I saw this clip of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ recently (dance begins at 1:20):
It got me thinking about if and why learning different types of dance forms are important. For me, dance is about getting in touch with that internal rhythm we all have within…and letting it out. It’s about expression, creativity, communication and art. And an essential part of dance is learning how to move your body.
One position could be that zoning in on one’s passion and concentrating on that one genre allows you to fully develop your skills. Conversely, one could say that all dance informs each other and if dance is about learning to move your body different forms of dance will only inform one’s expertise.
Here’s the opinion of a trained ballerina: “i def think it’s important to try different styles of dance – just like different types of music invoke different emotions (soothing classical or party-hype dancehall/soca), different dance forms bring out different aspects of your character that you may not have ever explored before….who would ever have thought that this ballerina would enjoy krumping in hip hop class so much?!”
What do you think? Is one genre enough? Or do you love dancing so much it doesn’t really matter. Dancehall, hip hop, ballet, modern, folk, jazz, tap, heck even krumping. Maybe all you want to do is just dance.
Tallman Talk 
From my experience, learning different forms of dance heightened my enthusiasm and allowed me to open myself (and body) to new limits. There will always be favourites but like any artiste, you dabble in different forms of creativity or areas to learn the skills, techniques, and patience.
Plus it’s pretty astounding when you bring cultures of dance together and see how similar they are in technique sometimes or the origin of a dance and what story it is trying to tell.
Oh and krumping is awesome.
Hey thanks for that insight. It’s true that as an artist you should be willing to learn from everyone and everything in order to fuel your creativity.