What is lyrical

It is not exactly known where the style of lyrical dance originated from, but it became popular in the 20th century on Broadway and in dance competitions and now features in a lot of music videos and tv programmes such as ‘So you think you can dance.’

The term ‘lyrical dance’ comes from the word ‘lyrical’ which means to have a poetic, expressive quality and to express spontaneous feeling and deep personal emotions.

Combining both ballet and jazz techniques, lyrical dance is performed to music with lyrics so that the dancer can show through their movements, the meaning of the music.

It is not as physically demanding as ballet or jazz, and it is more about the dancer’s individual style. This helps people with different body types, different experiences and different ages, to explore this modern style of dance.

The dancer can express emotions as love, joy, hurt or anger and tells a story through every move that they make. This can help the audience easily relate to both the emotion of the dancer and the choreography. A lyrical dance will take up a lot of space on the stage as the dancers can travel with high leaps, graceful turns and walks. The movements are fluid and continuous as the dancer flows from one move to the next with little or no stopping.

Often a lyrical dance will be performed to music that is slow or down beat, but it can be easily choreographed to upbeat and fast-paced music which can be from any genre including pop, rock, R&B and hip hop.

Lyrical dance can be great for young children starting out in dance because it introduces a sense of enjoyment by simply moving to the music.