Unit 26 - Choreographing dance

Friday 11^th May

Today I was learning the last bit of choreography before the show next week. All that was left to choreograph was the final dance in show which is to ‘This is me’ from The Greatest Showman. The style of this dance is street/jazz.

To start the session, I did some stretching to make sure that all my muscles were warm before we started doing any choreography.

The dance has been split into 3 sections – the chorus phrase, the verse phrase and then a small filler phrase. There are also some other little pieces of choreography throughout the piece which fill in the gaps between phrases. Separating the dance into phrases will make it easier for me to learn due to some of the phrases being repeated throughout the routine.

I am normally quite good at learning choreography but for some reason, I really struggled with learning this choreography. I think this is because it was a style that I am not really used to and is still quite new to me compared to all of the other styles of dance which I have been doing for many years. However, I have been able to take some classes in this style of dance this year which have helped me to improve on my technique and become a better all-round dancer.

After learning the 2 main phrases, we thought about how the dance is going to start. This needed to be carefully considered because we need to take into consideration when I will have a costume change and how much time I will need. After much deliberation we decided that I would start the dance on stage sitting on a block. I should have enough time to get onto stage in blackout if we make sure that there is enough narration/music. We will consider this when recording the voiceover. If I don’t end up having enough time, this will be easily changeable After sitting on the block for a while, I will stand up and then go into the choreography.

I will have to practice this routine every time that I have a spare few minutes to make sure that it is ready for the show next week. Once I have got the choreography in my head, I will then be able to add some emotion and power into it to make it more dynamic when performing it.

Here are some notes from the choreography:

·      Start sitting on the bloc – head down and hunched into knees

·      Stand up and go into phrase 1 which then moves straight into phrase 2 and then straight back into phrase 1 again

·      At the end of phrase 1 the second time round, end on the floor in a lunge and squeeze up to standing then go into the travelling forward (marching with singles and doubles)

·      Into phrase 3

·      Into phrase 2

·      Travel over towards the block to leap off it and travel diagonally to stage right

·      Move back to centre stage to start phrase 2 again

·      Finish standing centre stage