The art of movement and the art of sound – inseparable brother and sister, aiding and feeding each other with meaning. The sound of music has been a trigger for creating movement since the dawn of humankind. No one really knows how come hear certain beats urges humans to dance. Some say that it is a primitive emotion – people are attracted to good dancers because they are physically fit to be a proper mating partner, so dance serves as a way to showcase the ability of our bodies. Regardless of whether this is true or not, one thing is for sure - dance evolved together with our ever-developing brains into something much deeper. It evolved together with our search for expression and together with our need to not only communicate with others, but also with ourselves.
In this sense, finding the musical piece to accompany a dance is a very important step for each choreographer. There are different creative paths that can be undertaken and those mostly stem from the choreographer’s preference or intention. If you are unsure about your musical choices, first clarify your intentions towards the choreography and towards the audience.
The most straightforward connection is when the inspiration stems from the music itself. Hearing a piece of sound that speaks to you can aid you in creating the choreography by reminding you of a place, a story, or a simple gesture. The lyrics can bridge the sound to a notion that the choreographer or the dancer understands, so they can interpret the words into movement. Whether a song is popular or not should not matter, as long as it inspires you. However, if you are trying to convey a new or unknown feeling to your audience, you might want to explore music further than what is playing on the radio. A rare piece would allow the viewer to search more rigorously for a connection to your piece because they don’t have an immediate reaction to an already-known sound.
If, however, the movement exists before finding the music, you have a wide-open door for experimentation. Do not limit yourself only to finding music with lyrics, include purely instrumental and experimental sounds in your searches. Soundcloud can be a wonderful hub for finding such creations. Apart from musical compositions, it might strike your fancy to dance to the sound of raindrops falling, birds chirping, or falling coins on a table. There are various websites with wide collections of generic sounds. Allow yourself to step out of the usual once in a while.
All this entails that choreographers as well as the dancers should spend time exploring new music. There are multiple ways to find new sound – listening to online radios that are specific to a certain genre or an artist can prove productive. Last.fm is exactly such a platform, where you can input the name of a known artist and get referred to similar songs. However, any online radio can do the trick of providing you with inspiration and it is something that you don’t need to be actively involved in. Let the radio buzz in the background while you go about your daily business and when you hear a sound you like – note down the artist. A more proactive way of hunting down songs is checking out the record label of an artist you already know. On their website, you can see the other signed artists and search through their music.
Take the time to explore artists’ discographies. When I say discography, I don’t mean only the released singles. Singles are chosen as the sound that will appeal to the widest audience. As an artist, you already must have specific preferences and tastes in music, so dig deeper and find something that you like, not something that everyone else is expected to like. Being particular about your musical choices is not something to be seen as a pretense, it is a vital part of the performance, so spend time widening your horizons – it will be creatively refreshing.