Also, giving Prince a pass because black people liked and accepted him despite his image, is the same as fixating on Bowie's androgyny. To say that Bowie's image was irrelevant because of his eccentricity/androgyny, you might as well say the same for Prince. They're essentially doing the same thing, only one guy happens to be black and the other white.

Because Prince did not set the stage for black people to be themselves, the same way Bowie cant be given total credit for the flamboyant image. Both the flamboyant black man and that image in general was Little Richard's gig. Without Little Richard there would be no Prince or Bowie, period. Literally.

Giving Prince more credit because he was black, but just did what he wants visually, seems racist. If black people don't like Prince because he looks a certain way, that's their problem. And I don't blame them, sometimes people need to be more traditional.

All of this race issue seems irrelevant anyways, because both guys didn't even care about race. And they advocated for rights equally.

Dasein said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

I've shown Prince's Arsenio Hall 1991 performance to people including MJ fans and they absolutely love it because of the originality and creativity of his choreographed dances.

Ha!

To counter Carousal's claim, I looked for that specific video on Youtube but only came across a
defective one which features no sound. I'm so glad that I converted a working copy of that entire
performance into an MP4 file last year as it is proof that Prince was a helluva dancer!

Well if that's you who uploaded it you've certaintly done the world a favor. I was looking for the original video but couln't find it and found the longer one, good stuff.

LayzieKiddZ said:

mjscarousal said:

Prince was not a dancer and just because you do a little improv moves and splits doesn't mean you are a dancer. I think he was moved by his music when he performed at times but I woud not call him a dancer.

Of course Prince is a dancer. He has choreographed moves. Just watch any of his live performances. How can you not know this? He has good foot work, spins, the whole 9's. The man has a number of aburd choreographed moves like practically getting dry humped by his back up dancers.

I mean, I guess you're using Michael Jackson as a judging factor, but this seems more ignorance than anything. I've shown Prince's Arsenio Hall 1991 performance to people including MJ fans and they absolutely love it because of the originality and creativity of his choreographed dances.

Prince has not done choregraphed moves. What are yall talkin about? LOL

I love Prince, seen him live, GREAT showman but a dancer he is NOT.

Its interesting I am seeing P fans call P a dancer when usually yall are so adament on calling him a musician. I still would ALSO call Prince an entertainer because although he was not a dancer, he was very charismatic and threatical on stage. The proper word here is entertainer not dancer.

[Edited 6/26/17 18:42pm]

rdhull said:

khill95 said:

Totally not being PC right now, but I'm starting to think of David Bowie as the avant garde, white Prince.

Bowie was before Prince and avante garde waaay before Prince even had a career so if anything Prince was the black Bowie.

And Little Richard was Little Richard before Bowie was Bowie, whom Bowie idolized. I don't think people understand the extent of this man's influence, because he's largely obscure now.

To illustrate my point, this is Little Richard in the early 70's, before Bowie's Stardust.

In the 60's when he started growing out his hair long:

In the 50s (The basis for James Brown and many other white artists):

If anything, Prince is Little Richard, not Bowie.

mjscarousal said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

Of course Prince is a dancer. He has choreographed moves. Just watch any of his live performances. How can you not know this? He has good foot work, spins, the whole 9's. The man has a number of aburd choreographed moves like practically getting dry humped by his back up dancers.

I mean, I guess you're using Michael Jackson as a judging factor, but this seems more ignorance than anything. I've shown Prince's Arsenio Hall 1991 performance to people including MJ fans and they absolutely love it because of the originality and creativity of his choreographed dances.

Prince has not done choregraphed moves. What are yall talkin about? LOL

I love Prince, seen him live, GREAT showman but a dancer he is NOT.

Its interesting I am seeing P fans call P a dancer when usually yall are so adament on calling him a musician. I still would ALSO call Prince an entertainer because although he was not a dancer, he was very charismatic and threatical on stage. The proper word here is entertainer not dancer.

[Edited 6/26/17 18:42pm]

You're on a Prince website, my dear, you should know better. We even provided you with video evidence you can go look up.

