Tis the season to be creating!
As we reach the midway point of the season, choreography is about to get into full swing. Competition numbers are being created, polished and getting the finishing touches. Nutcracker season is now over. Next up is choreography for your yearend shows or recitals. Many teachers find this the most challenging. You may be teaching a lot of classes and you will need to come up with creative concepts, movement and music. The other challenge is how to make each class look great with all different levels and abilities. The key is that at the show all parents will be expecting their child to look great.
And if they don’t look good, you don’t look good!
With this in mind it is imperative to start to teach the movement you will have the dancers use during these next few months. It does not mean you have to spend all of your time on the routine, just explore the movement and style you will be using so they will get familiar with what they will be doing. I recommend that you create a journal with each class on the technique that they know and are capable of doing proficiently. This way you can use that technique in your routines and not spring anything new on your class that may be too hard for some to master in a short period of time.
How to ignite your creativity
To create something that is fun, challenging and different you will need to look at three areas where you can find interesting ideas that will get your creative juices flowing:
1. Concepts
2. Music
3. Props
Concepts:
Explore ideas that can make what you are doing different. It may be that you need to do something out of the box or have a new take on an old idea. Here are some concepts to get you going:
Ø Movies
Ø Theater, Broadway, Night Clubs
Ø Animalistic
Ø Nature
Ø Space
Ø Paintings and art
Ø Books
Ø Cultures
With all of these concepts the sky is the limit. Think of all the movies, theater and Broadway shows and night clubs there are. You can use them to build your routine. Next is animalistic and nature. You can create a theme around these very easily. Space refers to anything to do with planets, space travel and beyond! There are a lot of wonderful paintings that can and will inspire you to create some terrific movement. To view, spend a few hours online researching some of the wonderful art that is available online. One year Angela and I were inspired by a statue of Atlas and created a duet. I have seen many wonderful pieces created by art! Books are a natural resource for ideas and concepts plus it will give you a chance to have the students read up on what they are going to try to portray. The parents will like the fact that they have to do some reading as well. If you are concerned that they will not read a whole book, create an outline or have one of the students create one for a special project for the class on what the book is about. Exploring different cultures is a wonderful concept maker plus you will have an abundant list of music to choose from.
Music:
Once you have the concept then it is easier to find the music. Yes you will still have to do some research but if you know the direction you are heading the search will be much more targeted and less stressful. If you are just doing a general search for music I find that it is like trying to find that needle in a haystack. Much tougher than having a clear focus on exactly what you are looking for. Today you can search for music so much easier with Itunes, YouTube and other music websites. If you are looking a certain topic just do a search and you can find what you are looking for. If you find a video and really like the music you can use the company Video2Mp3 to convert the video audio file into an mp3 audio and save it on your computer for Free! You will have to watch a few ads but it is well worth it. To visit the website Click Here!
Props:
They don’t always have to be big, large objects to be effective and to give you something to work with. Big is great but not always very practical. Hoops, hats, canes, umbrellas, books, boxes, chairs, stools, benches, boats, padded areas, ladders, spring boards, rain sticks, tambourines, bongos, jump ropes, easels, balls and the list goes on and on! Think about how you can incorporate these into your routines. It is a great way to enhance any number and will give you tons of ideas on what you can do with them. It will also help to camouflage a world of sins as well for those classes that need it. Now if you have the man power and the budget you can do things that are bigger. Window frames and doorways are great for painting pictures. So are props that you can roll around. I once did a number with frog costumes and had lily pads made on small round boards with caster wheels on the bottom and had the dancers push them around the stage with other dancers on them. The audience loved it and it made the number visually exciting and different.
So next time you are stuck use the three areas I have presented here and the movement will come to you. Once you have a concept and the music and any props, just let your imagination run wild with the movement you will be doing!
