How to dance hotline bling

» DRAKE DANCE REVOLUTION: The ‘Hotline Bling’ Video

I have this friend named Felipe.

He’s a great man. A strong man. A smart man. And at his most indifferent, still a life of the party. Someone who can be sitting on a couch for two hours, hear a song he likes, walk onto the dance floor, dance to two songs — thereby changing the tone of the entire evening for many present — and then go sit back down and chill.

When I run into Felipe at night, and we’re both out, and there’s music playing, and there’s a dance floor, and a certain song comes on, and there’s something resembling a circle — or really any empty space with scattered humans — I know he’s going to get after it, which gives me full clearance to get after it.

It’s unclear if either of us has any dance moves, in the literal sense. But in the moment, when all of those late-night planets align, there are few people who dance better than Felipe. And in that same moment, one of the few people present who can match him — in my head — is me. And as I look around — again, in this moment — the assortment of goony friends I arrived with or knew would be present are also dance-peaking, doing their own hyper-personalized creations, existing always on beat, filled to the brim with confidence in their movements, feeling spectacular.

[protected-iframe id=”1c60162430c03673100ad7977dabcd12-60203239-28259768″ info=”https://embed.itunes.apple.com/us/embedded-player/idsa.76f47263-76c3-11e5-ad28-8822e79f57de” width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Twenty seconds into watching the video for “Hotline Bling” by Aubrey Drake Graham, the first thing I thought was, Oh wow, that’s Felipe. And then I kept watching and was like, Oh shit, that’s Matt. And then I kept watching and thought, Oh Lord, that’s me.

It’s a great video in the sense that he pulls off dancing the way one would in a crowded setting — your vulnerabilities calmed by the crew that surrounds you that is also doing their own version of dancing — by his lonesome.

The first “Internet opinion” I saw about the video prompted me to click in order to see “silly Drake dancing.” I clicked on the video but, oddly enough, saw nothing silly. There’s nothing silly about the dancing in “Hotline Bling.” This is just dancing. Riddle me this, author of Internet opinion, what else is someone supposed to do to this song while listening to “Hotline Bling” and existing in a James Turrell biodome?

Every single move that emanates from Drake’s gray one-size-fits-all ensemble is arguably the only thing that is supposed to be happening. That slow, crouched-over thing he did to “you used to, you used to” — yes. That side-to-side heel-toe later in the video — of course. Those occasional slow-motion movements — I mean, have you ever listened to music while standing up? That Chris Tucker as Michael Jackson head and arms and neck thing — OBVIOUSLY.

What your are witnessing is Yung Aubrey Bautista absolutely feeling himself, a concept that should not be met with any negative connotations. With that said, that also has very little to do with actual quality. The idea of feeling yourself does not necessarily imply that the dance moves are great. Feeling yourself is simply when you could not be any more a fan of yourself and how you look and what you are doing and, in turn, what you are giving to the world in that moment.

It’s that feeling when you start dancing, and then stumble on a move, and then really like that move. When this happens, chances are you’re going to dig into it more and more with each sidestep. Each time, a little more knee bend. A little more head nod. A little more sass. A little more attitude. A little more goddamn. These aren’t theoretical concepts, these are actual facts of life.

In this video, you’re seeing the confidence of someone who’s been going to the same bar every other weekend for three years. It’s post-posturing. It’s when you show up in sweats at 1 a.m. because you can. It’s how you dance when a public space becomes your living room. You’re beyond needing to impress strangers, because you’re not the stranger — everyone else is.

Very few of us have the talents of a Chris Brown or Usher or Ciara or Beyoncé. If your dancing skills resemble these people, by all means be a superior mover and distance yourself from the world by any and all means necessary. But contrary to popular belief, the next level on the rung down from “really good dancer” isn’t a “pretty good dancer.” Because there’s nothing worse than a “pretty good dancer.” Because the hallmark trait of a “pretty good dancer” is “someone who is actively trying to be a really good dancer yet isn’t.” And that person is the worst (and if you don’t know this to be true, that person is you). If you aren’t an amazing dancer, the next-best thing is to be an on-beat dancer whose moves create a blissfully irrational confidence in self. Dancing in a way that is often ridiculous, never threatening, and increasingly makes you feel fly-er than the song before.

