Unit 26 - Choreographing dance

Wednesday 24^th January

Today I was learning the rest of the choreography for the routine which I was learning last week. This routine is to the song ‘Beautiful Trauma’ by P!NK.

To start the session, we carried out a full body warmup which included lots of different stretches. We were going to be using a lot of muscles today because we had a lot to get through, so we needed to make sure that we were really warm.

Last week we finished the choreography at roughly 1:17 in the music. We were then carrying on from this point today. To start off with, I ran through the choreography that I learnt last week with the music. I was able to remember the choreography quite well because we videoed it at the end of last week’s session which I was then able to watch back during the week which then made it easier for me to remember the choreography when I went to the lesson today. Once I had recapped over the choreography, we moved on to learning the rest of the piece. Last week I finished in a lunge position with my arms pushed out to the sides. After this, I then do 3 sharp sways right, left, then right which then leads into a wrap across the body to face stage left. We then added in a floor sequence which finished off the choreography for the chorus. Last week when we were experimenting a bit with choreography, we wanted to get something in which involved the back wall. We were then able to incorporate this into the dance at this point because it mentions a wall in the lyrics. This fits perfectly with the routine and we therefore worked for a bit on some moves involving the wall. This then leads us to repeating the choreography from 0:34 all the way up until the end of the chorus. This then leads up to 3:00 in the music. For the next section of the music, Laura wanted me to do some leaps and turns. She gave me some time to work on some leaps and turns which I thought would look nice in the routine. We let the music play in the background so I could try it with the timing of the music. After some time practicing and trying out different leaps and turns, I decided to put a knee leap and a drag turn into this section. I then had to work out a way of transitioning from the leap into the spin. For the first transition I did 2 steps backwards and then second transition I did 2 scoops backwards. This is then followed by a full body contraction At this point, the chorus repeats but `I do not repeat the choreography. Instead, I do some slow movements which then leads me to the end of the song.
As you can see from the choreography, this is quite a fierce routine. We need this routine to be fierce because it is a very dramatic part of the storyline where Maleficent is angry because she was invited to Aurora's Christening. I feel like I will be able to convey this emotion to the audience through the routine, not only through the choreography but also through physical tension and aggression. 

To ensure that I can retain all of the routines that I will be learning and helping to choreograph, I need to practice in my own time. This will also enable me to practice and perfect some of the moves.