Unit 26 - Choreographing dance

Wednesday 14^th March

Today we were working on choreographing a new routine. This routine will come towards the end of the show and will symbolise Maleficent fighting for her wings back. The routine will be to the song ‘Rise’ by Katy Perry.

We started the session with a warmup which I led. This involved several different stretches which involved almost all of the muscles in the body. We then moved on to working on the routine.

Before we could begin choreographing, we needed to separate the music into different parts so that it makes it easier to choreograph. We sat down and listened to the music a few times round to get the counts into the right sections. It took us a while to get the right counts but we got there eventually. The counts and sections are as follows:

Section 1 – 4 sets of 8 counts in blackout

Section 2 – 4 sets of 8 counts as a slow part

Section 3 – 4 sets of 8 counts leading up to the chorus

Section 4 – 8 sets of 8 counts chorus

Section 5 – 4 sets of 8 counts as a slow part

Section 6 – 4 sets of 8 counts leading up to the chorus

Section 7 – 8 sets of 8 counts chorus

Section 8 – 4 sets of 8 counts to finish song

Once we had the sections and the counts, we needed to think about the story that this piece will be telling. The start of the piece will represent when Aurora pricks her finger. It will then go into the routine from there which will then symbolise the battle for the wings. We then thought about incorporating some props into the piece. We will be using 4 blocks which will all be pushed together. This therefore means that we can add some levels in the dance to make the piece more interesting and dynamic.

Before we started the choreography, we mapped out on the floor, the path which I am going to be taking during the routine. I have never done this style of choreography before and was unfamiliar of how it works. I worked with Laura to walk around the space and to create a journey of which we will then choreograph moves to. Once we had worked out this journey, we were able to start choreographing.

The style of this routine is hiplet which is a combination of hip hop and ballet. I have never done this style of dance before but I have watched a lot of videos of this style of dance and have carried out a lot of research and I now have a good understanding of the dance style and have an idea of some moves for the routine. I am unsure of whether I will be performing this routine in soft ballet shoes or pointe shoes. I will trial out both sets of shoes and see which ones look better later on in the rehearsal process.

The routine will start in blackout and will be in blackout for the first 4 sets of 8 counts (section 1). This part will be after Aurora has pricked her finger and the 5 beats at the start of the music will represent Maleficent’s heartbeat after she realises what she has done. There will then be some movement whilst I am kneeling on the floor and I will then stand up and move towards the blocks just before section 3 starts. In section 3, I will move behind the blocks, onto the blocks and then in front of the blocks. This then moves into section 4 (chorus). Currently, this is the section which we have choreographed the most for but this week was more about working out the direction of the piece and not the choreography.

Next week, we will carry on working on this routine and start to build up more choreography.