Posts: 75
3/4/07 6:21 P

I haven't choreographed for other people before, but I do have one suggestion. Instead of tailoring the choreography to what your students already know, you could use it as a fun way to teach them new moves.

A certain experience comes to mind - our teacher had an ambitious drum solo choreography to teach the class, and none of us thought we could handle it. We couldn't at first, but by the end of the session we all could :-) It really helped us grow and it was more fun because of the challenge!

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3/1/07 2:02 P

LOL

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3/1/07 9:31 A

Time? What's that????? LOL

Good luck!

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3/1/07 9:23 A

Thank you for your suggestions, now I just need to find some time and work on it. That may be as big a challenge as creating the choreography itself!

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2/28/07 3:19 P

Cheorgraphy has never been one of my favs..lol

I lead a tribal dance troop and I was taught ATS so I usually just *lead* with alot of cues and since we all know the same moves and stuff..you know just basic mirroring..that and my students know me so they can usually guess what I am about to do before I even know I think:)

But I have had to cheorgraph for some performance we have done and I wrote one that I LOVVVVVVVVVED..I called it the lotus dance and we used fan props in it, which at the time no one was doing around here at all, infact I dont think I have seen anyone do it at all except over in Cali

but we were all lotus petals and did certian things with our fans to make a lotus and there was certian parts where we were on the floor, others standing and so forth and forth ..

when i did that one, it was the song that inspired me..that is the most important part, once you have your song, I just sat and visualized what I wanted the dance to you know..be like with the song..I did alot of head visualization before I ever got up and started trying to write it out and then teach it..

and yah it is alot different..it really really is..but I will tell you this..when you finally get it the way you want and you step back and let the students perform it infront of you for practice and you see what you created, or like in our case I watched it on video after the performace and I saw what I created to that song with all these beautiful students of mine and knew it was MINE ..ahhh oh my god..I cant even describe that rush..it was wonderful!
It was just absoutley amazing!

so yah its worth it, but I struggled in the beginning too but once the ideas come..you know how it goes..it comes in a wave..so if you can get a song..get a few ideas..it often will just bust loose like a rain storm or something..
and then its just a matter of tweeking it around little piece of the song by little piece till you see this really strong format and then its just a matter of sharing that vision with the troop or students...

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2/28/07 1:27 P

Good suggestions - but even more than their "favorite" moves - look to eliminate/minimize moves that your students don't execute well or may look awkward for them. The "big bang" beginning and ending are very necessary. Floor dynamics are also a good idea.

(I'm probably the only choreographer that begins at the computer.)

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2/28/07 12:41 P

Ohhh sounds like a good challenge for you...I have no advice....just want to wish you luck and tell us how it goes..

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2/28/07 11:03 A

Dance to the piece by yourself a few times and get an idea of what moves work in what places. Next, write down what you're doing for what number of counts and then present it to the class and let them offer suggestions.

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2/28/07 10:42 A

WEll I always go for a big dramatic entrance or begginning and a big dramatic ending. The middle part I just dance for myself. I figure it is the begginnings and endings that people remember. Before you choreograph your piece ask your students what their favorite moves are and then incorporate those into your dance. Good luck!! Sounds like fun. I always love making up new choreographies.

Posts: 440
2/28/07 10:11 A

I love to dance, and have no problem creating while the music is playing. It tells me what to do and I dance. If I play a song enough it even comes out close to the same every time.

I also have never had a problem learning choreographies created by others, I can hear where the music told the creator to put the moves and remember the sequence without any problems.

To date, I have always taught my students our school choreographies, but I'd like to try something different and create one of my own to teach them. Since I've never created a choreography for others to dance I seem to be sort of stuck. I'm guessing the first step is to choose a song but where do I go from there?

For those of you who have choreographed numbers for others to dance to, what is your creation process?

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