LayzieKiddZ said:

mjscarousal said:

Prince has not done choregraphed moves. What are yall talkin about? LOL

I love Prince, seen him live, GREAT showman but a dancer he is NOT.

Its interesting I am seeing P fans call P a dancer when usually yall are so adament on calling him a musician. I still would ALSO call Prince an entertainer because although he was not a dancer, he was very charismatic and threatical on stage. The proper word here is entertainer not dancer.

[Edited 6/26/17 18:42pm]

You're on a Prince website, my dear, you should know better. We even provided you with video evidence you can go look up.

Yea I know I am on a Prince site, this is the same Prince site that also said that Prince did nothing for Black people.

LayzieKiddZ said:

rdhull said:

Bowie was before Prince and avante garde waaay before Prince even had a career so if anything Prince was the black Bowie.

And Little Richard was Little Richard before Bowie was Bowie, whom Bowie idolized. I don't think people understand the extent of this man's influence, because he's largely obscure now.

To illustrate my point, this is Little Richard in the early 70's, before Bowie's Stardust.

In the 60's when he started growing out his hair long:

In the 50s (The basis for James Brown and many other white artists):

If anything, Prince is Little Richard, not Bowie.

Its funny to me that yall dont want to give credit to David Bowie for being a innovator but yall are SO adament on defending Elvis Presley Bowie and Little Richard were completely different acts. I think you need to replace Elvis Presley with David Bowie but I do think comparing Prince with Little Richard is a better comparision

mjscarousal said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

Of course Prince is a dancer. He has choreographed moves. Just watch any of his live performances. How can you not know this? He has good foot work, spins, the whole 9's. The man has a number of aburd choreographed moves like practically getting dry humped by his back up dancers.

I mean, I guess you're using Michael Jackson as a judging factor, but this seems more ignorance than anything. I've shown Prince's Arsenio Hall 1991 performance to people including MJ fans and they absolutely love it because of the originality and creativity of his choreographed dances.

Prince has not done choregraphed moves. What are yall talkin about? LOL

I love Prince, seen him live, GREAT showman but a dancer he is NOT.

Its interesting I am seeing P fans call P a dancer when usually yall are so adament on calling him a musician. I still would ALSO call Prince an entertainer because although he was not a dancer, he was very charismatic and threatical on stage. The proper word here is entertainer not dancer.

[Edited 6/26/17 18:42pm]

Prince was a dancer. He liked to dance. He went dancing. He danced on stage, He danced while he played his guitar. He danced when he walked. He danced for enjoyment and to entertain.

>

Because you don't LIKE his dancing we gotta hear: "LOL, he wasn't a dancer"? Okay--I'll spot you--he wasn't a Hines, Astaire, Baryshnykov, or MICHAEL JACKSON, Gary, Indiana's finest. But ya know, he did dance, and play music, sell music, gift music, produce videos and stage shows, choreograph his band, create and sustain a wonderful studio/soundstage complex, engineer/record, technical program--all these things--and gave us memories that we enjoy.

mjscarousal said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

You're on a Prince website, my dear, you should know better. We even provided you with video evidence you can go look up.

Yea I know I am on a Prince site, this is the same Prince site that also said that Prince did nothing for Black people.

Well nevermind those silly threads. There are silly threads all over this board. I was saying more a long the lines I figured you would have seen enough live perfomances now to come to the conclusion.

Germanegro said:

mjscarousal said:

Prince has not done choregraphed moves. What are yall talkin about? LOL

I love Prince, seen him live, GREAT showman but a dancer he is NOT.

Its interesting I am seeing P fans call P a dancer when usually yall are so adament on calling him a musician. I still would ALSO call Prince an entertainer because although he was not a dancer, he was very charismatic and threatical on stage. The proper word here is entertainer not dancer.

[Edited 6/26/17 18:42pm]

Prince was a dancer. He liked to dance. He went dancing. He danced on stage, He danced while he played his guitar. He danced when he walked. He danced for enjoyment and to entertain.

