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How did Michael move different in This Is It?

Alenyx

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I'm not sure if this has been discussed before... I've searched, but couldn't find anything similar.

When I saw This Is It and compare it to other performances from the Bad, Dangerous and HIStory tours I find there's something different in the way he moves on stage and his overall charisma.

I find it really hard to explain or to pinpoint it to specific expressions. There's a lightness to his steps and moves that I think wasn't there before. To me he always appeared more grounded in past performances. It almost seems kind of elfish or otherworldly now.

At first I thought it's merely his lesser weight and his pointy clothes, but I think there's more to it.

Does anyone else see it like that? What do you think what makes the difference?
 
LOL@"elfish".

I know what you mean though. I think it was a mixture of being older and also seeing him perform in "regular" clothes as opposed to fancy stage costumes.
 
Def know what you mean...His body seemed alot more loose and free..Like if you lok at that move in bj where he sort does that whole upper body move twice..it a new move that is hard to explain but he does the arms n then the whole upper body ...sorta in n out.....

n when he glides in twymmf , there are lots of examples but yes he seems very agile n extendable...More than i ever seen him tbh

The dancing in bj backs it up the most imo..Complete smoothness and difference to other dancing..It is like he has mastered certain aspects now and can give it out in a diff way..The way jb danced when he was older is the same..He just danced different and it was from years of ammasing and perfecting and formulating coupled with a different approach and rhythm
 
yes i noticed his moves in TII are even more flexible and effortless and somehow more relaxed than in previous performances.
i definitely agree about that lightness and smoothness in his dancing that wasn't there before.
i think it's more because of new moves perfectly blended with the music than clothes or age.
 
I found it the most noticeable in The way you make me feel, Human Nature and I just can't stop loving you. All those bows, that fluttering with his hands and that sashaying give the songs a very different feel. The way he interprets them seems bolder, more elegant and more androgynous and yeah... elfish ;)
And I guess the lack of the military style costumes only enhances that...
 
A lot of his dace moves were random, which is how i thought they were different from his previous tours. There were very few signature moves, but most were random that we didn't expect him to see. I don't know if he forgot some moves are what. And i though the sidewalk was done way too much.
 
No, the sidewalk is my fav!
I would have liked a few moonwalks (except the small one during SC), but I was happy he actually DID sidewalks.

What I saw in TII was a Michael that wanted to give us a show with as many new stuff/moves as he could and not just giving us the same old stuff.
 
I think the biggest difference in Michael's dancing was that he used his hands more than he did before. His hands were everywhere!
 
He did use his hands a lot.

He was great.

CAN there be too much sidewalk?? :lol:
 
i saw alot of James Brown moves.but i agree with u about his more flexible body and smoothness in dancing and the extra free style , but that's MJ in rehearsals i checked many old rehearsals and his dancing and energy were almost nothing compared to the actual performance.
 
I don't know to be honest. Maybe I am not that observant but since it was rehearsals I don't know how it would have looked in the actual concerts to compare to what I have seen in the tours.

I did feel by watching him like a growth or maturity in him. Peaceful and calmness. I really think being a dad all these years and maybe resting from performing gave him new energy. I don't mean for this to come out in a bad way. I just mean that for years he would perform and perform and it was probably good for him to have that break for awhile.
 
He seemed to be invigorated. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and there seemed to be an extra spring in his step from being back on the stage. A couple of times during the HIStory tour I got the sense he was a bit bored of doing the same songs during some performances. He seemed flexible and happy up there. As he said he wanted 'to take them to places they've never been before.'
 
this is the rehearsal, his body and dance just simply moved with the music. he enjoyed music, and I don't think it is the performance, he just nourished himself in the music. some of those movements we may not see in the concert, and we would see "moonwalk" (he didn't do during rehearsal) in the concert for sure. According to Michael, he had to save his voice. and I believe he also saved his energy and significant dance move during the rehearsal.
 
i noticed that too he seemed vvvvv relaxed and and his moves just flowed even his crotch grabs at the end of billie jean were more thusted lloool i saw that i was like wooo hooo lool:):yes::wild:
 
I've watched the movie twice and I was overjoyed to watch him unfold his new moves - and there was a lot of them... It made me smile. He still had the ability to create magic.
 
