What Exactly is Lyrical Dance?

"That which cannot be spoken can be sung, That which cannot be sung can be danced." The words of this old French saying ring so true when referring to lyrical dance.

Recently I've been asked a number of times "What exactly is lyrical dance?" I have even asked myself "What exactly constitutes lyrical and makes it different from jazz or ballet?"

Having taken lyrical dance for a couple years and recently pondering and observing its characteristics during lyrical class feel I can finally explain it.

Though lyrical uses a combination of ballet and jazz technique it has a stronger emphasis on emotions and storytelling. The word lyrical refers to words that were sung with the lyre. This can be traced back to medieval poems written in Middle English. Lyrical dance, is therefore an interpretation of the words or music. It often tells a story that is based on emotion, but rather than real abstract ideas, like modern dance, lyrical reads like a paragraph. If a song has no words, which is not often the case with lyrical, the emotions of the music are shown in a very fluid way. Because the meaning of the song needs to get across in a lyrical dance, facial expression and other acting techniques are used. Tanya Attard, a lyrical dancer, says, "The dancer should respond to the music, and become an actor that can tell the story of the song through technique and emotion." This emotional aspect is what separates lyrical from other styles. For instance a ballet or jazz dancer can get all the steps, but not have the emotion and still look good. A lyrical dancer cannot. A lyrical dancer needs to know how to "let yourself go" and "feel the music". The more a dancer can do that and flow the more the emotion will come across and essentially move the audience.