>

Because you don't LIKE his dancing we gotta hear: "LOL, he wasn't a dancer"? Okay--I'll spot you--he wasn't a Hines, Astaire, Baryshnykov, or MICHAEL JACKSON, Gary, Indiana's finest. But ya know, he did dance, and play music, sell music, gift music, produce videos and stage shows, choreograph his band, create and sustain a wonderful studio/soundstage complex, engineer/record, technical program--all these things--and gave us memories that we enjoy.

Just because you dance does not make you a dancer. MICHAEL JCKSON was a dancer. Fred ASTAIR was a dancer. BOJANGLES was a dancer. JAMES BROWN was a dancer. NICHOLAS BROTHERS were dancers. GENE KELLY was a dancer.

I'm sorry but Prince cannot dance. He had good rhythm and I liked the improv moves he did on stage when he was feeling himself but he is not a dancer in the true essence of the word. He is a musician/entertainer.

This is dancing

Even the improv moves Prince did were nothing exceptional imo. IMHO, I don't think he was a talented dancer. Dancing was not one of his talents and I think Prince knew this as well which is why he didn't do much choreography.

[Edited 6/26/17 20:06pm]

mjscarousal said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

And Little Richard was Little Richard before Bowie was Bowie, whom Bowie idolized. I don't think people understand the extent of this man's influence, because he's largely obscure now.

To illustrate my point, this is Little Richard in the early 70's, before Bowie's Stardust.

In the 60's when he started growing out his hair long:

In the 50s (The basis for James Brown and many other white artists):

If anything, Prince is Little Richard, not Bowie.

Its funny to me that yall dont want to give credit to David Bowie for being a innovator but yall are SO adament on defending Elvis Presley Bowie and Little Richard were completely different acts. I think you need to replace Elvis Presley with David Bowie but I do think comparing Prince with Little Richard is a better comparision

I personally don't care about Elvis, so I don't know what you're referencing.

I also give Bowie plenty of credit. Like I said Bowie influence is innovative art-house in nature,and his best work is in Art Rock influence, not strictly Glam Rock.

Little Richard needs to be mentioned, because of his heavy influence, not just with Bowie.

mjscarousal said:

Germanegro said:

Prince was a dancer. He liked to dance. He went dancing. He danced on stage, He danced while he played his guitar. He danced when he walked. He danced for enjoyment and to entertain.

>

Because you don't LIKE his dancing we gotta hear: "LOL, he wasn't a dancer"? Okay--I'll spot you--he wasn't a Hines, Astaire, Baryshnykov, or MICHAEL JACKSON, Gary, Indiana's finest. But ya know, he did dance, and play music, sell music, gift music, produce videos and stage shows, choreograph his band, create and sustain a wonderful studio/soundstage complex, engineer/record, technical program--all these things--and gave us memories that we enjoy.

Just because you dance does not make you a dancer. MICHAEL JCKSON was a dancer. Fred ASTAIR was a dancer. BOJANGLES was a dancer. JAMES BROWN was a dancer. NICHOLAS BROTHERS were dancers. GENE KELLY was a dancer.

I'm sorry but Prince cannot dance. He had good rhythm and I liked the improv moves he did on stage when he was feeling himself but he is not a dancer in the true essence of the word. He is a musician/entertainer.

This is dancing

Even the improv moves Prince did were nothing exceptional imo. IMHO, I don't think he was a talented dancer. Dancing was not one of his talents and I think Prince knew this as well which is why he didn't do much choreography.

[Edited 6/26/17 20:06pm]

So what you're saying is Prince is not a dancer, because he doesn't have the technical skill of some other artists who almost entirely focus on dancing. Even though he's better than most and can hang with James Brown.

Obviously he's not going to, since he does so many things in one show.

The fact is Prince does much more in one show, than most artists will ever do.

But he has dances which obviously have to be heavily choreographed and rehearsed.

Like I said this mostly comes down to you not having watched enough of Prince's perfomances. Anyways, this is derailing the thread.

