littlemissG said:

Some innate talent, a choreographer, and maturity, to be sure. Like fine wine, it just got better and better with time.

the dancing between 1978-1986 was Prince just dancing and going out to dance clubs dancing

I suspect like regular folk going out dancing, watching others dance, he picked up stuff.

Some of his moves remind me of Susan Moonsie

Then dancing with Jerome Greg Wally picking up some stuff there

I like his non-taugh/cherographed moves. I tend to like peoples dances like when they were teens in front of the mirror.

If I saw someone else at a regular club dancing like Prince was during "Irresistible Bitch" or "I Would Die 4 U" on the Purple Rain tour... really... anyone other than Prince.

Prince's dancing, like his music and style seemed to have evolved with time. With each era came new sounds, new looks and new moves, often reflecting current trends. Looking back, we can see quite a contrast between his glam rock Bolan/Jagger-esque performance on American Band Stand and the more athletic hip-hop 'Daddy Pop' choreography on Arsenio Hall... I am not sure whether he had a dance teacher or not... I think his progression could have been the result of hours of self-taught moves practice, guided by the close observation of his own performance and that of others. Many people have reported that Prince spent a lot of time watching videos of his own shows in order to learn from his mistakes. We did the same at our dance class.

[Edited 12/17/17 16:46pm]

ufoclub said:

If I saw someone else at a regular club dancing like Prince was during "Irresistible Bitch" or "I Would Die 4 U" on the Purple Rain tour... really... anyone other than Prince.

the lady who said Litte Red Corvette was inspired by her, recalled when she first danced with Prince at a club and she said it reminded her of him dancing on American Band Stand

I so loved those early Prince days

Prince studied ballet ..it is mentioned in a few articles

Prince Rogers Nelson :: Patron of the (Dance) Arts While growing up, Prince had ballet training through an initiative called the Urban Arts Program. It connected students “who didn't fit into the traditional academic world” with local arts institutions, explained Minnesota Dance Theatre (MDT) artistic director Lise Houlton. Prince took classes with MDT in ... prince.org/msg/7/428606

OldFriends4Sale said:

ufoclub said:

If I saw someone else at a regular club dancing like Prince was during "Irresistible Bitch" or "I Would Die 4 U" on the Purple Rain tour... really... anyone other than Prince.

the lady who said Litte Red Corvette was inspired by her, recalled when she first danced with Prince at a club and she said it reminded her of him dancing on American Band Stand

I so loved those early Prince days

Oh god, you drew attention to it. I never even noticed how bad those moves were.

Also, he looks oh so CUTE in the last gif.

Initially, it seemed his stage persona seemed built on moving like Mick Jagger (especially during the Dirty Mind tour). He slowly got better, but the big change came for the Purple Rain project. They had acting and dancing lessons and it showed. He refined after that, as evidenced by the Under The Cherry Moon tour. By Sign Of The Times and Lovesexy he was, as far as I'm concerned, a great dancer. The videos show enough of that, no?

mediumdry said:

Initially, it seemed his stage persona seemed built on moving like Mick Jagger (especially during the Dirty Mind tour). He slowly got better, but the big change came for the Purple Rain project. They had acting and dancing lessons and it showed. He refined after that, as evidenced by the Under The Cherry Moon tour. By Sign Of The Times and Lovesexy he was, as far as I'm concerned, a great dancer. The videos show enough of that, no?

Funny that you should mention SOTT and Lovesexy, which I think were pivotal times in Prince's growth as a dancer. Indeed, I submit that having to keep up with Cat Glover on stage helped him to improve tremendously as a dancer. Not enough credit is given to Cat in this regard.

Prince choreographed his own stuff, came up with his own dance moves. This has been in print more than once over the years. Honestly not really that hard to believe right?

FlyOnTheWall said:

mediumdry said:

Initially, it seemed his stage persona seemed built on moving like Mick Jagger (especially during the Dirty Mind tour). He slowly got better, but the big change came for the Purple Rain project. They had acting and dancing lessons and it showed. He refined after that, as evidenced by the Under The Cherry Moon tour. By Sign Of The Times and Lovesexy he was, as far as I'm concerned, a great dancer. The videos show enough of that, no?

