Skip to main content

“A landmark documentary...delineates how virtuosity becomes identity”
- Debra Cash, NPR/WBUR

Brian Footwork Green

Dancing: Improvisation

07/10/10

What keeps the floor alive and dancers alert are the improvised dialogues of movement that define the vibe. Interactions arise then disappear throughout the evening. They can be as simple as an exchange between the music and a dancer or maybe just two people dancing or as big and rambunctious as a circle of dancers in competition. But whether the relationship lasts only a few minutes or has been in place for many years, on the floor they are based on play and improvisational inventions.

by Sally Sommer

Brian “Footwork” Green first learned to dance from family, but by nine-years old his talent earned him free classes at Alvin Ailey School, Joffrey Ballet, and he also trained in tap, African dance and jazz. At 14, embarrassed because he could not freely improvise like his brother and other hip-hop dancers, he quit formal classes.