Challenge Your Thinking – What Is Dancing?
Yesterday I shared 7 TED Talks to Challenge Your Thinking About This Parenting Thing.
Today I’d like to share 6 TED Talks to Challenge Your Thinking About Dancing!
TED.com is a website full of recorded content covering a broad range of subjects, mainly Technology, Entertainment and Design, hence the name TED. You can pretty much find a talk about any topic!
So during my afternoon of watching dance videos (yes, more than 3 hours down this rabbit hole!), these TED talks linked below stood out as my favourite. They had me thinking about dance as a communication tool, as a record of history, as a conversation starter about gender roles, an insight as to how a brain interprets movement.
WOW! Dance is so much more than I ever thought…and I’ve been a dancer for over 30 years!
Set aside a few hours, children of all ages will enjoy these ones! Let me know your thoughts, how has dance changed for you after watching? ENJOY 🙂
https://www.ted.com/talks/camille_a_brown_a_visual_history_of_social_dance_in_25_moves#t-111563
Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown explores what happens when communities let loose and express themselves by dancing together.
https://www.ted.com/talks/trevor_copp_and_jeff_fox_ballroom_dance_that_breaks_gender_roles#t-629992
Tango, waltz, foxtrot … these classic ballroom dances quietly perpetuate an outdated idea: that the man always leads and the woman always follows. That’s an idea worth changing, say Trevor Copp and Jeff Fox, as they demonstrate their “Liquid Lead” dance technique along with fellow dancer Alida Esmail. Watch as Copp and Fox captivate and command the stage while boldly deconstructing and transforming the art of ballroom dance.
https://www.ted.com/talks/wayne_mcgregor_a_choreographer_s_creative_process_in_real_time
We all use our body on a daily basis, and yet few of us think about our physicality the way Wayne McGregor does. He demonstrates how a choreographer communicates ideas to an audience, working with two dancers to build phrases of dance, live and unscripted, on the TEDGlobal stage.
Instead of a boring slide deck at your next presentation, how about bringing in a troupe of dancers? That’s science writer John Bohannon’s “modest proposal” in this spellbinding choreographed talk. He makes his case by example, in collaboration with dancers from Black Label Movement.
https://www.ted.com/talks/yami_joshi_how_dance_helps_me_deal_with_stress
Yami Joshi had just landed a dream job and a placement in graduate school when she got into a complex relationship … with stress. In this delightful talk followed by a riveting eight-person dance, Joshi demonstrates how the cleansing qualities and symbolism of a two thousand year-old classical Indian dance can be a cure for our modern-day anxieties.
The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) electrify the TED stage with an emerging global street-dance culture, revved-up by the Internet. Directed by Jon M. Chu, this astonishing troupe of dancers and musicians show off their superpowers.