[Edited 6/26/17 20:22pm]

Chancellor said:

Rod Stewart

Rod, Steve Perry from Journey, & Gerald Alston from The Manhattans got their vocal style from Sam Cooke. Rod was in a group with Julie Driscoll in the 1960s called Steampacket and Julie was in the Monkees TV special 33 1/3. Doing a little Kevin Bacon style 6 degrees there.

Maybe this example might be a better illustration of my perspective.

Prince reminds me of Cab Colloway when he performs (who I love by the way). They were both flamboyant and charismatic when they performed. They both did improv dance moves and movements that looked really cool to watch because of their facial expressions, the way they flicked their hair, the moves went with the music and their charisma but they weren't "dancers" and I wouldn't describe what they did as dancing but they were still very entertaining.

I wouldn't describe anything in these gifs as dancing but just a performer feeling the music with his body and movements. Ironically, Cab has influenced a lot of dancers despite not being a dancer himself and I think it was because of his unique improv movements and the flamboyant nature of his performances (flicking his hair which little richard, MJ, Princ was inspired by)

Cab was very flamboyant and I can see the influence he had on Little Richard. I don't think Cab gets that much credit because he was a Band leader and Jazz singer but he was more than just a band leader he was an entertainer. IMO he was the first flamboyant Black man that was quirky on stage before Little Richard. I believe Little Richard was very influenced by Cab Colloway as a performer and his scat singing. Cab def needs to be mentioned when we talk about Flamboyant Black stage performers. He was the first.

[Edited 6/26/17 21:20pm]

mjscarousal said:

Cab def needs to be mentioned when we talk about Flamboyant Black stage performers. He was the first.

Frankie Jaxon sometimes performed in drag though in the 1920s & 1930s

LayzieKiddZ said:

mjscarousal said:

Its funny to me that yall dont want to give credit to David Bowie for being a innovator but yall are SO adament on defending Elvis Presley Bowie and Little Richard were completely different acts. I think you need to replace Elvis Presley with David Bowie but I do think comparing Prince with Little Richard is a better comparision

I personally don't care about Elvis, so I don't know what you're referencing.

I also give Bowie plenty of credit. Like I said Bowie influence is innovative art-house in nature,and his best work is in Art Rock influence, not strictly Glam Rock.

Little Richard needs to be mentioned, because of his heavy influence, not just with Bowie.

I am referring to a thread where Prince fans were hyping Elvis up and I was trying to tell them Little Richard and Fats are the true Kings. These were PRINCE fans saying this So trust me, I know already Little Richard is the King of Rock n Roll but Little Richard was also inspired by other acts before him as well.

LayzieKiddZ said:

mjscarousal said:

Just because you dance does not make you a dancer. MICHAEL JCKSON was a dancer. Fred ASTAIR was a dancer. BOJANGLES was a dancer. JAMES BROWN was a dancer. NICHOLAS BROTHERS were dancers. GENE KELLY was a dancer.

I'm sorry but Prince cannot dance. He had good rhythm and I liked the improv moves he did on stage when he was feeling himself but he is not a dancer in the true essence of the word. He is a musician/entertainer.

This is dancing

Even the improv moves Prince did were nothing exceptional imo. IMHO, I don't think he was a talented dancer. Dancing was not one of his talents and I think Prince knew this as well which is why he didn't do much choreography.

[Edited 6/26/17 20:06pm]

So what you're saying is Prince is not a dancer, because he doesn't have the technical skill of some other artists who almost entirely focus on dancing. Even though he's better than most and can hang with James Brown.

Obviously he's not going to, since he does so many things in one show.

The fact is Prince does much more in one show, than most artists will ever do.

But he has dances which obviously have to be heavily choreographed and rehearsed.

Like I said this mostly comes down to you not having watched enough of Prince's perfomances. Anyways, this is derailing the thread.

[Edited 6/26/17 20:22pm]

The Nicholas Brothers did not have formal training.

Michael Jackson did not have formal training

James Brown did not have formal training.

So that is a null and voide case.

The fact of the matter is they were naturally gifted as dancers, Prince was not.

