Do you ever watch someone dance and get how it's done... but can't seem to execute movement yourself? In order to execute movement, you have to understand and practice moving your body in different ways. The better you execute movement, the better you can showcase your musicality, perform choreography. You'll also have more freedom to be creative when you freestyle because your body can actually do the thing! Read on to learn more about how to execute movement – the way you want to!

1. Execute Movement: Hitting

When you flex your muscles, you are creating a "hitting" effect. ‍

Understand Hitting better: What Is A Popping Hit?

‍Practice how you execute with these tips.

• Hit with the RIGHT amount of energy
• You don't want to be too soft and undersell the move, but you don't want to go TOO full out and overkill it.  
• The goal is to become/embody music, not to compete with it!
• Imagine your energy levels as following the pattern of an audio visualizer.
• The louder the sound, the higher the level, and the stronger your hit!

• Be aware of the body part you are hitting with
• If you're just using your arms to, let's say, hit in the air, practice using those arms!
• If you're using your whole body to pop, use your whole body!

• Pay close attention to how your body parts feel so you can recreate that movement when you dance.
• Drills to practice hitting can be found here:

• See Article: 7 Exercises To Boost Your Popping Fundamentals From Charles Nguyen (Poreotics)
• Be careful with timing
• Practice your timing by hitting ON the bass, not before or after it.

2. Execute Movement: "Milking" A Move

"Milking" is commonly used to describe movement in in-betweens of pictures – the "pathway" between A and B.

Here are a few ways "milking" is used

• At the end of a move, instead of "putting a period" on it by stopping the movement, think of it as a "..." You're dragging out that move, to extend its pathway past "B," what would've been the stopping point without the milking.
• Or, you can milk from one picture into a completely new picture.
• To practice this, set 2 poses.
• Every 4 counts, change your position.. but here's the challenge!
• Use a different pathway each time, to slowwwly get your body where it needs to be.
• Think of milking as a change in acceleration (ooh, physics terms!)
• Really, all moves are some sort of slowing down, speeding up, or stopping.
• Milking is just the term for gently stepping on your brakes.
• Where your car goes (the pathway) is up to you.

3. Execute Movement: Speed Control

As mentioned in the previous section, learning how to manipulate your speed is going to play a huge role in shifting dynamics and textures.To practice speed control, pretend that your arms are hitting a "wall."But instead of stopping at this wall, that wall is the checkpoint at which you change your speed.Go from fast and hard hitting, to completely "milking."This variance in speed will help switch up the mood and "textures" of a piece.

‍Get more control: Want To Dance With More CONTROL? Read This!

4. Execute Movement: Textures

Think of textures the way you think of the physical connotation of the word.Have you ever heard dancers being described as "smooth"?They probably move like honey.

Visualize the way that a song feels.Is it staccato, with abrupt starts and stops? Or is it flowy and silk-like, with lots of vocals?

While many songs do embody a specific "texture," most have elements of several.

And because a lot of songs carry with them hints of different textures, the variation in your hits, milks, and speed, all go into how you embody those textures, and how you match the music.

‍Wanna learn more? Read this: What Are Textures In Dancing?

‍These were some basic tips on how to execute movement. The best way to get better at executing movement though, is to do it!

‍Take class, freestyle, do drills.

There are plenty classes and easy exercises on STEEZY Studio that can train your execution.

Happy training, STEEZY Nation!