Michael Jackson
Ballroom dancing- Usually done with a partner, a sensual duo dance with quick smooth movements that compliment your partner.
Moonwalk- emulates the illusion of walking backwards without picking up your feet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lknMxLegk8Q
Tap Dancing- creating percussion-like sounds with tap shoes as the shoes strike the ground with the rhythmic dance movements.
https://youtu.be/wzurddI4IW0?t=109
Robot Dance- Movement resembling a robot’s jerky or stiff movements.
Hip Hop (Body Rolling)- upper body or full body movement that resembles a snake or caterpillar moving. The body looks liquefied.
Punk Dancing (Head Banging)- energetic movements of head forward and back; usually associated with rock music
Break Dancing- (Pop Locking)- controlled and quick contracting and relaxing of muscles to create a jerking or popping movement followed by a held position of no movement, or a locked position.
Beyoncé
Belly dancing- emphasizes the complex movements of the torso and whole body through sudden percussive movements while making the body move in a fluid motion using small shimmies and vibrations of the ribcage and hips.
Mixture of modern jazz (smooth, lyrical movements), hip hop (hitting every beat), and line dancing (choreographed dance).
Chris Brown
Hip Hop (Jookin’)- movement that tries to embody the core beat of the music (hitting every beat)
Anita Baker
No formal dance training or choreographed dancing on stage.
James Brown
James Brown basically created his own funk type dance style with energetic, extremely quick foot movements.
Prince
Prince adopted the James Brown split, but also created his own style of energetic dancing as well.
Whitney Houston
No formal dance training.
Sammy Davis Jr.
Tap dancing- creating percussion-like sounds with tap shoes as the shoes strike the ground with the rhythmic dance movements.
Freddie Mercury
No formal dance training.
Elvis Presley
Elvis also came up with his own dance moves, but got influences from traditional funk and swing dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQKcTRbR-yU
Britney Spears
Tap dancing- creating percussion-like sounds with tap shoes as the shoes strike the ground with the rhythmic dance movements.
Contemporary dancing- fusions of ballet with lyrical dancing that stresses on the torso and graceful free leg movement.
Ballet- highly technical, graceful, athletic, smooth movements. Usually done on the tips of the toes.
Modern dance- free dance style that includes elements of performance art and released technique that allows inspiration from other types of dancing.
Madonna
Madonna has a very similar dance history as Britney Spears. She participated in contemporary dancing and ballet, as well as modern dance.