Entertainment desk
< August 31	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 2 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 1

Choreography of bands

When I look at videos of older bands, I see rudimentary choreography, e.g. the Four Tops, with 1981's "When She Was My Girl". When did the elaborate moves start? Clarityfiend (talk) 10:42, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Define "rudimentary" and "elaborate". Is this more or less elaborate than this? Is This rudimentary? --Jayron 32 11:48, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Referencing the Four Tops, you are likely referring to Motown stage performances. Initially, bands like the Four Tops, the Temptations, and the Supremes did not dance. The backing singers stood and sang. Berry Gordy, the man behind the label, always strived for more. He made sure the bands were dressed very well. He made sure the songs were enunciated well. Then, he hired Cholly Atkins to add dancing to the routines. Honestly, he wasn't the only person who knew that much of Elvis' popularity was due to his dance moves. As a band in the 60s, money came from two sources. One was music sales, which mainly went to Barry Gordy. The other was concerts. The Motown acts traveled back and forth across the United States, performing from stage to stage to stage. Often, each band had one or two songs, then the next band stepped up. It wasn't like modern concerts where there is an opening act and a main act. I saw a Sun Records show with eight bands, only three of which I had heard before and allowed me to be introduced to an artist I immediately loved, James Cotton. I hadn't previously heard much of the slow blues. But, back to the point... These groups of bands toured constantly and had to draw a crowd to make money. To do so, they had to put on a show, not just be a human jukebox. Of course, the backing singers were not dancers. They were singers. So, the dance moves had to be limited as well as ensure that they didn't interfere with the singing. That is why the backing singers danced in unison performing simple moves. As time went on, the idea that the concert needed to be a show was expanded. Consider Kiss and Alice Cooper. It is more about the show than the music. Keep moving further in time and you reach a point where dancers were brought on stage for the simple purpose of having dancers on stage. They aren't singers. They are just dancers. They don't have to be in unison. They don't have to sing. They just have to dance, so they can perform more elaborate moves. When did having random dancers on stage become popular? You will run into a lot of arguments. Cab Calloway had tap dancers on stage with his big bands in the 1930s. The Rolling Stones often had women dancing on stage in the 60s who provided minimal background vocals. David Bowie was always experimenting, which included dancers from time to time. Alice Cooper turned his concert into a full magic macabre with props, actors, and dancers. But, if you want to focus on modern music and the modern trend of having backing dancers who are there simply to dance and add to the general spectacle of the performance, that was most likely popularized by Madonna, specifically in her Vogue tour. After that, it was very common for pop music concerts to include dancers, good and bad. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes you wonder why two dudes dressed as weird blue sharks are dancing to a song that has nothing to do with sharks or oceans or aquatic life in general. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 12:56, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Don't forget microphones. Before the arrival of cordless microphones, anyone singing had to stay close to a microphone. That obviously restricted movement. HiLo48 (talk) 23:15, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Tell that to Roger Daltry: [1] -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 23:25, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Kate Bush is credited with pioneering (in conjunction with one of her tour sound engineers) the cordless headset microphone (initially mounted on a bent wire coathanger) in 1979, because she had studied dance under Lindsay Kemp and wanted to perform on live stage as she was already doing in music videos. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.81.165 (talk) 03:32, 2 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I was a bit muddled in my thinking/framing the question, which should have been when did performers or band start using professional choreography. Was it MTV and music videos that did the trick? I see that the video for "Beat It" came out in 1982. Was that the pivotal moment, or was there something earlier? Clarityfiend (talk) 01:26, 4 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on how you define "professional choreography", Motown groups were taught by professional choreographers in the '60s.^[2] see Cholly Atkins for example. Somewhat less sophisticated choreographed movement goes back to the Big Band Era (and probably goes back to ancient times}. -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 03:38, 4 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]