How I choregraph - hints and tips for my students.

Its that time of year when we have an end of term hafla and I always ask my students to put together their own dance to perform.  This seems to strike terror in the hearts of a lot of students even though the environment is a friendly and supportive one.  I thought I would write about how I choreograph my own dances.  The single most important thing is to find a piece of music that you love - in my case I teach the finished dance to different groups of students for years and would get sick of the music if I did not love it.  Listen to the music constantly so that you know it back to front and simply imagine yourself dancing to it - I usually imagine my favourite belly dancer at this point.  Some ideas will formulate as you visualise the dance.  If nothing comes to mind try to find another dancer on youtube dancing to the same piece of music - not to copy but to inspire.

After listening to the music for a few days grab a pen and paper and start with the beginning of the song.  Put together a small sequence and write it down, practise that sequence to make sure it fits with the music and then move onto the next chunk.  I usually come up with about 30 seconds of choreography a day.  Sometimes when you revisit what you have done the next day you realise that it could have been done better so amend your notes.  Always try to include some travelling steps, and level changes as audiences get bored looking at you in one place all the time.  Try to add variety - some slower moves, some percussive moves, some fast bits.  Don't forget to include your face in the choreography - if the music is upbeat then add a smiley face whenever you can, if it is sad try to convey that in your face.

Occasionally you will get stuck at a particular point in the music - often it is coming up with a transition to get you from one move to the next, at this point I usually go back to youtube to see what another dancer does at that point in the dance.  I do not advocate stealing huge chunks of another dancers choreography (I hate it when anyone does that to me) but seeing how they have handled the bit you are struggling with is usually enough to get your creativity flowing again.  Be patient with yourself, it usually takes me at least 2 weeks to finish a choreography and as many of my students know, they often get adjusted when I come to teach them because some things to do not work well when you try to do them with a group.

When you have the finished dance practise it over and over again until you don't have to think about it.  It is useful to have it filmed as sometimes you think something looks good but when you see it on a dvd it does not look the way you think - ask for feedback if unsure.  I always like to be positive about my students dances but if you come and say Karen do you think this bit works? I will give you my honest opnion.

I am looking forward to seeing you all perform your own work soon.