Freestyle, in terms of dance, specifically street dance, is freedom of expression to music. It is how your body responds to the music, it is YOUR way of moving. In freestyle, the moves are not pre-thought out or choreographed, they are spontaneous, whatever happens, happens. EVERYBODY can freestyle. Of course, we can all improve our freestyle, but it is essentially YOUR movement, so there is no “right” or “wrong” and no need to look like everybody else (actually, it’s better to NOT look like everyone else)
Often in a dance class, the word “freestyle” scares people. Especially when a cypher is formed and you are asked to go in the middle…alone! 3 Common fears we have come across in class include:
“Everybody will look at me and laugh”
- Believe us when we say everybody else will be so busy worrying about going in the middle themselves, or trying to work out the musicality of the track, that they will most likely pay you no attention!
“I don’t know what to do”
- Just start by feeling the music, groove to what you hear, get into it. You don’t need to know any dance movement vocabulary to groove! If you do know some foundation moves, choose a few, play with them, remix them. Instead of doing a move like you normally would, reverse it…hey presto, you’ve created a new move. You will be amazed at how many new moves your body can do, just with a little creativity and practice!
“Everyone is better than me, I can’t go in the middle”
- Yes, there might be others who are better than you, but we all need to start somewhere. Those dancers who are better started where YOU are NOW. They were once scared, they once didn’t know what to do too. Those people will respect you even standing still in the circle because they know what it felt like for them at first. Rather than comparing yourself to those better than you, use them as inspiration because if they can do it, so can you!
So next time when there’s a cypher in class, push yourself to go in the middle. You can only overcome your fears by facing them. Even if you simply stand in the cypher completely still for 5 seconds and leave, once you get over that initial fear and stop listening to those little negative things you tell yourself, and take the first step, you will be surprised by how easy it actually is! Once you get the freestyle bug you won’t be able to stop!