Elderly Senior Steals The Spotlight With R&B Dance Performance

Apr 03, 2020 by apost team

Recorded at an unnamed dance studio back in 2012, Ramona’s advanced dance class — led by what looks like a man in his 70s — choreographed a smooth, sultry and altogether impressive performance to Anthony Hamilton and Jill Scott’s R&B hit I’m So In Love.

Every once in a blue moon, while scouring the internet in the wee hours of morning, you’re bound to stumble on a diamond in the rough — some random video by some random user that brightens your entire week. The Park Blvd Bump is one of those videos. This group of eleven greying but unbelievably spry dancers prove that age is just a number. Clad in matching outfits of yellow and black, the smooth, seductive soul music of Jill Scott (not to be confused with the legendary Gil Scott-Heron), flows through each and every one of these dancers. But even among all these smooth, smooth criminals, one dancer sticks out.

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If he’s their leader, their head choreographer or even their instructor, we don’t know. But the older looking gentleman who takes center stage, so to speak, gets so into his moves and vibes so hard with the music, that it’s impossible not to single him out. Not only does he channel the spirit of soul, but he also has impeccable timing and rhythm. Suffice it to say that if you found yourself in a dance battle with this grandpa, my money would be on the grandpa.

Both the older gentleman and the rest of the dance group seem influenced by hip-hop and street dance given their free flowing moves and the contemporary neo-soul music. According to the BBC, street dance traces its origins back to the hip hop culture of 1970s New York City, particularly from the Bronx. Back during this golden age of street dance, dancers would perform to faster paced music like hip hop and funk breaks, unlike Ramona’s advanced dance class.

The phrase “to go off” or “going off,” referring to when the music increased in tempo, stemmed from this strain of dance. But as time went on, tastes changed, the music slowed down and a new branch of street dance emerged: Hip Hip dance expression or Freestyle, which is more in the spirit of Ramona’s group. This move away from fast-paced breaks came after a transition to a “boom bap” or “head nod” rhythm that was more relaxed.

Since then, a bunch of different freestyle dance offshoots have emerged so that Hip Hop Freestyle in the 21st century is really just a mix of a variety of different approaches to dance. But regardless of what style it is, Ramona’s advanced dance class shows that Hip Hop Freestyle certainly does not have an age limit. In fact, as their “frontman” ultimately demonstrates in the video, maybe some dance skills get better with age.

What do you think of the old man's dance skills? Would you beat him in a dance battle? Let us know and pass this on to friends and family members who like to get jiggy with it.