Well I don't know how far you can go back before it's still relevant to the thread. Little Richard was essentially wild to an extreme level unseen before, having direct influence. Both in sexuality, singing style, and outfits.

Not only that but other of Little Richards looks/antics have been copied by different Rock N Roll artists.

David Bowie loved Little Richad so much you can watch videos of him talking about getting Little Richard's robe as a gift and thinking it was the greatest thing in the world.

Prince still had a lot more elaborate dances than Cob guy, by the way.

mjscarousal said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

So what you're saying is Prince is not a dancer, because he doesn't have the technical skill of some other artists who almost entirely focus on dancing. Even though he's better than most and can hang with James Brown.

Obviously he's not going to, since he does so many things in one show.

The fact is Prince does much more in one show, than most artists will ever do.

But he has dances which obviously have to be heavily choreographed and rehearsed.

Like I said this mostly comes down to you not having watched enough of Prince's perfomances. Anyways, this is derailing the thread.

[Edited 6/26/17 20:22pm]

The Nicholas Brothers did not have formal training.

Michael Jackson did not have formal training

James Brown did not have formal training.

So that is a null and voide case.

The fact of the matter is they were naturally gifted as dancers, Prince was not.

Yeah, but ultimately it doesnt matter. Formal training or not, it's still dancing. Performed, rehearsed, and executed. He was still good and it was beyond improvisation.

LayzieKiddZ said:

mjscarousal said:

The Nicholas Brothers did not have formal training.

Michael Jackson did not have formal training

James Brown did not have formal training.

So that is a null and voide case.

The fact of the matter is they were naturally gifted as dancers, Prince was not.

Yeah, but ultimately it doesnt matter. Formal training or not, it's still dancing. Performed, rehearsed, and executed. He was still good and it was beyond improvisation.

P said himself his dancing was not choreographed and he dances based on how he feels. He did mostly improvisation. I need to find that video where he says that. Its really not that big of a deal. Prince is still one of the best to ever do it! Also, its not just about formal training or lack of formal training, the person has to have a natural gift for it. There are a lot of people that are trained as dancers but are still not good dancers. Some of the best dancers in the world are not formally trained and that is because they are naturally gifted at dancing. Like Madonna for example, she was a trained dancer and she went to school for it but she wasn't a more talented dancer than MJ or Janet (both were not formally trained and neither went to school for dancing). FYI, I do think Madonna was a good dancer just not on the dancing talent level of MJ and Janet

[Edited 6/26/17 23:08pm]

mjscarousal said:

LayzieKiddZ said:

Yeah, but ultimately it doesnt matter. Formal training or not, it's still dancing. Performed, rehearsed, and executed. He was still good and it was beyond improvisation.

P said himself his dancing was not choreographed and he dances based on how he feels. He did mostly improvisation. I need to find that video where he says that. Its really not that big of a deal. Prince is still one of the best to ever do it! Also, its not just about formal training or lack of formal training, the person has to have a natural gift for it. There are a lot of people that are trained as dancers but are still not good dancers. Some of the best dancers in the world are not formally trained and that is because they are naturally gifted at dancing. Like Madonna for example, she was a trained dancer and she went to school for it but she wasn't a more talented dancer than MJ or Janet (both were not formally trained and neither went to school for dancing). FYI, I do think Madonna was a good dancer just not on the dancing talent level of MJ and Janet

[Edited 6/26/17 23:08pm]

It's clear he has choregraphed moves. Just look at the video mentioned earlier and even his Tokyo tour, it's pretty clear. Even if he didn't do them as much later on due to hip issues.

Eitherway, let's just leave it as it is to not derail this thread.

Prince danced. You can see him dancing on the stage. His band members moved on the stage. They were not hidden and static. Their movements were coordinated--they were choreographed. You can see this. Prince & the Revolution et al. weren't the Nicholas Bros. or some other dance company up there--that wasn't their MAIN focus, but they did their thing with rhythmic movement every night.

>

I mean, would you say the same thing about the Temptations? They had coordinated moves on the stage--they stepped, they danced--to enance their presentation. It wasn't their main thing either, sure, not to be rated by an Olympic judge or whatnot, but dang, they danced, too.