YES! I noticed that as well.

I thought he looked better than ever - everything looked and felt more effortless, he seemed at ease with a quiet confidence, like he felt comfortable in his own skin.

I loved it.
 
What I noticed was more like...that he really was inventing stuff right at that time where everyone could see it.
He was SO completely focused and you could just see him thinking and brainstorming.
Like as if he was in his own creative world, trying to figure out what to do exactly....literally seein' the master at work.

His moves were amazing, different, but wow....so raw and pure. :yes:
 
There was definitely an ease, liked he'd mastered it, knew it inside out it was second nature now. Yet maybe its as its rehearsals so he was just 'marking' and the fluidity and energy were being saved for the performance. He deffo defied how anyone at the age of fifty can move he was amazing.
 
We should keep in consideration that those were rehearsals and he was not as tense... he was within "familiy" .. I mean... with known people and free to create without too much pressure and that he was saving his efforts for the Tour. Also I think there was not the wild agressivity of youth... maybe more manly. :)
 
In "Threatened",the way he shook his shoulders.I've never seen he dance like that.I love that segment.but too short...:timer:
 
There's something else no-one has mentioned. He's wearing high heals, or certainly higher than in the past on stage. This will rotate his hips slightly forward and totally alter his centre of gravity. :)
 
Chris_Jones said:
There's something else no-one has mentioned. He's wearing high heals, or certainly higher than in the past on stage. This will rotate his hips slightly forward and totally alter his centre of gravity. :)
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Hehe, that's a good one :)
 
loveforever said:
this is the rehearsal, his body and dance just simply moved with the music. he enjoyed music, and I don't think it is the performance, he just nourished himself in the music. some of those movements we may not see in the concert, and we would see "moonwalk" (he didn't do during rehearsal) in the concert for sure.
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Yeh I think he was just 'feelin it' in a lot of the shots we saw. He said it himself at one point too. I believe a lot of it wasn't how the show would have been. I think he was just marking it quite a bit of the time.

But yes he did seem to move different..lighter and more graceful (i know he was always graceful but this was more..hard to describe .. quite broadway at times. We'll be getting the interview from Travis Payne shortly so he hopefully shed some light on this question.
 
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his dance moves are great in the movie, too bad we dont see much of moonwalk :(
 
Yes, he seems almost made of air or something throughout the whole thing. Another difference is in the lack of "crotch grabbing" (lol). Even with the moves that did include that, his hand was more around his belt, etc. But yes, definitely a difference.
 
I think what we would have seen from the shows would have been worlds different. I think being more mature and being around people he'd worked with for years allowed him to feel that he didn't necessarily have to "prove" himself every time he got on a stage. He was being shrewd in saving a lot for the shows. I think he was just connecting and feeling it and there were probably tons of things running through his head, making mental notes of how he'd do it in London. I think a lot of his performance is normally improvisational, so there would be no point in rehearsing it. He'd know and decide what to do once he got on stage, in costume, and had an audience. The lack of aggression and overt masculine sexuality came from the lack of an audience. He feeds off of them, you know? That's all communication. It's not the kind of stuff you rehearse. I think he had his vision, everything planned out in his head, and he was ready, just kinda' marking and playing around with different things until it was time to go on. Sadly, I think he would have gotten to the O2 and absolutely torn that stage up, letting out ten years worth of raw emotion just waiting to be channeled into dance and performance. I really really do. We've obviously seen that he was pulling out all the stops on this show with costumes, visual effects, sets, everything...there's absolutely no way he'd go up there and not match that himself. No way. =/
 
The actual shows would have been different. I watched on youtube rehearsals for dangerous tour and it was the same just feeling the music and light and all that. Then you see the actual show in front of screaming fans and the intensity and energy would have been sky high. It would have been some show.
 
marebear said:
The actual shows would have been different. I watched on youtube rehearsals for dangerous tour and it was the same just feeling the music and light and all that. Then you see the actual show in front of screaming fans and the intensity and energy would have been sky high. It would have been some show.
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I agree! Michael got so much energy from the crowd. It would have been amazing to see.
 
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