Groovology (Grooving in Music and Dance)

Groove is defined as a sense of recurring rhythm, with specific musical elements playing in cycles. A primary feature of groove is it gives the music momentum that makes us want to move.

The word is widely entrenched in our culture.  Although it is difficult to explain the precise definition, we tend to intuitively sense what it is.  When things are going well, almost as if happening on their own, we say we’re in a groove.” When we hear a song that makes us want to move, we call it “groovy.”

Groove is something we possess in our body. The use of the word implies a sense of relaxed but engaged involvement, of getting into a certain state or of a certain quality.  The common understanding of groove is a good starting point for exploring both the more specific and the more expansive ways that dancers use the term.

The groove is the defining feature of both the music and the dance it inspires.  Although the technical definition defines what groove is (a thing), it leaves out what groove does and how it does it (the process.) The groove is not just about dancing to the phrased basic of the music but how it is incorporated in relation to our bodies, partnerships and improvisations. When groove is present it immediately elevates the artistic quality and sound.

Groove does not only drive the momentum of dance but the buoyancy and energy as well. It emerges in bodily participation, social interaction, and is the foundation that allows for improvisation.

In order to find the groove you must first find the pulse which is the reference point for everything that happens in the music.

It is essential for dancers to draw their movement from the music. Each song has their own unique feel in which the dancer must exemplify. So how do dancers find the groove? Below are some recommendations how you can better find your groove.

1)Internalize the Pulse: Developing the ability to find it precisely and consistently in ones movement.  This is essential in discovering musical relationships in the body.

2)Internalize the dance basic: Dancers must internalize the phrased basic and how it fits within the musical structure, as this forms the frameworks for the entire dance.

3)Groove the basic: Internalizing the dance basic can easily devolve into monotonous repetition of the same steps. Dancers must be able to adapt different variations and accent different nuances in articulation and phrasing. This will create unique timing, texture, and density in the groove.

4)Find pushes and pulls in the body: Learning how to hear/feel when musicians are playing ahead of, behind, or in the center of the beat is a good exercise to practice. Dancers can change the timing of their steps to match the push or pull of the musicians. 

5)Find other relationships in the Body: There are many helpful exercises that engage the body in finding the relationships in the music.  Let taps, snapping, clapping, dancing more staccato or legato.  You can also walk to the different beats in the song.

6)Internalize the music’s grammar and story: Understand the flow of the song from beginning to end.  Knowing the context allows the musical parts and their relationships to be more easily heard and felt

7)Prioritize Groove: Ask yourself questions when your dancing. Ex. Where is my focus when I dance? Am I relaxed? What makes me anxious or distracted? What makes me relax and focus on the groove? Do I have expectations or judgements of others that are preventing me from grooving with them? Do I have expectations or judgments of myself that are preventing me from finding groove in my own body? These are questions you can ask yourself more generally to see where you are in your dancing life, but they are also questions you can ask yourself with each new dance.

Groove is what makes listeners want to move. Musicians and dancers often describe it as an experience rather than something that comes from knowledge.