Tuesday, 26 May 2026

Electro-swing dancing

A while back, there was a very enjoyable musical style called electro swing; which led to a style of solo dancing (mainly for men) which is just about the most enjoyable I have ever seen. 

As an intro, with snippets of the style; there was a German TV advert 


featuring the dancer JustSomeMotion

But, so far as I can tell, the best dancing stuff is in these dancers' home made videos


This is because professional directors and editors want to make cuts, and show the dancers from different angles and doing different things. 

Whereas what is wanted by dancers is that there should be full length shots of the whole body, from in-front, and with long un-cut sequences.

Such as you get in a Fred Astaire-directed movie (where, presumably, FA had the authority to enforce this) - That's how you can really see the dancing. 

Even better than JSM, to my eye, is tSM - takeSomeCrime: This is wonderful stuff. The guy is just so fluid and rhythmic in his movements, the dance moves are continuously interesting and inventive. 


When it comes to dancing I am definitely a case of "I don't know much about it, but I know what I like". 

And what I like is exactly this fluidity - a dancer who is naturally loose-limbed, "puppetlike" - as if invisibly suspended from above, with a rubber-hose flexibility: e.g. my preference is Fred Astaire rather than the athleticism of Gene Kelly. 

Among women dancers; fluidity is also essential, but also a decent degree of attractiveness is required, and probably a graceful quality. Cyd Charisse had all this in abundance, and was my favourite woman dancer of Hollywood. 



But, my emphasis on beauty in female dancers shows I am not a deep appreciator of dancing; as does the fact that I must like the music. I can't really enjoy dancing unless I am enjoying the music.  


Note: I was an okay but mediocre dancer (mostly done in amateur musicals and ceilidhs), even before arthritis kicked-in. But both my parents were very good, my brother is a fine comic dancer, and my daughter was exceptionally gifted - evident from age two. I'm glad to say that none of them took dancing too seriously, however; since serious dance training (and, especially professional dancing) seems to be bad for psychological health! 


6 comments:

  1. Seems to be a connection with the Guinness Dancing Man, in places:

    https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2024/05/from-days-when-they-could-make-adverts.html

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  2. @Ron - Some of the moves, yes - but a different... style.

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  3. I love love love this! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. @Mia - Yes, it's a treat; and there is a lot more on YT, if you browse.

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  5. This is why, in our house, we enjoy watching figure-skating clips on YT: they do not have cuts every couple of seconds, and you can see the whole of the skaters' bodies.

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  6. @william a - Yes, you would think the need for dancing to have full body length, and without rapid changes of camera, is obvious, and could be explained to directors who would grasp it at once and remember... But seemingly not.

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