What Exactly is Lyrical Dance?
Recently I've been asked a number of times "What exactly is lyrical dance?" I have even asked myself "What exactly constitutes lyrical and makes it different from jazz or ballet?"
Having taken lyrical dance for a couple years and recently pondering and observing its characteristics during lyrical class feel I can finally explain it.
Though lyrical uses a combination of ballet and jazz technique it has a stronger emphasis on emotions and storytelling. The word lyrical refers to words that were sung with the lyre. This can be traced back to medieval poems written in Middle English. Lyrical dance, is therefore an interpretation of the words or music. It often tells a story that is based on emotion, but rather than real abstract ideas, like modern dance, lyrical reads like a paragraph. If a song has no words, which is not often the case with lyrical, the emotions of the music are shown in a very fluid way. Because the meaning of the song needs to get across in a lyrical dance, facial expression and other acting techniques are used. Tanya Attard, a lyrical dancer, says, "The dancer should respond to the music, and become an actor that can tell the story of the song through technique and emotion." This emotional aspect is what separates lyrical from other styles. For instance a ballet or jazz dancer can get all the steps, but not have the emotion and still look good. A lyrical dancer cannot. A lyrical dancer needs to know how to "let yourself go" and "feel the music". The more a dancer can do that and flow the more the emotion will come across and essentially move the audience.
The costume a lyrical dancer wears can also affect the emotions portrayed. Often long flowing skirts or pants are used. One of my favorite dances was called "Christmas in Sarajevo" where the dancers wore flowing, yet torn and poor looking clothes. The emotion that came across in that dance was powerful because it showed two children surviving a war. The costumes really added to the dance. The emotions and story would also not have been as obvious if it had been a strictly ballet or jazz dance.
How is lyrical is a combination of ballet and jazz technique?
It still has a strong technical base that comes from ballet, but because of the jazz influence it is not as rigid. A lyrical class entails a warm-up, center work, and combinations across the floor, like ballet or jazz.. There is a different type of artistic liberty found in lyrical that is unlike ballet and jazz. Feet can be flexed to enhance the story and legs are allowed to turn in to further creativity in choreography . The movement is more fluid than typical jazz technique. Arms can be thrown up and float down, hands may be relaxed or stretched or even in a fist. The fluidity of the arms is typically what distinguishes it from regular jazz. or even contemporary jazz. The music used in lyrical dance is often contemporary ballad-like songs that are not quite upbeat enough for jazz and not quite classical enough for ballet.
So basically, lyrical dance is a type of dance done to contemporary music with words. It combines ballet and jazz technique to get across a message, usually using lots of emotion. If you ever hear or see someone doing lyrical or talking about it you now know what it is. Maybe you have been looking for a new way to use some creative abilities. Now that you understand what lyrical is you might want to give it a try.
Published by Charis Snow
BA in English and Theatre. Published book reviews, articles, plays and short stories in various places. Good at: getting kids to like ballet, handing out balloons in Times Square, chauffering choreographers... View profile
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- Lyrical is a combination of ballet and jazz technique.
- It uses contemporary ballad-like music to express emotion and/or tell a story.
11 Comments
Post a CommentHey Real Dancer,
Lyrical is not a technique, nor is modern or ballet or jazz. They are styles. And saying that Lyrical isn't a style of dance is completely untrue. It is a combination of other styles, that allows you to bring out emotions and feel the dance.
and FYI all STYLES of dance share differnt moves, you can incorperate any type of dance move into a differnet style or dance. It's called creativity. Try it sometime.
I love to watch lyrical danging!! I wish that I could dance like that.
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over modern or straight jazz because they have allowed me to be more creative in my movement. what is the definition of "dance" anyhow? "to move one's feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, esp. to the accompaniment of music."
you can stand on stage and blink your eyes and call it "modern" dance, so how can you say lyrical is not dance? i have seen many lyrical pieces that were more technical than many modern pieces i have seen--i am talking actual companies, not students here. saying lyrical is not dance is like saying contemporary or hiphop are not dance as well. i would never suggest taking lyrical instead of ballet to anyone, but i would recommend it to someone just looking to enjoy a dance form. it is movment, so it is dance, and a beautiful style at that, and i know it has effected many audience members and has the ability to move and touch people in ways ballet and jazz may not and that is the main reason i dance lyrical.
ummmm well that is clearly your opinion and i am sorry that you are that narrow-minded. i would imagine many people would disagree and i would hardly say that broadway dance center or steps on broadway are not professional schools, they offer many lyrical classes/many of their jazz teachers only teach lyrical. perhaps classical ballet schools do not teach lyrical, but they are emphasizing ballet and training students for companies. for those who do not want to be professional ballerinas or have the rigid structure of ballet this is another way to enjoy dancing. there are many beautiful lyrical dancers out there that are professionals and have tons of technique and simply do it because they love it. i would never tell someone to take lyrical to replace ballet, i come from a mainly ballet background, yet have gravitated towards contemporary and lyrical simply because i enjoy interpreting songs with words. i enjoy the freedom and flow in lyrical. i prefer lyrical over modern or strai
This entry is paltry and erroneous. Lyrical "dance" is not a legitimate dance technique at all. It steals step combinations from ballet, modern, and jazz and uses them poorly. It is a self-indulgent expression of pop lyrics, and nothing more. It is not dance, and it is not art. I think it is a disservice to young dancers to teach them this as a "technique" since it teaches them nothing. Case in point: this is never, ever taught at professional schools or universities. Please, for your own sakes, take ballet or modern or jazz but not this water-downed version.
this is my first year of taking lyrical, and already i have been moved up with 5th year students. i love taking it, and hope to become famous one day!!
i loooove to dance!!! and booty shake!!!
lyrical dancing is fun and i love dancing in general but lyrical seems to be my fav.
I would really like to try Lyrical Dance because it contains 2 of my favourite dances Jazz + Ballet. I think it would be a bit more challenging because once again you have to tell a story with your body movement and facial expression.
lyrical dance is very beautiful and expressional. you have to just flow with the music