>

David Bowie did not make many if any such articulations on the stage. Can't this be the end of this little side convo? I think it should be!

Carousal is being ridiculous for the sake of it; and nobody in this thread or on this site ever
said Prince didn't do anything for Black people.

Germanegro said:

Prince danced. You can see him dancing on the stage. His band members moved on the stage. They were not hidden and static. Their movements were coordinated--they were choreographed. You can see this. Prince & the Revolution et al. weren't the Nicholas Bros. or some other dance company up there--that wasn't their MAIN focus, but they did their thing with rhythmic movement every night.

>

I mean, would you say the same thing about the Temptations? They had coordinated moves on the stage--they stepped, they danced--to enance their presentation. It wasn't their main thing either, sure, not to be rated by an Olympic judge or whatnot, but dang, they danced, too.

>

David Bowie did not make many if any such articulations on the stage. Can't this be the end of this little side convo? I think it should be!

Prince was very entertaining on stage and he had really good rhythm. However, he was a Cab Colloway but I wouldn't go as far and say he was a great dancer. Like I said in the above posts, just because you do dance moves doesn't mean you are a great dancer. I personally would not call Prince a great dancer but that is my personal opinion. I just find you Prince fans to be very hyprocritical. All of a sudden being able to do choregraph dance moves makes" Prince superior to David Bowie but see if someone comes in here and says Michael Jackson was a far superior dancer than Prince yall would make some dumb argument that dancing doesn't matter. Yall are being hyprocritical which is why I am dragging this point. If yall want Prince to only be a musician than stick with it. Don't change up when you want him to appear superior to another artist. Prince is not recognized as a dancer for a reason and that takes nothing away from his genius.

[Edited 6/27/17 9:39am]

LayzieKiddZ said:

Well I don't know how far you can go back before it's still relevant to the thread. Little Richard was essentially wild to an extreme level unseen before, having direct influence. Both in sexuality, singing style, and outfits.

Not only that but other of Little Richards looks/antics have been copied by different Rock N Roll artists.

David Bowie loved Little Richad so much you can watch videos of him talking about getting Little Richard's robe as a gift and thinking it was the greatest thing in the world.

Prince still had a lot more elaborate dances than Cob guy, by the way.

Prince was more athletic than Cab Colloway but my point was they did similiar styles of improv danicing and movements. I can see how Prince was influenced by that. I wouldn't call those movements "dancing" but more so entertaining and feeling the music.

Looking at these gifs, its quite obvious Little Richard was very inspired by Cab Colloway. Ya'll need to put some respect on his name.

And just because Cab was a band leader and singed Jazz doesn't mean Little Richard was not inspired by him. Little Richard probably grew up watching Cab being Cab was one of the few big major black acts during the 20s, 30s and 40s. Little Richard was born in 1932 so I know he grew up watching Cab and I know Little Richard saw Stormy Weather with Cab, Nicholas Brothers, Bojangles etc all of them in it.

[Edited 6/27/17 9:23am]

K, first of all...no fair comparing anybody to the Nicholas Brothers. Dudes were unbelievable. Secondly, these two examples of Mike? C'mon, surely there is better evidence out there than a few moves my 8 yr old niece can do.

mjscarousal said:

Anyway, P for the win .

PliablyPurple said:

K, first of all...no fair comparing anybody to the Nicholas Brothers. Dudes were unbelievable. Secondly, these two examples of Mike? C'mon, surely there is better evidence out there than a few moves my 8 yr old niece can do.

mjscarousal said:

Of course there is better evidence. The point of the above gifs was to show the man chould dance. There are probably some ordinary people that can attempt the above dance move but would they be able to execute it on the level shown in the gif? I don't think so and your kidding yourself if you believe that unless they are a dancer. I doubt your niece can dance and execute the above choreography as good as the above gif. Lets not be delusional.

Mj also did a splits too I need to find the video. I don't think he did them as much because he was tall and had back problems. James Brown, Nicholas brothers and Prince could do those splits cause they were short. Tried to show more videos of him dancing by himself and his natural gift of dancing. Nobody could not do any of the above moves.

