We are one week into a new production of "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" and I am finding that I am already way behind. The good news is that I have two wonderful assistants. The bad news is that they have different skills than I am used to having. One is a lovely pianist and the other is good at managing the children. Neither of them have had much experience in doing Children's Theater. So, where I have always been the one who does the overall directing and teaches the songs (since I wrote them), I need to utilize the pianist to teach the songs. And where I have usually had a terrific dancer as one of the assistants, it looks like I will also need to become the choreographer.
Well, as one of my choreographer friends used to say, "These are children with basically no dance experience. All you can do is teach them variations in walking."
So, what are the variations of walking she talked about? Walk, run, march, skip, slide, gallop.... And then you can always change the speed, direction, and intensity of the movements -- bend, lunge, lean, kick, point, hop, jump, twist, twirl, pivot, tip toe, sneak.... You can also vary the levels, planes and proximity of the dancers -- have different groups do different movements at different times in different spaces. Oh, yes, you can use arm positions and gestures, and my favorite, hand them a prop. There, this should be easy.
But what about paying attention to using historical details? This show is based on an old English Pantomime of Elizabethan times. What were the steps and dances popular in those days? Better do my research. Well, as I was writing the music, I did have music styles of the period in mind such as gigue, schottische, gavotte and reel. Are not these dance styles as well? Looks like I have ideas already forming in my mind for the dances.
My second assistant did say that she enjoyed doing Mexican dancing. Dancing is dancing, right? So if I came up with the choreography, she should be able to learn it with the kids and then be able to run their dances while I work on other things sometimes, right?
Variations in walking -- I think there is a lot more to it than it sounds!
Well, as one of my choreographer friends used to say, "These are children with basically no dance experience. All you can do is teach them variations in walking."
So, what are the variations of walking she talked about? Walk, run, march, skip, slide, gallop.... And then you can always change the speed, direction, and intensity of the movements -- bend, lunge, lean, kick, point, hop, jump, twist, twirl, pivot, tip toe, sneak.... You can also vary the levels, planes and proximity of the dancers -- have different groups do different movements at different times in different spaces. Oh, yes, you can use arm positions and gestures, and my favorite, hand them a prop. There, this should be easy.
But what about paying attention to using historical details? This show is based on an old English Pantomime of Elizabethan times. What were the steps and dances popular in those days? Better do my research. Well, as I was writing the music, I did have music styles of the period in mind such as gigue, schottische, gavotte and reel. Are not these dance styles as well? Looks like I have ideas already forming in my mind for the dances.
My second assistant did say that she enjoyed doing Mexican dancing. Dancing is dancing, right? So if I came up with the choreography, she should be able to learn it with the kids and then be able to run their dances while I work on other things sometimes, right?
Variations in walking -- I think there is a lot more to it than it sounds!
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