Lyrical/Contemporary Classes

[irishprincess]

I'm looking for a dance class that will help me loosen up for musical theatre choreography. Ballet has done a wonderful job of teaching me technique, but with as stiff as I am usually, I'm wondering if a more.....relaxed? dance style might help.

 

However, I don't find too many studios advertising lyrical or contemporary. Any clues as to where I might look?

[Momof3darlings]

If you can tell me where in your state you are (you can pm if more comfortable), I can possibly help you.

[ripresa]

Sorry if this is off-topic..

 

But was wondering.. what exactly is "contemporary" or "lyrical" classes?

Is it different from Jazz? Or Modern?

 

I see the term "contemporary" in So You Think You Can Dance.. and not sure what it means. Seems to mean: Anythiing not ballet.

[Momof3darlings]

Lyrical/contemporary as it relates to jazz classes are the same thing just called different things at different studios. On a ballet board you will get lots of negative connotations to lyrical/comtemporary. However, in analogy you could say Ballet is to Modern as Jazz is to Contemporary Jazz/Lyrical and come up with your answer. Offshoots that have become their own genre of late.

[Guest pink tights]

Lyrical....

[ripresa]

Thanks for the info!

 

I've taken Jazz and Modern classes.. but never heard of Contemporary/Lyrical classes. Didn't realize it was a genre until SYTYCD.

[Redbookish]

Just to complicate things, In the UK (and a lot of Europe) "Contemporary" refers to what Ithin you call in the US "Modern" -- ie serious dance training based on 20th Century chorepgraphers such as Martha Graham, José Limon, and so on ...

 

If Lyrical is what I think it is (but I think it's mainly a US phenomenon), I'd see it more related to Jazz than Contemporary. Contemporary dance (modern) has training techniques as clear & rigorous as ballet.

[balletpointe]

my daughter takes modern classes and contemporary in the U.K. and these are very different in style and content, they hold lyrical sections in some dance festivals over here and they seem to be a mixture of ballet, contemporary and showing flexability.

[Marjolein]

Here in Belgium, modern dance is considered the dance based on 20th century choreograhers like Graham, Limon... Contemporary dance is "new" modern dance, the choreographies that are being made now.

 

Lyrical does exist here and it is much more related to jazz than to contemporary. I once had lyrical in a summer course and it was basically a style of jazz and incorporated a lot of ballet technique.

Clean technique that is, not what you see at lots of US competitions.

[Victoria Leigh]

And then there is hip hop and pop.

[Momof3darlings]

Just a note in the US, the mix of "titles" is different than in the UK. In the US contemporary ballet is called contemporary ballet. Modern is generally called modern and "contemporary" as it related to SYTYCD is a form of jazz. This in contrast to some other countries where modern is called contemporary.

[balletpointe]

this is confusing my daughter attends classes at the Place a contemporary school in London where Richard Alston company are based, if any one has watched them when they were in New York this is what we class as contemporary [or at least one style], Rambert are contemporary ballet.