Rock and Roll (dance)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acrobatic Rock "n" Roll refers to a very sporty, competitive form of dance that originated from the lindy hop. Unlike the lindy hop, however, it is a choreographed dance designed for performance. It is danced by both couples and formations, either all-female or 4-8 couples together.
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[edit] History
Parallel with the musical genre rock and roll, suitable dances have been developed. From swing, which came into being around 1920, in the USA very soon emerged Lindy Hop, the first partner dance ever to feature acrobatic elements. Lindy Hop again was being modified around 1940 to suit faster music: boogie woogie was born. With rock and roll music coming into fashion around 1955, the protest driven youth movement converted boogie woogie to the even more sporty rock and roll dance.
[edit] Technique and basics
The most obvious feature of rock and roll are its kicks (into thin air) and its acrobatical elements like lifts, jumps, throws and flips. Today's rock and roll is a mere show and competition dance and - with the exception of its name - has nearly nothing in common with the former rock and roll movement. It is being danced in pairs or as formation dancing. Over the years rock and roll has experienced several important changes, e. g. the former 6-basic step being converted into the modern tournament's 9-basic step with its typical kick ball change. Other characteristics are basic techniques such as the gentleman's body wave movement, that he uses to fling his lady from a sitting position upwards, and the throwing basic movement, where she steps onto his hands and is being catapulted upwards into neck breaking jumps. Because of its demanding technique, high speed and strength consuming acrobatics rock and roll is a straining high-performance sport and therefore is being performed mostly by young dancers.
The name of the basic comes from the number of separate actions. With the 6-basic one counts (1)step (2)step (3)kick (4)settle (5)kick (6)settle or (1)kick (2)settle (3)kick (4)settle (5)kick (6)settle, with the 9-basic it is (1)kick (2)ball (3)change (4)kick (5)settle (6)settle (7)kick (8)settle (9)settle. That means during a kick the technical correctness is achieved when the supporting foot settles on the floor a tiny moment before the kicking foot settles on the floor.
[edit] Dance categories
There are four international categories for couples. Youth, Juniors, B-Class, and Main Class.
Youth: No acrobatics allowed. Couples are 12 years old or younger.
Juniors: A maximum of three acrobatics allowed under the category's safety regulations. Couples are between 12 and 17 years of age.
B-Class: Two choreographies per couple. One is a dance program with no acrobatics allowed. The acrobatic program requires six acrobatics. The male may throw the female into the air, but no flips are allowed.
Main Class: Two choreographies as well, with the dance program allowing no acrobatics. The acrobatic program requires six acrobatics as well, though flips are allowed.
[edit] Rhythm and music
Rock and roll bases on the 4/4 measure. One basic comprises six beats and therefore one and a half measures. In contrary to the offbeat of rock and roll music, the dance puts stress on the beats one and three of each measure. The music is very fast, at 176 to 208 bpm. Due to non-offbeat stressing and speed traditional rock and roll music has been replaced by modern disco and pop music.
[edit] Clothes
Nowadays advanced tournament rock and roll dancers don't wear petticoats and jeans - as in the beginnings - but rather multi-colored costumes, that are made of elastic artificial fibre and can only be purchased as odd pieces by special tailors. One reason for that is that acrobatic elements have grown more and more dangerous, requiring both freedom of movement and durability to not tear. The most common footwear are light jazz shoes for the dance programs. The acrobatic programs require more support for the female so sneakers made for aerobic dancers are usually chosen.
[edit] Organization
The World Rock ’n’ Roll Confederation is the organization that takes care of national and international rules and guidelines for tournaments. They organize the world cups, european championships, and world championships that occur every year for couples and formations. All international competitors are ranked according to points acquired during competitions.
[edit] External links
- http://www.wrrc.org/ – World Rock ’n’ Roll Confederation
- http://www.unitedstatesrock-n-rolldancefederation.com - United States Rock "n" Roll Dance Federation
- http://www.VRRDA.org.au/ – Victorian Rock'n'Roll Dance Association (Australia). Rock'n'Roll competition dancing in Australia is more "traditional" and more closely related to social Rock'n'Roll dancing.
