called Dance Evolution. Organised by Hot Clan crew it was a competition that consisted of 2v2 Hip Hop, 2v2 Popping and 5v5 Breaking.
Hosts were Youval and Maleek.
DJ's, myself and DLeek.

The day of the event consisted of qualifiers for Hip Hop and Popping. Breaking was by invite only and 8 crews were chosen(Norway, Spain, Poland, Slovakia and the rest from France).
I entered the popping with Sacha from Lille. I've known her for a while and we always play around battling each other for fun.
She didn't have a partner and wanted to enter and I suggested we do it together as a joke. She said yes!!
We signed up and the battle was on.

I have never entered a popping battle before.
Even though I have been popping on and off(mostly off) since 1982 this was new territory for me.
Jamming in a cypher or having an exchange with someone for a few rounds is a completely different prospect.
Add to that the fact I haven't had much time to practice recently because of all the travelling.
On top of that, we were in France. The average level in France is very high in all dance styles. So many heavy hitters come out of that country. It's no joke.
Then I found out that for the qualifier we had to battle. It wasn't showcase style.
Gulp!!
There were about 20 popping pairs of which 8 would be chosen, so I figured it would be a very short performance then I'd get back to DJing. You would not believe the shock on my face when they read out our names!!!
Anyway. Long story short, we qualified and then battled our way to the semis where we lost to Pepito and Lemzo. I think people were very surprised a)that I entered and b)that I did so well.
I'm happy.

Popping battles are way different to breaking.
In a breaking battle there is hardly any time to think. You have a much better idea of what you're gonna do. Freestyling is minimised(in general).
In popping it feels like you're out there for aaaaages. There's loads of time to think. To decipher the song. Choose which style(s) you're gonna display. Look in the opponents face. Be distracted. Then u get back to your side and completely forget what you did! This could all be down to lack of experience but I loved it. I do know one thing though. I didn't get to show half of the things I can do. More surprises to come.

Anywhooo, Team Schmetta won the breaking; C-pef Krew won the Hip Hop; Djidawi and Faouzi won the popping(very close final).

A big THANK YOU to Babette, Rachid and Sagy.
Organisationwise, everything was on point for me.