yoko.cool / The Art of Not Moving, with Laure Courtellemont (3:09)

When I’m in class, our instructor Eric often emphasizes that every part of the body should be active when dancing, even if it’s not supposed to be “doing” anything. Example: if you’re only supposed to be turning your head, the rest of your body better not be flopping around to distract from that.

Laure Courtellemont is the creator and teacher of Ragga Jam (a facet of Jamaican dancehall; here’s a slightly manifesto-y description from her site), and this video is that “active stillness” rule of thumb taken to the next level.

For much of the choreography, Laure doesn’t appear to be moving much, but if you were to pause the music at 1:16 and attempt to pull her arm down, I bet it would absolutely not budge. The strength and control required in the chest isolation at 1:24 is the very same that allows Laure to do this v e r y s l o w isolation from 2:01 to 2:03. Ayyy too sexy!

Watch video!
This is one of those videos that get better each time you watch it. Watch it again!

Yoko