Astro has some really high difficulty level dances and I’m always in awe of how they pull it off. While I’ve taken a look at some of the “weak” (pssh yeah right no one who can dance hide and seek can be called weak) dancers, now that I’ve found this video I really wanna make a post comparing and contrasting the dancing styles of Rocky and Moonbin. For those who don’t know, Moonbin is on the left and Rocky is on the right.
From this video, it seems like Moonbin’s strength really lies in his fluidity in dancing. Having fluidity while still remaining in complete control is pretty difficult to do, but it makes your dancing appear smoother and the transitions between each move are less awkward. It makes moves with waving arms look much nicer, such as the last move of the chorus where you hold your hands together and go up and down or the popular arm wave dance. It’s also helpful for dance styles such as modern, styles which emphasize the music and emotion of the song as opposed to the beats themselves.
Rocky’s strength seems to be an abundance of control, directly contrary to Moonbin’s style. A good example of control is watching a dancer’s head. Ideally, you don’t want your head to be jerking or bobbing while you dance, kind of like a chicken. One extreme example is Jun from Seventeen, but you can also see that Rocky is very solid. Compare the move at 0:19 when they go down. Moonbin’s head moves with him, giving him a feeling of fluidity and smoothness, and Rocky’s head stays at the same angle giving him a feeling of clean sharpness and control. In fact, in comparison, even their body types mirror their styles. Rocky is more muscular and sharp, and Moonbin is more smooth and long limbed. While dancing Rocky seems to have control over exactly what every inch of his body is doing, while Moonbin seems to focus on capturing the point and sliding easily into the next one. You can notice this in where Rocky will occasionally throw in random flourishes for transitions instead of flowing into the move like Moonbin does. He can also do that really cool thing where he sticks a move and then jerks a little bit, like at 0:11. For comparison, Moonbin does it as well for the very last move. It makes the move look more robotic and stiff and is a really good way to emphasize a move, and Rocky executes it well by making very small movements and keeping his foundation still. Rocky’s style is very good for dance styles like Hip-hop or male ballet, styles that need lots of control and strength. Also martial arts.
Another good point of contrast is expressions. Moonbin makes a lot of eye contact with the camera, but smiles sparingly. This gives more of an intense vibe to the song, which is good since the song has a visually intense feeling by mixing moves with fluidity with solid, sharp moves. While it’s an artistic choice to use your expressions to highlight the fierceness of the song, it can be easily misconstrued as looking like the dance takes a lot of your focus which can make you look less experienced as a dancer. Moonbin regulates it well, however, by throwing in a few smiles and mouthing to the words and avoiding certain expressions like pressing his lips or narrowing his eyes. Rocky’s expressions are again directly contrary to Moonbin’s. He doesn’t maintain a whole lot of eye contact, and he uses both expressions and body language to give a much more casual feeling to the song, making it “look easy”. Compare the move starting at 0:32. Rocky slouches a little and tilts his head back and even lets his mouth hang open a little to give an easygoing feeling and Moonbin makes camera-contact and moves in a very controlled manner to make it more dramatic and intense feeling. While Rocky does have intense facial expressions, mostly he keeps it chill to add a layer of charming, almost lazy vibes.
So which one is better? Well, although it might seem like Rocky’s control and easygoingness makes him a better dancer, the truth is that it’s just very much a different style, even in the same song. As well as to interpret the song, Rocky uses his casual expressions to contrast his controlled movements, otherwise he might look like he’s trying too hard and isn’t having fun. Moonbin uses his intense expressions to add a layer to his smooth movements, otherwise he might seem like he doesn’t have a grasp on the style and mood of the song. The fact that they recognize their stylistic differences and compensate for them is fantastic and means they are both very aware dancers! But more than that, it’s fantastic to compare and contrast them because they are both in the same group doing the same songs with their own style and charms. They learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and supplement each other as dancers. They don’t have only precise dancers, they don’t have only flowing dancers, instead they have dancers with different styles to balance the group out well and help each other grow in weak places while still maintaining their own individual spirits. To finish this analysis and in review, here’s another Rocky/Moonbin collaboration. You can see how they’ve learned from each other, matched each other’s styles, worked hard to sync and match each other, and that together they’re truly a killer team of dynamite dancers.
andulkaphoto
2087
yousharknotpass
izzy806
origamiaround
jacobvanloon
