Amoeba Culture’s Ode to Dancers [Updated]
During the last week of February and the first week of March, Amoeba Culture released the choreographed versions to some of their artists’ hit songs. Dynamic Duo’s AEAO and Crush’s Whatever You Do were the two songs chosen. Both videos use the original recording of the song but with choreography performed by professional dancers. Both videos add a new element to the songs and show the appreciation for the art of dance.
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AEAO
Dynamic Duo released their digital single A Giant Step with DJ Premier in 2014 with the singles Animal and AEAO. Both tracks produced their own music videos, but it wasn’t until February 2015 that Dynamic Duo released a new music video that featured freestyle dance by Monster Woo Fam (Bucky, Youngster, Monster Woo, and Boram) and J-Black.
This music video is a beautiful way to showcase the expressive art of freestyle dance. The backlighting and minimal flashing lights help provide a bit of anonymity for the dancers so only their moves are the main attraction. For a song like AEAO, you don’t necessarily have to use facial expressions to help convey emotions. Instead, the mid-tempo beat, scratching, and contrast between the pace of the music and of the rapping create a freestyle landscape full of possibilities for the dancers.
All of these dancers express how the song makes them feel through their powerful and sometimes elegant movements. It adds an extra element to the song and music and creates a story of its own that could be interpreted differently by every person who watches it. For instance the rough, abrupt, and aggressive moves may show anger, frustration or even dominance. Whereas the more elegant, fluid, and subtle motions show confidence while not flaunting all one has.
Whatever You Do
One of the songs off of Crush’s first full-length album, Crush On You, features Gray, and now has a dance-focused music video. The song is choreographed by Bucky, a member of the Monster Woo Fam. Bucky starts the song off solo in a barren warehouse parking lot. He is then joined by Trix as the two completely crush the synchronized moves throughout the first part of the song.
Unlike the first part of the song where Bucky begins solo, Monika takes the solo reigns for the second part of the dance inside one of the warehouse buildings. She is then joined by fellow dancer Youngster. Like Bucky and Trix, Monika and Youngster are always in sync. Bucky and Trix appear again, inside the warehouse, and soon join Monika and Youngster (after their second duet) as the four dance together through the end of the song.
Their movements and interactions with each other create a storyline that is compatible with the lyrics of the song. Their light movements correlate to the strings in the song and the happy, warm vibe they give throughout the song. The use of a male-female partnership for Whatever You Do emphasizes Crush’s lyrics about pulling the girl into his arms, and being next to each other. The lyrics that are clearly portrayed throughout the choreography is
Whatever you do
Whatever you feel Whatever you see
Just stay like that
Whatever you do
Whatever you feel Whatever you see
Just stay by my side
The partners are always by each other’s sides (aside from the brief solos). They move with each other, breathe with each other, and feel with each other. They relay Crush’s words into movement.
These videos shed light on the masterminds behind the scenes and help express a different art form other than singing and rapping. The dancing and choreography videos help connect listeners and audiences in different ways than if only the music video was available. Focusing on only the dancing performed by the choreographer allows them to put their story to the song and express it for fans.
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Dynamic Duo and Crush, along with Zion.T, will perform in NYC and Atlanta at the end of March as part of the Amoeba Culture Tour 2015 hosted by Music Enkor. Our previous article has more details.
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