Funny that you should mention SOTT and Lovesexy, which I think were pivotal times in Prince's growth as a dancer. Indeed, I submit that having to keep up with Cat Glover on stage helped him to improve tremendously as a dancer. Not enough credit is given to Cat in this regard.

He was already showing signs of the precise dancing on the Parade tour. Also, during the Purple Rain period, he made a very consious choice not to do any moves that were in the vibe of Michael Jackson. So a lot of that feeling that he was not so dance-choreographed during that tour (or movie) might have been him keeping it that way on purpose. I've read where they said this was a goal of his at that time, to remain different, and also concentrate on the motorcycle riding guitar hero type image.

If he had been doing Graffitti Bridge type dance moves back then, I think many regular folks would just have dismissed him as a copycat of the type of precision that Michael Jackson was known for.

leadline said:

Prince choreographed his own stuff, came up with his own dance moves. This has been in print more than once over the years. Honestly not really that hard to believe right?

That's only partially true.

Cat choreographed much of the SOTT/Lovesexy dances. The Housequake dance was Cat.

BrownMark with Prince choreographed some of the moves for the Purple Rain and Parade tours.

along with Jerome for the Parade tours.

The GameBoyz choreographed a lot of the steps for the Nude tour

The 'basic' dance stuff that Prince did was all Prince, which is that everyday dancing people do. And we see him do it throught his career.

pre-1984 Purple Rain, he asked his band and some others to sit in on him dancing, so he could get more relaxed dancing and doing more moves in from of people/concerts. So they would fill the room and just watch him for long periods of time.

that's right, a lot of people doubt that woman but she says a lot of true things and one was that he had no clue how to dance in the early days. In the dirty mind, controversy period he was doing some wierd punk type dancing, nothing soulful at all, then, presto, by the time of 1999 he was making progress rapidly, the Little Red Corvette video is his first really good, cool bit of dancing on film. I also think MJ's calling him out lit a fire under his ass because he improved so goddamned fast I don't even know how he did it.

OldFriends4Sale said:

ufoclub said:

If I saw someone else at a regular club dancing like Prince was during "Irresistible Bitch" or "I Would Die 4 U" on the Purple Rain tour... really... anyone other than Prince.

the lady who said Litte Red Corvette was inspired by her, recalled when she first danced with Prince at a club and she said it reminded her of him dancing on American Band Stand

I so loved those early Prince days

He definitely had choreography during the filming of Purple Rain. I read that the entire cast did choreography for the movie. It probably continued after the movie. Also in Paisley Park what is now the Purple Rain room used to be his dance studio

PeteSilas said:

that's right, a lot of people doubt that woman but she says a lot of true things and one was that he had no clue how to dance in the early days. In the dirty mind, controversy period he was doing some wierd punk type dancing, nothing soulful at all, then, presto, by the time of 1999 he was making progress rapidly, the Little Red Corvette video is his first really good, cool bit of dancing on film. I also think MJ's calling him out lit a fire under his ass because he improved so goddamned fast I don't even know how he did it.

OldFriends4Sale said:

the lady who said Litte Red Corvette was inspired by her, recalled when she first danced with Prince at a club and she said it reminded her of him dancing on American Band Stand

I so loved those early Prince days

I really have no problem believing that to be true. I'm not sure if you are, but I am talking about the James Brown concert "invite up on stage" at Michael's request; I think that is one of the few times I thought Prince got woefully upstaged. IMHO he was clearly unprepared for the gravity of that situation. (Being called up on stage by bonafide legends to just "freestyle"). But to Prince's credit, I do believe he never let that happen again. Can't remember in 30+ years him not being prepared again.

i always considered Prince's dancing comical...from day 1...but, as long as the women seem to enjoy it tho, thats all that matters...

pdiddy2011 said:

PeteSilas said:

that's right, a lot of people doubt that woman but she says a lot of true things and one was that he had no clue how to dance in the early days. In the dirty mind, controversy period he was doing some wierd punk type dancing, nothing soulful at all, then, presto, by the time of 1999 he was making progress rapidly, the Little Red Corvette video is his first really good, cool bit of dancing on film. I also think MJ's calling him out lit a fire under his ass because he improved so goddamned fast I don't even know how he did it.

