Choreography & Freestyle - What’s The Difference?

This has been a long-standing debate amongst the studio and street dance community, which I’ve never really spoken about publicly before, probably because it’s never been asked. I think that the general public needs to understand the pros of both, their similarities and their differences because they are different. I’ve been a part of strictly choreography crews, competed and showcased with them and I have created choreography myself that has competed and showcased, on a Krump tip and what was called “Urban”. I have been a freestyle street dancer for over 15 years; competing, teaching and learning from the best Krump dancers from around the world. Through my experience, I have seen so much and been a part of so much dancing that I believe I have learnt what the differences are between both and what they’re both great for so here are my thoughts.

Let’s Start with the Differences

Learning choreography ain’t easy, it's a skill and takes a lot of discipline and training to be a great choreography dancer, which means you execute the choreographer’s moves at a high level. Being clean and being one with your crew on the stage is of high regard and a necessity in any choreography competition.

It forces you to hit the music in ways that you usually may not because you’re technically following the choreographer's direction and creation. Most people who work in the choreography realm practise their performance routines over and over and over and over again to the point they’d probably get sick of it. Refinement and the detailing (timing, musicality, dynamic movement, textures/shades, shapes, imagery) of routines for competitions play a vital role in creating high-level choreography because in competitions it is almost always executed with a crew that can vary in numbers from duos to mega crews of up to 40 dancers.

So keeping an eye on the detail and everyone's movement, intensity and execution is a must in this realm. Working with big numbers is no joke! In general, choreography doesn’t have a style but every style of dance can create choreography.

Now this is how freestyle street dance differs. The whole purpose of freestyle street dance is finding a style and diving deep within that style to find your unique way of executing the foundations of that style, whether you are in Animation, Popping, Krump, Hip Hop, Waacking, Breakin, Locking etc. This is the goal!

You yourself are more or less alone in the creative process of yourself and your ideas unless of course you go to foundation classes or sign up for programs that guide you through the process of finding your unique way. Every street dance style has its own techniques that make each style what it is! From the mentality to the movement to the control to the energy to the culture. In freestyle street dance we have what we call cyphers or in Krump, sessions - which is where one person at a time centres the middle of the circle or in Krump, the semi-circle and dances.

Executing the moves they’ve worked on or as we say in Krump, labbed material (ideas) or, going straight freestyle which means following the flow of your body or ideas and not really knowing how it’s going to turn out. Most of the time freestylers hone in on the music and get lost in it so much that we don’t know what is going to come out in the moment, we just dance! The more you advance in any style the more you will become aware of and understand how your body must move to create in the way you want to in your specific style.

Freestyle Street Dance Culture has an element of dance that Choreography doesn’t which is battles! We love a good battle! A battle can be 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, exhibition or street just to name a few. If you would like to learn more about battle culture and its variations ask your local street dance pioneers, they should be able to give you the information you’re looking for, and don’t just take one person's opinion, ask each style's pioneers what battling is to them.

Freestyle Street Dance is about exploring yourself, your creativity and embarking on a never-ending journey of expression and creation. Yes choreography is similar but I believe that it isn’t focused on finding yourself through movement it’s more about following what the choreographer is doing so that you can pick up their movement and execution. Freestyle you have a foundation and techniques that equip you with the necessary tools to find your own essence, to find your own way of dancing through that style and its culture. Every Freestyle Street Dance has a different foundation - though you may find some similarities within each that you can implement into your dancing. This can be taken to the next level and challenged through the art of battling. Battles need preparation, strategy and structure, it’s a different ball game.

Summary

I believe that every dancer should apply skills from choreography and foundation, creativity and techniques from street dance styles into their dancing to optimise and improve their self-connection. You will find that street dancers find it challenging to pick up choreography because they’re used to freestyling and choreographers are challenged when asked to freestyle. They’re different muscles that need to be exercised and utilised. They are both highly beneficial but I’m biassed towards Freestyle Street Dance because one, I do both and two, you need to trust yourself, your flow, your creativity, your energy, and the moment and you need to explore, create, stay disciplined, learn, session and battle by yourself as well as others.

It’s not just about picking up moves, it’s about understanding them and how to use them, you need to be ok with not knowing what is actually going to come out in a session. That’s where the beauty lies.  Choreography can definitely help someone learn a style but to soak in all that Freestyle Dance, you have to jump in and go for it and not stay stuck in the loop of safety that choreography is.