Pop Choreography Categories!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Red Arrows: Classic triangle formation popularised by Thriller and cemented into pop video law by Britney & co. The star is at the focus of said triangle, leading their anonymous dance troupe along the street/roof/disco, captivating the viewer with impossibly intricate routines. A safe bet for an emerging pop solo artist intent on establishing themselves long enough to record a second album (unless you are Billie Piper whereby you are clearly destined for Greater Things).
Sunflower: Variation on the above whereby the artist is surrounded by anonymous dancers in a ring formation, e.g. Vogue, Louise Nurding-Redknapp's Naked (where she's on a sofa getting all steamy).
Linear: Dangerous if used in the wrong hands, especially with the combination of stools and most definitely erroneous if there are more than 5 of you (take note Pussycat Dolls). However this technique can work wonderfully given pinpoint co-ordination and complentary appearance of band members e.g. Girls Aloud, Steps, B*Witched doing their Riverdance (oh come on, you know it was GREAT).
Tandem: This dance style seems to have fallen out of favour in recent years, the most potent examples that spring to mind being Salt'n'Pepa and Mel'n'Kim - duos easily reflecting the moves of the other, yin-yang style. In order to make this method successful however it is VITAL that one half the duo is not holding a guitar (yes I mean YOU, Andrew Ridgley).
The Nineties: What do you do if you have an early nineties dance track but the singer doesn't dance? Doesn't matter, get your mates to do some running-on-the-spot and stick some 16-bit Amiga graphics underneath it (hi dere Adamski). Of course if your singer CAN dance then they can do the running-on-the-spot dance themselves and the result is truly amazing (see MC Hammer, PJ & Duncan).
In Ver Club: Most commonly but not exclusively found in RnB/Hip Hop videos, the artist mingles with the punters, strutting their stuff, grinding away at pretty member of the opposite sex and quaffing their Bollinger like there's no tomorrow. Hard to get wrong but not very memorable unless the clientele is made out of SKELETONS or the artist is only there because of a DOG (Maneater, the new Kelis single), or the club is disguised as a sauna (Britney's I'm A Slave 4 U).
Fite: Warring factions score points off each other through superior dance moves! Each side proffers a team member to "get down on it" whilst their comrades cheer them on. This is one of my favourite video formats, especially when girls fight boys (see Xtina's Can't Hold Us Down, Run DMC vs Jason Nevins).
Chaos Theory: All hell breaks loose! Can work extremely well but requires strong personalities from artist/band members (e.g. Spice Girls) to avoid disorientation by whirling popsters attacking the viewer from all directions with their choreography guns blazing.
Prog: The artist shows scant regard for the accompanying music or surroundings and tries to fit in as many 'jazz moves' as possible in order to Show Off. This can work well (Running Up That Hill) or leave the viewer confused and disappointed (Beyonce's Deja-Vu, all Michael Jackson videos after 1988).

Any more for any more?

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is a grebt post.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

as a companion to the Nineties, there is The Noughties, where if you have a boshing dance song with no one to front it, scantily clad young people (OK, MAINLY ladies) doing unusual things (eg pretending to work on a building site) in an provocative manner will be considered sufficient. this is known as "doing a benassi"

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

Flick Colby: take the words of the song and make the choreography match this like some sort of exaggerated sign language. only to be shown on a thursday night, once a week, for most of the 70s. Popular with Male Parental Units for some reason...

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Yes, impressive work here, well done Dance Commander K Stevens.

which category does Daft Punk's 'Around The World' vid come in? (actually Gondry vid choreography could be category in itself - see also 'Let Forever Be' and those Xmas GAP ads if anyone remembers those :)

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I recall a particularly excruciating 'Tandem' sequence in the video to Norah Jones 'Sunrise'. tho the video to that song is excruciating in genera (did i say excruciating? i mean MARVERROUS, ahaha)

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

All Hands On Deck: Madonna's 'Human Nature' video in which the choreography is minimal, jerky, in-time with beat but mainly consists of copping a good feel of the singer's goodies.

[celentari.livejournal.com]

EXCELLENT POST.

I have another: the Boyband Concept Video, the apex of which is Backstreet Boys Everybody, (see also NSync Bye Bye Bye) and wherein they each have a Specific Character, usually in an entirely different room, and are usually bookended by narrative hi-jinks of some kind e.g. "Yo guys, you will not believe the dream I had last night..."

Pink's latest also fits into this model, although she herself plays the different characters. Legend.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

There is the long-gone band-dancing style, where the whole band except anyone sitting at e.g. drums dance in time, guitarists and all - sometimes they all have instruments. Freddie & the Dreamers, Mud, the Yachts - for some reason it isn't cool any more, but I think it should be mandatory for all guitar bands.

<b>The Solo</b>

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Exactly what it says on the tin - just the singer on their own (See: Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman; Gala - Freed from Desire). Can occasionally overlap with Prog

[avv.livejournal.com]

was thinking best example of FITE is DC - Lose My Breath, but brings up whole other genre of POP CLONES, i.e., Richard/Liberty X's Being Nobody, Kylie/Come Into My World, the bit at the end of Justin's Rock Your Body, Rachel/Negotiate With Love, etc.