Musicality: Solo, Partnered, Choreography, Improvisation - Lindy Hop & Swing Dance

As Lindy Hoppers, our goal is to look like the music sounds. However, there's no one right way to do this, and it can be very difficult to find your individual voice as a dancer. In this video, I go over ideas for musicality in choreography, improvisation, solo, and partner dancing as well as a bit of my own musical evolution, and some great advice I've gotten to help get me where I am. Hope it's helpful!
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00:00 - Thanks for Joining Me!
01:19 - Being Literal
05:49 - Being General: Structural Musicality
07:35 - Tailored to a Song
09:01 - Countermelody / Collective Improv / Negative Space
10:52 - Putting It All Together
12:26 - Partner Dancing
VOCALESE EXAMPLES:
Original Solo: • Coleman Hawkins-Body a...
Eddie Jefferson's vocalese: • Eddie Jefferson - Body...
COLLECTIVE IMPROV:
• Collective Improvisati...
COUNTER MELODY:
Charlie Barnett, Cherokee: • 1939 HITS ARCHIVE: Che...
Charlie Barnett, Skyliner: • Video
STAN GETZ version of Jumpin' with Symphony Sid:
• Jumpin' with Symphony ...
MUSIC:
Intro / Outro: Six Cats and a Prince, by the Brooks Prumo Orchestra
Jumpin' with Symphony Sid, by the Brooks Prumo Orchestra
brooksprumoorch...
MERCH:
Prints: www.etsy.com/s...
Other: lauraglaess.th...
50% of the money made from this channel is donated to organizations that support African Diasporic art forms, because Lindy Hop is a Black dance, and preserving and cultivating Blackness is very important to its identity. My current charities are:
Black Lindy Hopper's Fund: blacklindyhopp...
National Jazz Museum in Harlem: jazzmuseuminha...

[@zandykehnz]

I love the idea of being "musically flexible". You don't have to accentuate every single hit. I find that being too micro-musical is sometimes detrimental to maintaining flow and I'd rather prioritize the latter. A middle ground like you demonstrated with Brooks at the end is totally my ideal scenario.

[@LauraGlaess]

For sure - and it took me a while to come to this conclusion, actually. Really wanted to hit all of the things for a very long time. But if you think of musicians - there's a reason why Duke Ellington said the most important quality in a musician is the ability to listen. It's not just about what you say, but how you work with everyone else in the band!

[@christinbartholmai1309]

"look like what the music sounds like" and that jewellery analogy. 💖 Thanks a million.

[@LauraGlaess]

Can't take credit. That was all Tena!

[@christinbartholmai1309]

Thanks to Tena for the beautiful words and your sharing them ☺️

[@alanbishop6937]

Especially loved the Brooks demo at the end, thanks!

[@LauraGlaess]

Every time I get to dance with Brooks it's a good day :)

[@Yoork20]

Tomorrow is my first class of solo jazz! Laura, you my motivation. Many many thanks!

[@vinnieandhispizza6299]

Man, I personally really love the counter melody idea. It feels so true to Jazz as an art form.

[@peterchou6227]

I love this video a lot!! lol Feel so exciting about the next social event. Focus one like put one piece jewelry instead of all at the same time. Inspiring :)

[@PeppermintTaste]

Ahhh, so much good stuff in here. It is super impressive how clearly you articulate and model these concepts. I can clearly see which example looks most like me (it is the pure structural one, ha!) and make goals for incorporating more of the other types of musicality. So awesome and helpful.

[@LauraGlaess]

ha! Hey, the structural option is a good one. It's something you can always come back to and it'll look great!

[@diegosebastianmorinsosa3616]

No se como llegue acá, simplemente me enamore de esto. Es una locura. Te felicito por el hecho de compartir este arte que, aquí en Argentina, no existe. Muchas gracias. A mirar los videos, a repetir y a mover los pies

[@srdjanbudic15]

This is amazing! Never did I know musicality can be explained so well and in such details, thank you so much for creating these videos and sharing them! Every single point you explained has hit dead centre and brought more and more understanding :D

[@LauraGlaess]

Wow! That is so kind. I really appreciate that this is helpful. Musicality can be such an elusive topic - so personal. I'm really trying to hit it at different angles to try to find some resonance with people.

[@noealonzo8001]

This video was so very helpful! I love how honestly you explain everything! Ive had a lot of Social dance teachers that BS'ed a lot of their knowledge rather than saying " well, at least to the best of my knowledge". I adore your take on how a dance partnership can work!

[@LauraGlaess]

Thank you so much!! Honestly, in my experience, the more you know the more you realize you don't know. In my earlier dance life, I feel like I was more confident that everything I knew was correct. By this point, I've seen so many different things that look good and make people happy, so I can't say "this is the right way."

[@jaromantuka]

can't thank you enough for this

[@TheEgluzis]

Very very useful information put in one video. Thank you 🙏

[@briannamiller7984]

Soo well thought! I love how you explain musicality. Thank you!

[@jessyc6111]

This was extremely interesting and helpful! Very well explained, thank you very much!

[@LauraGlaess]

Wonderful! Thank you!

[@mermyblue]

thank you so much! that was more than helpful!

[@user-xu8mp6zu8r]

왜이리 사랑스러워요? 영상 계속올려줘서 너무 고마워용 ! 좋아요누르고 영상보기^0^

[@LauraGlaess]

Thank you!

[@PotatoesMashedComedy]

I dance like this to drum n bass but faster and my friends always say I dance like it's swing. 3:14 is my signature move but it ends with a spin.

[@PotatoesMashedComedy]

hahaha I just got to the part where you say there's no chance to breathe with the music. I like hitting all the notes with drum n bass though. If I slowed it down it would feel like I was high.

[@xrayqqq]

You do super-right on danceable BeBop tune...

[@LauraGlaess]

LOVE me some BeBop!

[@davidkral7317]

What a nice figure!

[@ByronWillisDC]

Very well produced! Nice work, Laura. A question for you about the second flavor of musicality that you demonstrated (being general / structural musicality). How did this flavor of musicality influence your choreography choices? Had you already come up with this set of basics that honor phrase length (i.e. showing contrast at phrase ends/beginnings?) Would the same choices that you made for this song fit equally well in another song with the same phrase lengths?

[@LauraGlaess]

These are SUCH good questions, Byron! When picking out the moves, I did consider phrase length as well as general activity level of the moves. For example, I put the jump charleston sequence on the traditional head of the song because both of them have a lot of energy, horizontal movement and simplicity. Then, when Jon Doyle takes the sax solo in the following chorus, I did a box step and a suzie Q because those moves are much more still, which would make a better contrast to the previous, more energetic chorus. I also love me a lock turn on a phrase change. That's an old Laura standard right there. Does that make sense? I plan to do a video Q&A at some point, and this question is perfect for it, so if it doesn't make sense in text, I'll be talking about it in that video. As far as fitting equally well in another song with the same phrase lengths, it's entirely possible that it would. Maybe the song would have a ton of energy while I'm doing a box step, and that wouldn't fit very well, but unless there were large energy differences, it would probably be a pretty good fit. Then use the openness and simplicity that choreography gives you to breath more specific life into it through your movement.

[@ByronWillisDC]

@@LauraGlaess Thanks for the thoughtful reply! So it sounds like general energy level of the music and phrase length were the two main factors in developing this flavor of musicality, and that is another song shared the same pattern of energy/phrase length, then it would be a good fit.

[@LauraGlaess]

@@ByronWillisDC yup! You got it!

[@ozgurberker8409]

Being idiosyncratic that is what I am point :)

[@KlavierKannNichtMehr]

Its called Bach - swung…