The difference between someone doing hip-hop moves and someone dancing hip-hop is musicality — the ability to feel the music and move with it, hitting the beats, riding the groove, playing with the sounds. The hip-hop guide: why musicality makes it, how to develop it and how to practice.

The Musicality-Makes-It Case

Why musicality separates dancers: the moves-vs-dancing (the musicality turning moves into dancing from the hiphop-dance-beginner-moves chapter — the the-difference; the move-vs-dance), the feeling-the-music (the dancing-with the music, not just to-a-count from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-feel; the feel-the-music), the the-groove-and-pocket (the riding the groove-and-pocket from the hiphop-dance-beginner-moves chapter — the the-groove; the the-pocket), the it’s-learnable (the musicality being developable from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-learnable; the you-can-build-it), and the reframe (the hip-hop-musicality as the feel-the-music skill separating dancing-from-moves, learnable).

The Develop-It Method

Developing hip-hop musicality: the the-listen-actively (the actively-listening to the music’s layers from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-listening; the hear-the-layers), the the-find-the-groove (the finding-and-riding the groove from the hiphop-dance-beginner-moves chapter — the the-groove; the ride-it), the the-hit-the-accents (the hitting accents-and-hits in the music — the the-accents; the hit-the-hits), the the-play-with-dynamics (the playing with fast/slow and hard/soft dynamics — the the-dynamics; the vary-the-energy), the the-different-instruments (the moving to different-instruments (bass, hi-hat, vocals) — the the-layers; the pick-a-sound), the the-freestyle-to-explore (the freestyling to explore musicality from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-freestyle; the explore-freely), the the-groove-before-moves (the grooving before adding-moves from the hiphop-dance-beginner-moves chapter — the the-groove-first; the feel-first), and the the-watch-and-learn (the watching musical-dancers to learn from the dance-battle-culture chapter — the the-watch; the learn-from-others).

The Practice-It Notes

Practicing musicality: the the-freestyle-regularly (the regular freestyling to build musicality from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-freestyle; the practice-freely), the the-groove-drills (the grooving to different-songs from the hiphop-dance-beginner-moves chapter — the the-drills; the groove-practice), the the-listen-to-lots-of-music (the listening to varied music from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-listening; the hear-variety), the the-slow-it-down (the practicing musicality slowly-then-up-to-speed — the the-slow; the build-up), the the-confidence-and-let-go (the letting-go and feeling-it from the hiphop-freestyle-confidence chapter — the the-confidence; the let-go), the the-culture-and-history (the hip-hop’s culture-and-groove roots from the dance-battle-culture chapter — the the-culture; the the-roots), the the-workout-and-fun (the musicality in the hip-hop workout from the hiphop-dance-workout chapter — the the-workout; the fun-and-fitness), and the frame (hip-hop-musicality as active-listening-groove-and-accent-hitting, developed-through-freestyle-and-practice — dance to the music, not just the moves. Develop musicality — listen actively to the music’s layers, find and ride the groove, hit the accents, play with dynamics, and move to different instruments — practiced through regular freestyling and grooving to varied music, letting go and feeling it: dance to the music, not just hit the moves.

The difference between someone doing hip-hop moves and someone dancing hip-hop is musicality — the ability to feel the music and move with it, hitting the beats, riding the groove, playing with the sounds. Develop it: listen actively to the music’s layers, find and ride the groove, hit the accents-and-hits, play with dynamics (fast/slow, hard/soft), move to different instruments (bass, hi-hat, vocals), and freestyle to explore — grooving before adding moves. Practice it — freestyle regularly, groove to varied music, slow it down then speed up, let go and feel it, and learn from musical dancers. Dance to the music, not just the moves.