I really have no problem believing that to be true. I'm not sure if you are, but I am talking about the James Brown concert "invite up on stage" at Michael's request; I think that is one of the few times I thought Prince got woefully upstaged. IMHO he was clearly unprepared for the gravity of that situation. (Being called up on stage by bonafide legends to just "freestyle"). But to Prince's credit, I do believe he never let that happen again. Can't remember in 30+ years him not being prepared again.

there was no other occasion was there? MJ made a fool out of him, supposedly Prince asked his bandmates if he really messed up, no one would tell him he did, but he knew. I still wonder what the fuck was up with that shit. I don't necessarily think he was high, he might have just been acting wierd which he was known to do in those days or maybe he didn't have anything else he could have done better, the guitar was strung upside down so he couldn't play it, maybe he panicked. in any case by the PR tour he was fine, I'd probably watch him dance over MJ by that point honestly. I love MJ's dancing but sometimes it could be repetitive and it was almost always choreographed to a T. MJ said he choreographed his landmark Billy Jean performance the night before, maybe he did but I doubt it.

RJOrion said:

i always considered Prince's dancing comical...from day 1...but, as long as the women seem to enjoy it tho, thats all that matters...

even in the mid 80's? I thought his dancing was pretty damned good by then and a long ways away from his bandstand/dirty mind dancing which was pretty bad.

Deleted - l'ange bleu - moderator

PeteSilas said:

pdiddy2011 said:

I really have no problem believing that to be true. I'm not sure if you are, but I am talking about the James Brown concert "invite up on stage" at Michael's request; I think that is one of the few times I thought Prince got woefully upstaged. IMHO he was clearly unprepared for the gravity of that situation. (Being called up on stage by bonafide legends to just "freestyle"). But to Prince's credit, I do believe he never let that happen again. Can't remember in 30+ years him not being prepared again.

there was no other occasion was there? MJ made a fool out of him, supposedly Prince asked his bandmates if he really messed up, no one would tell him he did, but he knew. I still wonder what the fuck was up with that shit. I don't necessarily think he was high, he might have just been acting wierd which he was known to do in those days or maybe he didn't have anything else he could have done better, the guitar was strung upside down so he couldn't play it, maybe he panicked. in any case by the PR tour he was fine, I'd probably watch him dance over MJ by that point honestly. I love MJ's dancing but sometimes it could be repetitive and it was almost always choreographed to a T. MJ said he choreographed his landmark Billy Jean performance the night before, maybe he did but I doubt it.

That's the only occasion I'm aware of. That is the only time to me Prince appeared visibly nervous (like a deer in headlights). I just think the situation was so unscripted and being called up on stage by "the godfather" and "the king of pop", who had just wowed the crowd into a frenzy, was too much for the newly "superstar-ed" Prince. Also, I'm glad he learned the lesson (I'm sure that very night) that those coy facial expressions and big eyes and screeches and grinding aren't enough when you graduate to superstar. Again, gladly, he learned his lesson well. Never again.

PeteSilas said:

RJOrion said:

i always considered Prince's dancing comical...from day 1...but, as long as the women seem to enjoy it tho, thats all that matters...

even in the mid 80's? I thought his dancing was pretty damned good by then and a long ways away from his bandstand/dirty mind dancing which was pretty bad.

This is the Prince I love, he still danced like this though, inbetween the other dancing.

I liked this Prince

I cannot believe how many splits he was doing. I cannot post any of those right now.

AnonymousFan said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

the lady who said Litte Red Corvette was inspired by her, recalled when she first danced with Prince at a club and she said it reminded her of him dancing on American Band Stand

I so loved those early Prince days

Oh god, you drew attention to it. I never even noticed how bad those moves were.

Also, he looks oh so CUTE in the last gif.

LOL he was so rad lol

Morris Day couldn't dance either. I will repost the story Morris told of that crossroad when the Time band was formed.

80tomato said:

Prince studied ballet ..it is mentioned in a few articles

Prince Rogers Nelson :: Patron of the (Dance) Arts While growing up, Prince had ballet training through an initiative called the Urban Arts Program. It connected students “who didn't fit into the traditional academic world” with local arts institutions, explained Minnesota Dance Theatre (MDT) artistic director Lise Houlton. Prince took classes with MDT in ... prince.org/msg/7/428606

Arnold Schwarzenegger also took ballet classes to help with his posing routines

TuPac(rapper) also took ballet classes

A little Golden Age Hollywood... Fred Astaire