A ballet pointe dancer possibly could get on the pointe of her foot without ballet pointe shoes but its incredible MJ could without formal training and he could stand on is toes (without pointe shoes) longer than 6 seconds and the spinning like a top nobody could do that (the gifs slowed down his spin it was much much faster) and his incredible foot work. I personally think MJ is the best out of all them. He could do everything they did and was more versatile and of course added his own unique dance movements that IMO I don't think Gene, James, Nicholas could do. The Nicholas brothers spun around like a top but not as long as Michael (also MJ spun around like a top with tap shoes on too). Looking at more Nicholas Brothers clips, I do think Nicholas brothers were more acrobatic but I still think MJ is best because some of MJ's moves I don't think they could do. MJ was acrobatic as well I just don't think he did as much as they did

FYI, I loved all the dancers and artists mentioned in this thread EXCEPT Elvis of course

[Edited 6/27/17 12:06pm]

[Edited 6/27/17 12:40pm]

mjscarousal said:

Germanegro said:

Prince danced. You can see him dancing on the stage. His band members moved on the stage. They were not hidden and static. Their movements were coordinated--they were choreographed. You can see this. Prince & the Revolution et al. weren't the Nicholas Bros. or some other dance company up there--that wasn't their MAIN focus, but they did their thing with rhythmic movement every night.

>

I mean, would you say the same thing about the Temptations? They had coordinated moves on the stage--they stepped, they danced--to enance their presentation. It wasn't their main thing either, sure, not to be rated by an Olympic judge or whatnot, but dang, they danced, too.

>

David Bowie did not make many if any such articulations on the stage. Can't this be the end of this little side convo? I think it should be!

Prince was very entertaining on stage and he had really good rhythm. However, he was a Cab Colloway but I wouldn't go as far and say he was a great dancer. Like I said in the above posts, just because you do dance moves doesn't mean you are a great dancer. I personally would not call Prince a great dancer but that is my personal opinion. I just find you Prince fans to be very hyprocritical. All of a sudden being able to do choregraph dance moves makes" Prince superior to David Bowie but see if someone comes in here and says Michael Jackson was a far superior dancer than Prince yall would make some dumb argument that dancing doesn't matter. Yall are being hyprocritical which is why I am dragging this point. If yall want Prince to only be a musician than stick with it. Don't change up when you want him to appear superior to another artist. Prince is not recognized as a dancer for a reason and that takes nothing away from his genius.

[Edited 6/27/17 9:39am]

mjs . . . Prince, Bowie and MJ were artists. But Prince's and Bowie's respective skill sets and artistic personae have more in common than Prince's and MJ's do.

When comparing Prince and Bowie, it is completely fair to point out the Prince, in terms of ability, and quality of his improvisational and choreographed dancing, was a superior dancer to Bowie. Seeing that they were both multitalented songwriters, musicians, and producers, Prince's dancing, though only a part of his overall skill set, sets him apart from Bowie in the comparison.

It's different with MJ, who was (IMO) a superior dancer vis-a-vis Prince. But MJ's core skill set was smaller than Prince's or Bowie's. So, on artistic merits, MJ's dancing abilities are ahead of Prince's. Many if not most would not dispute that. But Prince is MJ's superior in other areas, including as an instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and composer.

The Prince-Bowie comparison is like comparing Magic and LeBron. They played with similar skill sets, and played similar (if not identical) roles on the court.

The Prince-MJ comparison is like comparing Magic and MJ. Their respective skill sets were impressive, but their roles were different on the court.

This business about Prince not being a dancer is a non-starter. He wasn't a classically trained dancer, but no person with a lick of sense would dispute improvisational and choreographed dancing were part of his repertoire. He wasn't classically trained, he wasn't as good as MJ, but he was entertaining. Anyone who watched him over the last 30 years knows that.

And unlike MJ (Astaire, Nuryev or Hines or Kelly), he did it Ginger Rogers-style.

In heels.