The Hip Hop Routine: So You Think You Can Dance

The Hip Hop routine, ‘Bleeding Love’, choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon creatively told the story of a male and a female dancer who are in a love hate relationship, where the male has to make a choice between the female dancer or his job. The dance is structured in a ternary format, showing that the male was unsure if he wanted the relationship, then he showed the love he had towards her and then finally walking off stage showing he chose his job over her. Tabitha and Napoleon were successful in showing their intent with the movements and non-movement components.

‘Bleeding Love’ was set on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ stage. The set and lighting of the performance was on a dance stage with lights shining down as squares showing a grid as

they are trapped in it together. The male dancer was the only dancer with a prop which was a suitcase showing he is a business man. During the end part of the dance the spotlight shines on the female dancer once the male has left the grid showing that he doesn’t want to be in the relationship. The story of the ‘bleeding love’ is about a male and a female dancer to try show the love they have for each other. The movements represent the tortured love between the male and female dancer. When the lyrics say ‘try to pull me away…’ it’s showing that they aren’t going to be in a relationship. The male dancer was wearing a black suit with a tie, black shoes and a suitcase showing he works as a business man. The female dancer was wearing black leggings, a floral skirt, a purple with black singlet and high tops showing that she is a young adult with no job or anything.
Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed successful movements to help show the meaning of the story. The ‘grab and put down’ is a movement when the female grabbed the males shoulder and forces him to put down his suitcase. This movement is suspended because after she grabs his shoulder they pause for a minute then he drops his suitcase. The male dancer was seen to show the dance action ‘slide and kiss ’. This particular movement is when he slides his head down the females arm and kisses her when he reaches her face, showing love. This movement is a sustained action because he is making it all happen at the same time without a break in the dance actions. Half way through the dance there was a set of moves referred to as ‘the control’. These types of movements are described in this dance to show the male manipulating the female dancer in the way he wants. This shows that they are percussive movements because they are performed strongly with a quick change from move to move. Chelsie and Mark have used the space well in the choreographers dance. The use of space in the performance was used very well because when part A started they drifted away from each other, but still using the space to stay inside the grid. Towards the end the male dancer has to make a choice if he chooses her over his job. So in this situation the male dancer chose his job which showed that he drifted outside of the grid and down the stairs saying that he was no longer in the relationship.
In conclusion, Tabitha and Mark’s dance effectively achieved their intent by making the moves have a real meaning behind them to help assist in the delivery of the story line throughout the dance. Chelsie and Mark effectively captured the story of two people in a love hate relationship.