A less obvious reason this video is startling — beyond the dancing, and the lights, and the REI turtleneck — is that on Drake’s end, we actually see him, unedited, for long periods of time. Music video editing can make the most uncomfortable, near-pubescent artist seem exceedingly cool. If you look at Drake videos from years past, a constant is a patchwork of short clips filled with rapper bravado that are cut and pasted together to form a cocky rapper. You’d typically see him do one or two motions, and then a quick cut, and then he’s somewhere else, doing something else slightly cool, and then another cut and — poof — he’s either back to the former place or a third location, doing something else that some people characterize as cool.

This isn’t Drake-specific. Music video directors are magicians in making all artists look more interesting than they are. In Drake’s past, much of his dorkswag appeal (and in turn, overall confidence in everything) came from editing rather than personality. Looking at someone move and dance and exist for a lengthy period of time, however, is completely different. They have to carry it — in a way that editing can only enhance but not fully control. And with fewer cuts and longer one-take stretches come more room for scrutiny (or, in some cases, praise). This video goes beyond dance ghosts of Drake’s past (like that dumb Yeet-like arm-across-body thing as he’s jumping, or that other dumb thing where he kind of rotates like a compass with the elbow and it’s kind of a “Bye Bye Bye” ‘N Sync thing with the fist pump). The Drake portion of this music video begins with 28 straight seconds of unedited Drake doing things. These are new waters for him: not just the dancing, but consistently existing on camera, with help from no one, needing to be interesting the entire time.

The video for “Hotline Bling” is a good sign if you’re invested in Aubrey Drake Graham, the performer. An obvious weak spot in his repertoire is the live performance, in the sense that he doesn’t have a library of classic performances like a Kanye or a Beyoncé. But then again, those are two people who can interestingly move and exist, alone, for long stretches of time. With Drake, the idea of whether the moves are good and cool is subjective, and to each their own. (They’re phenomenal.) But the fact that he’s doing them, or anything at all, is what you want to see.

It’s like the old saying goes, ’tis better to feel yourself than to not feel at all.

Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ Choreographer Breaks Down Her Best Legwork — from BeyoncÃ© to Rihanna – Billboard

11/6/2015

Drake released his video "Hotline Bling" on Oct. 19, and his goofy, dad-like dance moves were instantly flipped into countless memes. But when the clip's choreographer, Tanisha Scott, swiveled onto…

11/6/2015

Drake "Hotline Bling" (2015) Courtesy of Director X/Creative Soul/Cash Money Records

Drake released his video “Hotline Bling” on Oct. 19, and his goofy, dad-like dance moves were instantly flipped into countless memes. But when the clip’s choreographer, Tanisha Scott, swiveled onto the screen to grind seductively with the rapper, no one was laughing — well, until Drake used her butt as a pillow. Scott, 35, has been a music video fixture since 2001, when she sprang from battling in Toronto clubs to introducing Jamaican dance moves to the masses with Sean Paul‘s 2001 hit “Gimme the Light.” Since then, she has worked with everyone from Aaliyah and Rihanna to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (in new film Sisters, out Dec. 18). She even recently oversaw George Clooney’s first-ever dance scene for the 2016 film Money Monster. With “Hotline Bling” at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, Scott looks back at some of her greatest video hits.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

Rihanna

Sean Paul

See latest videos, charts and news

Carey Bradshaw

Drake, “Hotline Bling” (2015)

When Drake, an old pal of Scott’s who was inspired by her work with Sean Paul, reached out about “Hotline,” he said there was one stipulation for her choreographing the video: She had to dance in it too. “His reference for our scene was ‘Gimme the Light’ and Pulp Fiction, when John Travolta and Uma Thurman are dancing together,” she explains. “It was all improv, one take. People on set were like, ‘Don’t you need to rehearse?’ ‘Nah, we’re friends. Let’s just rock it!’ We couldn’t stop laughing.”

Courtesy of Island Def Jam Music Group

Rihanna, “Rude Boy” (2010)

Rihanna’s video dance moves were more simple and constrained early in her career. But Scott says that when she stepped in to work on “Rude Boy,” the singer hit her groove. “That was the first time you got to really see her dance,” she says. “She moved a bit in ‘Umbrella,’ but it wasn’t until ‘Rude Boy’ that you were like, ‘What is going on?!'”

Courtesy of Columbia

Beyoncé, “Upgrade U,” Featuring Jay Z (2007)

The highlight of Scott’s work on Beyoncé‘s “Upgrade U” video was helping her imitate co-star/husband Jay Z in one scene. “‘You have to have a toothpick in your mouth! You have to sit like this!'” she recalls telling Beyoncé, who was blown away by Scott’s own dancing. “She was like, ‘I don’t want to just do the moves, I want to do them like you!'”

