A sequence of steps to help you with the process of choreographing a dance
- Get a notebook to write all your ideas and process (to be graded). No loose leaves accepted. ALL your work needs to be in one place. I highly recommend using a pencil for all choreography, music, and formations notes you will take along the way so you can easily make changes.
- Have the dancers you will be choreographing for in mind from this point onwards. You are choreographing this piece for them.
- Pick a dance style.
- Decide on a theme/storyline/idea/concept to drive your dance.
- Pick a piece of music that inspires you and goes with the theme & dance style you picked.
- It must be appropriate: no swear words, no derogatory terms, no inappropriate subject matters such as sex and drugs, no promotion of violence or hatred towards one self or others. Make a smart choice.
- Remember who is dancing your piece and their age.
- Don’t be afraid to use different types of music such as instrumental, electronic, classical, etc.
- If there are any lyrics to your song, email Mrs. Isabelle to ask for approval.
- Edit your piece of music now, before starting to choreograph. Each dance should be between 2min30sec and 3min15sec.
- If this is new to you, the best place to start would be by watching YouTube instructional videos on how to use GarageBand.
- You can use the dance department Macbook laptop before school, at lunch and/or after school (if Mrs. Isabelle is available) to edit your music.
- Email Mrs. Isabelle your first completed edit of your music for approval.
- Map out your entire piece of music outlining the following on a separate page of your notebook:
- Each music section with # of counts for each and its tempo and/or feeling.
- Highlight the beginning of the piece.
- Highlight where the chorus is and how many times it repeats.
- Highlight any sections that are repeated musically.
- Highlight the ending of the piece.
- Map out a general idea of what you would like happening in each section.
- Watch videos of dances you love for inspiration regarding movements or formations.
- Take notes of anything and everything you love!
- Improvise to your music to see what movements come to you naturally to this music.
- Take notes or film movement sequences that you love!
- Create formations with entrances and exits for various groups reflecting the musical sections of your piece. Where will the dancers be, when, for how long?
- Transitions are key to any strong dance. How will your dancers change formation? Doing what step? Who crosses in front of who?
- Write/Draw them all out using colours, arrows, etc.
- Choreograph your dance – for best results, follow this sequence:
- The ending.
- The beginning.
- The harder sections (patterns or choreography).
- The rest of it.
- Visualize what you have created and see if it will work before setting it on the dancers.