Michael Jackson Approach To Dance Drama Essay

Michael Jackson Approach To Dance Drama Essay creative activity-ren accepted for his influence on the internationalist medical specialty and dance scene, Michael Jackson is an iconic figure in the entertainment industry. His talent in being able to fuse his music and dance way together so seamlessly was probably one of the reasons for his booming success as an artist. The transformation and influence that he had brought about in the entertainment industry, dance included, mightiness very well be the greatest legacy that any solo artist had ever left behind.Michael Jackson, as great a dancer as he was, had surprisingly no musket ball dance training throughout his career. He was completely self-taught and worked very much in isolation when it came to perfecting many of his famous dance moves (Beers). He had a strong ability as a child to absorb and imitate what he saw quickly. Lacking a formal education, as Michael went around performing, he learnt by watching. Michael Jackson sa id that the greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work and that was what he did, making the best of his circumstances as a child. He was a perfectionist in many aspects, including dance, sp dyinging hours refining his steps and moves till they were flawless in the beginning they were presented on stage.Michael Jacksons dance air was influenced by a wide range of people and names, from RB artists to ballerinas, from jazz to street dances and African-American indigenous courses. He was fictive in the way he brought different techniques of various dance forms together, taking whatever he saw and liked in other dances and making them his own (Roy). Eventually, the dance flair that became uniquely his spanned a wide range dynamically, from fluid, smooth dance movements to sharp, angular and accented ones. His smooth dance style was visually likable in that his movements were so connected they just seemed to flow from one to some other. At the same time, his sig nature movements, such as the moonwalk, posed a sense of arcanum to the audience as to how it could be done, especially since he seemed to be able to do it so effortlessly. What made the moonwalk so intriguing was that walking, which we are all so familiar with, lifting one foot and putting it in front of the other, could in fact be done without lifting a foot off the ground at all. Perhaps it was the desire of uncovering the mystery and mastery of his steps that sparked off so much interest in learning them. At the opposite end of the spectrum was his strong accented style of dancing, like that of the robot dance. The movements were a lot less connected and much more punctuated. His accented style of dancing affect intricate bodywork and precise isolation.Even with such a range of movements in his dance vocabulary, there was a certain consistency in his dance style visual appeal. Though many of his movements and lines were angular and not exactly beautiful and sophisticated like ballet was deemed, there was something about them that was captivating. Despite the seeming control in some of his movements, there was a certain groove and swing in his steps, emphasized by his music that made him such an amazing performer. As a result of his talent in both music and dance, his music and dance style complemented each other to bring out the uniqueness of his style that made him stand out as an artist of his time.Michael Jackson was born with a talented and creative mind. His concept of dance movement was closely intertwined with his creation of music. In his movement creation, he not simply goes with the music, in some cases, he goes against the music as well, giving diversity to the fusion of music and dance. He varies his movements and music in terms of rhythm, for example syncopations, or differing emphasis in music and movements. For example, he chooses to do many short and sharp movements during the silence in the music. His accented movements are usually do ne along with the bass beat of the drums in his music but sometimes, he chooses to leave out certain accents and establish only some of them. On the other hand, sometimes when there are many accents in his music, he chooses to do the opposite with his movements, changing to the smooth style of his dance rather than the accented style. His choreography also catered very aptly to the lyrics and content of his songs, exemplified by the movements that likened to zombies choreographed for the song Thriller. This is an example of versatility in his choreography to suit his music and probably was an added factor to success. Such an integration of choreographic movements and music allows the essence of Michael Jacksons style, both in music and dance, to stand out and complement one another at the same time.Another element that he incorporated into his music and dance was the element of theatre or drama. In his music videos, he unite song, dance and drama together such that many of his musi c videos had storylines, almost like a miniature movie or musical, as in round Criminal. If it was a live concert, he used over-the-top costuming, massive visual elements and even incorporated acrobatic stunts such as having aerialists in his performances. All these were technically complicated and required much technical support (Jackson). As an artist, Michael Jackson strived for perfection by always pushing the limit of complexity and intricacy in what he did and produced. He worked and created with the aim of wanting his audience to feel a sense of awe and wonder watching his whole kit and caboodle, live or on film. adept of the moves he was best k promptlyn for, the anti-gravitational lean, was one of the stunt that achieved that aim and was evidence of his strive in his artistry. The uniqueness of his works was in the perfection he craved in every aspect of his art form, music, theatre, dance and acrobatic elements.Michael Jacksons approach to dance was a relatively holisti c one, he incorporated various divers(a) elements to enhance the effect of his dance. His career, being a singer, songwriter, dancer and actor, created the platform for him to develop dance, not as an isolated entity but as part of a bigger picture that included music, drama and other visual elements.Its Relation and Impact on DanceMichael Jackson was one of the pioneers who paved the way for dance on film, introducing the commercialization of dance in the later part of the twentieth century. Though dance had already existed in other films such as West stance Story and Singin in the Rain, Michael Jacksons music videos markedly pushed dance in film to the next level through the exploration of camera movement and video-editing skills in the ontogeny computer age (Genne 140), along with his extensive use of props, over-the-top costumes and sets as well as dramatic effects. Before Michael Jacksons music videos, camera movements were limited to a planar view and kept mostly to one lev el. Michael Jacksons videos introduced a 3-dimensional view with varying camera movement, along with explorations of different levels. In some of Michael Jacksons videos, some of the screenshots were pulled as high as a few storeys. The video-editing skills required to produce the dramatic effects that his music videos had were also considerably phenomenal, when put in contrast to what had been produced in the past. These progresses enabled audiences to see a fuller picture of dance on film as it was now less 2-dimensional and somewhat closer to seeing it in real-life.With the well-disposed and political climate of America at that time, street dance had become ordinary as a form of self-expression. America was still experiencing the aftermath of World War II and undergoing social changes. Advances in civil rights were taking place and African-Americans began to rise in society as the number of black members in social intercourse increased. Street dance was generally associated wi th the African-Americans and was an expression of the freedom from discrimination that they were slowly experiencing. Such dances began to appear on film, taking dance beyond the studios and even beyond the streets. As Michael Jacksons works gained popularity, his music videos added new dimension and development to the existing dance on films as he was an African-American himself and represented not only the rising of the African-American population but also the coming of a new genre of dance on film, street dance or what is now called rose hip-hop.In many of Michael Jacksons dances, he incorporated strong elements of popping and locking, as well as isolation techniques. These have very strong influences on the hip hop genre of dance that we know of today. At that time, when Michael Jackson first commercialized the technique of popping and locking, it was coined the term robot dance and was very popular amongst the audience. The unveiling of Michael Jacksons robot dance gave new vo cabulary to street dance, which eventually gave rise to hip-hop. Hip-hop today has opened up into several different genres such as popping and locking, and break-dancing, all of which still have tinges of Michael Jacksons influence visible in their styles.Michaels success as a musician and singer attributed to his worldwide influence.. The style of his dance complemented his songs so well that these two elements came together as a package for Michael Jackson as he built his image as an artist. This was come-at-able due to his success in commercializing his music videos which included the aspect of dance. His works were so well-received globally and many sought to imitate what Michael Jackson was capable of doing. His works tug at the heartstrings of audiences and convey Michael Jacksons emotions genuinely through his songs and dance. Moreover, through his years of experience, he recognized what audiences wanted through a performance. They (referring to the audience) just want terr ific experiences, they want escapism. We want to take them to places theyve never been before, we want to show them talent like theyve never seen before. says Michael Jackson. He realized what his audience wanted and sought to abide exactly that, setting him apart from the other artists of his time.