Team dancing has many different styles. It really depends on the choreographer and what kind of dance style they are most comfortable teaching and performing. While all styles of team dancing have a few things in common such as dance uniforms, dance costumes, and all members of the team basically performing the same movements, there are some notable differences between the different styles of team dancing. If you or your children are interested in team dancing, it’s important to know the differences when scouting out some of the different schools and teachers.
- Lyrical Jazz Team Dancing is a style that blends ballet with jazz movements. The songs or music the dance team moves to tend to be slower and more ballet like. The dance team uniforms tend to be designed in the ballet fashion. The movements are slower and flowing.
- Prop Team Dancing is just what it sounds like. The dancers use props in their performance. The props can range from books to stuffed animals, or whatever the routine might call for to illustrate the vision the choreographer wants to showcase.
- Pom Team Dancing is more like the standard cheerleading most people think of, using pom poms to accentuate the moves the dancers make.
- Hip Hop Team Dancing is an exciting routine that incorporates not only hip hop dance movements to fast-paced songs, but also the dancers dress in urban street clothes rather than traditional dance costumes. The movements are raw and synchronized at the same time. The music is loud, has a deep bass beat, and gets everyone fired up.
- Modern Team Dancing is a form of team dancing that incorporates modern dance into its routines. The dancers move in an often chaotic pattern. The dance uniforms can be wild or outrageous depending on the routine. There really is no form to modern dance, so this team dance has the most variety to it.
- Novelty Team Dancing is similar to prop dancing, there is a theme to the dance and often exaggerated costumes are used to illustrate the change from standard team dancing. Think of a routine that uses country line dancing with the team members wearing jeans, cowboy hats and button down shirts, clothing dancer don’t usually wear except when there is a theme to showcase.
Today, dance teams incorporate many of these different styles of team dancing in to their routines. It depends on the choreographer to put it all together into a performance the dance team is able to perform, and the audience is most likely to enjoy watching. There is no set in stone style that must be used. It is simply the preference of the team and choreographer.
