Music Videos: Muybridge to Madonna

A Brief History:

Several of the basic elements of dance- gravity, timing, motion, and sound - run parallel to the basic innovation opportunities that film presented. Edwaerd Muybridge, considered the father of the motion picture, often chose ballroom dancers as his experimental subject matter. Thanks to Vaudeville and Hollywood traditions dance continued to be made for film through the first half of the 20th century. Music numbers made for screen had been around as early as The Jazz Singer.  The Scopitone was a trendy visual jukebox (made from surplus World War II airplane parts!) that was invented in France around 1960. Color 16 mm film clips with a magnetic soundtrack were designed to be shown on it. Many French pop stars of the day produced and made a series of "scopitones" to accompany their songs. The Scopitone soon spread to other countries (There were similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the U.S.). A few New York City bars began featuring this device in the summer of 1964. For more information on the history of music videos, please refer to the links on the right.

Beginning with an examination of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” music video, The Effervescent Collective hopes to highlight the history, impact, and implications of music videos, their diverse movement vocabulary, and the popularity in pop culture. As part of our belief that some music videos are worth studying, we aim to bring their choreographic innovations to light through live “guerilla” performances in unlikely settings.

MTV premeired it's first Music Video the year I was born, 1986. A few of my personal favorites -music videos that shaped my own movement vocabulary- are listed below. -Lily

• Missy Elliot: Ching- A - Ling, Work It, Get Your Freak On
• with Ciara 1, 2 Step, Like a Boy - gets good around 1:15 min.
• Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime.
• Busta Rhymes: Gimme Some Mo'
• Justin Timberlake w/ Timbaland (and TI): Let Me Talk to You/ My Love
• Foxy Brown w/ Jay-Z: I'll Be - classic 90's Ladies/Fellas showdown
• Sean Paul: Get Busy - 21st century Ladies/Fellas showdown, Like Glue - Bikinis, Booty, and DanceHall instructional video
• Rye Rye: Shake It to the Ground - home town hero.
• Chris Brown: Run It, Gimme That - Weezy, daydream sequence, and musical theater stylings.
• Beyoncé: Check Up On It - Beyoncé and back-up crew move out of the club setting, to simplistic sets for betting booty-dropping viewing. So begins the resurrection of the long-sleeve leotard. Get 'Em Bodied - catalogue of dance moves with throwbacks to Fosse.
• BlackStreet: No Diggity - 90's kneepads.
• Sean Paul: Get Busy.
• Salt & Pepa: Shoop - Even better 90's kneepads, Whatta Man - Jazz Hands!
• TLC: No Scrubs, Waterfalls
• The Pharcyde: Drop - Spike Jonze that's what's up
• Mims: Move If You Wanna
• Disco Favorites: Apache, Love Me Tender
• Daft Punk: Around the World - Perfection. Brought to you by Michel Gondry
• Chemical Brothers: Let Forever Be - another Gondry classic
• Hot-Chip: Ready for the Fall - speechless.
• Pre-Music Videos: Gladys Knight & the Pips, Midnight Train to Georgia, Buzby Berkeley, Dance Until the Dawn