Courtesy of VP/Atlantic Records

Sean Paul, “Like Glue” (2003)

Scott’s big-time debut as a choreographer was in Paul’s videos, and “Like Glue” was the first time the Jamaican rapper-singer really danced on camera. “It was bringing Jamaica to the forefront,” she says. “We touched on different styles that were happening in Jamaica: Pon Di River, Down Di Flank, Give Dem a Run, every dance move that was hot.”

This story originally appeared in the Nov. 14 issue of Billboard.

Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox

Drake Hotline Bling | RAP.RU

Drake "Hotline Bling"

The summer hit "Hotline Bling" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, the artist's best result since "Hold On We're Going Home" (the track peaked at number four). positions). Now it's time to show a clip on it in order to note the result and, perhaps take the same pedestal.

Drake himself continues work on the album "Views From The 6", and in the new video - apparently during a break from the studio - he dances extremely funny and gives only positivity. Of course, Tumblr and Twitter already flooded with hundreds of GIFs. This is how viruses are made. nine0005

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.comments powered by Disqus

Profiles

Drake

229

Reading in the topic

Reading

Results of the year-2020: 10 best clips in foreign rap

Pulp

Results of the year: 20 best foreign albums of 2017. Final

Reading

Drake: left but promised to return

Reading

Result of the year: 20 best foreign albums. Part 2

Reading

Views From Russia: Drake on the covers of Russian rappers

Reading

Results of the year: the best foreign albums

Pulp

Results of the year: best foreign clips

Pulp Fiction

25 Most Influential People in the Sneaker Industry

Pulp Fiction

What sneakers do your favorite rappers wear

Reading

Drake.

0 - 9 | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | AND B AT G D E AND W And To L M H O P R With T At F X C H W SCH E YU I am

TJ

Music

Zhenya Kuzmin October 23, 2015

Social media users ridiculed the rapper's dancing in the Hotline Bling video

On October 20, the famous Canadian rapper Drake posted his new video for the track “Hotline Bling”, released in the summer. The artist's strange dance moves attracted the attention of Twitter and Vine users, as well as many Western publications, including Buzzfeed.

Exclusive to Apple Music, the minimalistic clip is Drake's first video work since 2013. According to a Billboard journalist, when creating it, the rapper was inspired by the work of contemporary American artist James Turrell, “borrowing” the color scheme from his work. Tarell himself said that he was flattered by such a resemblance to his work. nine0005

But social media users paid attention not to the scenery of the video, but to the dance moves of the Canadian rapper. Vine suggested that Drake's dance could fit absolutely any song, from tracks by other rap artists to the Star Wars soundtrack.

A few hours after the release of the video, a Drake Dancing account appeared on Twitter, the creators of which began to overdub different tracks at the same moment in the video. In three days, more than 12 thousand people subscribed to it, and 39 retweeted the most popular entry.thousand times.

What Do You Mean pic.twitter.com/eyhTgR6DCs
— Drake Dancing (@DrakeDancingTo) October 20, 2015

Spongebob Trap Remix pic.twitter.com/OtyxVzNg3I
— Drake Dancing (@DrakeDancingTo) October 21, 2015

American Horror Story Theme Song pic.twitter.com/YWzttb5smm
— Drake Dancing (@DrakeDancingTo) October 21, 2015

Parodies have appeared in which users slightly changed the clip, and also recalled other strange celebrity dances. nine0005

In the Russian segment of Twitter, Drake's new clip was hardly noticed. At the same time, some users still noted the popular dance.

Drake dances like Timati, who thinks he dances like a Chechen. Now I've seen everything
— Dime (@L_Dime) October 20, 2015

in the new video Drake moves like my grandmother at every party with a drink
— le (@Womenliemenliee) October 20, 2015

It seems to me that a man should dance like a fool. Like Drake or Medvedev. If a man dances well, then he is probably a dancer.
— Ruslan Munnibaev (@fattface) October 21, 2015

Many Western publications have paid attention to Hotline Bling. The Guardian published detailed instructions for the dance moves from the video, seeing in them the hallmarks of Bollywood, ballet and salsa. Mashable decided to name the best dance elements.

How to dance hotline bling

» DRAKE DANCE REVOLUTION: The ‘Hotline Bling’ Video