Make Your ‘Different’, Work.
Hear me out on this one.
When did everyone on Earth become the same? The carbon copies are taking over. Oh check it out, a dance routine where everyone looks “cool”, and that is THE. ENTIRE. CONCEPT.
Firstly, this post may come off the wrong way. But I want to take a minute to manage the expectations of my readers by being honest with my intentions here. I want to challenge my industry a bit.
Okay fine, A LOT.
You see, I’m all for people having fun. But what I’m way more down for is people expressing themselves. Keyword: themselves.

Everyone is either dancing the same contemporary/hip hop hybrid or dancing to the same type of uninteresting music. How many choreographic vids have you seen to ‘Wild Thoughts’ this month? See my point?
It definitely sounds like I’m railing on song choices, but that’s not necessarily the case. It’s not uninteresting because of the song choice, it’s uninteresting because it’s the same song choice that everyone else makes. I truly believe that we should all delve into the truly different parts of our musical taste and choreograph to something unique, in ways that are vastly different to what we are currently seeing.
Remember how unique you are?
Remember that feeling you had in high school?
Well, High School is where it happened for me. At one of our school discos — school dance for all my US friends — they blew the roof off my skull when they played Alien Ant Farm’s cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’.
I had a new lease on life at the time because I had just started taking dance classes, so I was starting to figure out how to use my body properly to generate movement that felt good. The new-found dance knowledge collided with my love for that song and I quickly became a hot mess. I threw myself all over the place, moving in ways that were beyond thought. It was just what my body needed to do. It needed to go crazy!
I still remember looking up halfway through the song and noticing that I had two grades of Quakers Hill High standing in a circle around me.
I took a breath, smiled to myself, and then I brought it home to a mixture of applause and laughter (it was mostly laughter — this was High School after all). But I didn’t care! I was alive! It was at that moment I realised that I wanted to be a professional dancer.
Sure, we can thank Michael Jackson for the song (RIP) but it was AAF’s version that got me crazed. The distortion, the crisp staccato of the guitarist and the tone that resonated from his playing, and (oh man!) Dryden Mitchell’s vocal choices that made it feel like he just didn’t give a sh*t! In the music video he’s just this weird white dude who moves like an ADHD kid trying to dance — which is EXACTLY WHAT I WAS! (Okay, so I still am.)
Over ten years down the track and I’m still dancing to punk rock, heavy guitars, and crazy vocalists who yell every word with a bit of groove thrown into the mix; à la spectacularly talented drummers!

Don’t even ask me what type of dance it is (I’m thinking of calling it ‘Thrash’).
My point is that I’m running a company based on dancing to music that other people are definitely not trying. It’s my purpose and it makes me feel like I belong in some really strange way. And I don’t deserve a pat on the back for that. I just think it’s okay to be different and I want to let you know that I want to see how different you are. I want you to step bravely into yourself.
Do you have a style of music or a song that you are too afraid to dance to? Maybe you think your choreography is too unconventional or that people won’t “get it”?
Have no fear.
Here’s a story: There is an Australian dancer/choreographer named Callum Mooney and he is putting on a show in Sydney, mid November. Every song has been fully created by him during the rehearsal process. I’m stoked to see this because Callum has inspired me for a long time and I know that his company ‘WeAreSOUND’ will be fantastically different to anything else around.

My point is, keep digging within yourself. There’s something there. What is a style that you always flirt with the idea of representing? What if it’s just one particular song choice that no one would ever touch? What if it’s your duty to challenge yourself and your dance scene by being that renegade? Really think about that. It could become your signature style.
I dare you to step out and be the unique person that I know you are. We’re all different, so why are we all doing routines with popular choreographic trends to popular tracks by popular artists? Hint: It won’t make you popular.
Again, if the popular approach is your style, power to you and good luck. But myself and others are walking a different path to the entirety of the industry right now and it feels so good. I’m having fun and I’m being true to who I am.
I’d rather fall flat on my face trying to find myself and my way of doing things. I’ll try anything because you can’t be you if you’re too busy being everyone else.
Callum Mooney’s company, ‘WeAreSOUND’ will perform their debut show ‘Train of Thought’ on the 17th, 18th & 19th of November at the Annandale Creative Arts Centre. Tickets available at http://www.trybooking.com/QQRM
I hope you found something in this story that helps you, no matter what you’re going through. Feel free to hit the ‘clap’ button so more people see it. ❤
