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One theory suggests that lyrical dance evolved from the “dream ballet” featured in Oklahoma and West Side Story musicals.Īnother claim is that the term can be traced back to traditional Indian dance from the 16th century.īut the most plausible explanation by far, put forth by Phyllis Balanga-Demoret, suggests that it emerged in the 1990s as ballet struggled to fit into the competition stage.Īs a result, choreographers and showrunners need a way to “rebrand” ballet and make it work.
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However, dance historians have proposed three stories for the origin of lyrical dance. Lyrical Dance Origin & Historyĭespite being a very widespread dance and is still starred on popular television shows today, a fun lyrical dance fact is that its origin and history – surprisingly – are not known very well. The choreographers can capitalize on the emotions (joy, hurt, anger, etc.) imparted by the lyrics to weave together a more intense performance for the audience. The lyrics, at least from the contemporary point of view, make it easier for the dancers to express themselves. Specifically, lyrical dance – unlike traditional dances like jazz and ballet that are done on top of wordless musical pieces – is done on songs with lyrics! But, according to one of the documents we found, the term “lyrical dance” has to do more with the music than the dance. By definition, lyrical dance is a fusion between different dance schools, such as ballet and jazz.
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