My favourite dance videos of all time...

and why Strictly is the best thing ever!

Watching dance can be a weird experience. Often I get a feeling of longing, like I want to be in there dancing with the dancers, rather than sat there watching it. Consuming it - urgghh. Perhaps it is this sense of consumption that is the problem? It feels so passive, so flat in comparison to the group energy flying around on stage. I feel left out. I experience this more when I watch live performances, probably due to the odd gulf of feeling that exists between sitting static in a tiny theatre seat and viewing a group of dancers swirling together like a starling murmuration, in sync, in relationship, in real, deep connection with each other. It feels symbiotic, how energy onstage is shared and exchanged between them. I’ve become acutely aware of my need for this kind of energy as I’ve moved through life, and am still working on how to articulate it. Perhaps it can’t be articulated? Maybe it can only be felt? Maybe we need to move to feel this way?

Of course, my reaction to watching dance live, says a lot more about me and my strange idiosyncrasies than it does about those on stage. Once I get over myself, I am obviously in awe of what dancers can do, what they convey, how they move.

Thankfully, watching dance on video doesn’t have the same effect. I can more easily get lost in the story, in the emotion and feel inspired to both feel and move more. Here are three of my favourite dance videos, and how they’ve enabled me to move through emotions of grief, empowerment, and joy.

SLIP by Renee Keester & Phillip Chbeeb

I first saw SLIP in 2015 when I was recovering from a difficult break-up and stuck in grief. Watching Kessler and Chbeeb evoke the feeling of love gradually slipping away shattered something in me that I’d long been holding, and I was able to start grieving the relationship properly for the first time. In short, watching dance helped.

Kessler and Chbeeb bring together the precision and flow of ballet with the angularity and strength of hiphop and I’m so here for this. In fact, there’s probably a whole other post I could do on how re-watching 90s/00s dance films that bring together two dance styles - think Step Up, Save the Last Dance etc - is one of the best things you can do with your time, especially when all else gets too much.

I’m in awe of how these two manage to make rolling around on an abandoned tube station floor look so tender, fragile and beautiful. Likely not a possibility on my old hectic commute on the Northern Line. Still, one can but dream..

Bishop Briggs RIVER by Galen Hooks

For pure badgirl energy, there’s nothing like trying out Galen Hook’s choreography to Bishop Brigg’s 2016 banger River. Originally choreographed in 2017, there have been many revivals of River on YouTube, and elsewhere, because of the relative simplicity of the choreography and it’s alignment with the lyrics. The power conveyed by these women made me want to be part of their dance tribe. Although it might look complicated, the truth is anyone can learn these steps and, even better, you can do it in the comfort of your own home.

I’ve followed Galen for a longtime, because she’s so good at bringing character to dance (something I’m terrible at) and being generous in sharing her work with dancers of all levels. She’s an all-time great that genuinely cares about everyone feeling like a dancer, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro. We recently did River in my regular dance class, and I’ve never felt more badass than when pulling back a cross-bow in sync to the lyrics of this song with my fellow Sweaty Betty clad (admittedly, leggings are not very badass) classmates. Galen’s videos often inspire an impromptu pyjama clad reincarnation on the sofa, alongside falling down many YouTube viewing rabbit holes. You have been warned.

Strictly Come Dancing: Danny Mac & Oti Mabuses’ Samba

It probably comes as no surprise that I absolutely love Strictly Come Dancing. Strictly weekends make me look forward to the darker, colder months, helps me cope with the descent into winter and acts as a balm to an increasingly depressing news cycle. It’s four months of pure joy, sequins, inclusivity, positivity and sheer inspiration at how dance gets under people’s skin, brings them closer to others and closer to themselves. I even contemplated re-training as a BBC journalist with a view to getting a shot at a place on Strictly, but realised this wasn’t my best or most realistic career plan (annoyingly so).

It was a tough call to pick out my favourite Strictly dance of all time, but Oti Mabuse and Danny Mac’s Samba narrowly nudged it. It’s an epic fusion of music, choreography, hotness, and chemistry and appeals to my very un-British hidden side, you know, the one which is full of confidence, wears head to toe neon and feathers and is unapologetically loud. One YouTube viewer comments on this dance that ‘I genuinely watch this three times a week for mental health purposes’ and I couldn’t put it better myself. These two make me feel like I can do anything.

I defy anyone to watch it without feeling like they want to shimmy their way to Heathrow in full carnival costume and get on the next plane to Brazil.

My relationship to dance/movement is something that I hope to continually explore in this Substack. I have already learnt so much by engaging with the small community of writers who share the same interests. A wholehearted thank you to those who have already engaged with my writing.

I’d love to know what inspires you and why? Any other Strictly fans out there? Any favourite videos, performances, snippets or clips? Do share them in the comments. Much love, Lara x