When doing Children's Theater, planning choreography is very important. The movements do not need to be very advanced but they do need to be present. Nothing is more lack luster than LIVE Theater that looks dull and boring because it has no movement.
I remember watching a movie musical recently where the ensemble really had just a couple of basic steps during one number. It's what they did to synchronize the walking and jumping that made all the difference. The groups walked several paces then jumped up all together on certain words of the song. It was the sudden lift of the jump that brought the choreography to life. Of course, the dancers swung their arms in a synchronized way and walked with measured steps, but that, combined with the jumps, was it.
Well, as one of my choreographer friends used to say when you choreograph for Children's Theater, "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.
An added challenge for choreography is space on the stage. Sometimes space is at a premium. For the show "The Adventures of Dick Whittington," one dance had to be performed in front of the curtain on the few riser steps. The girls could move in only two directions -- side to side. They could also turn in place. So their dance was fairly two dimensional, but still they had effective movements.
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 when you choreograph for Children's Theater, "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.
An added challenge for choreography is space on the stage. Sometimes space is at a premium. For the show "The Adventures of Dick Whittington," one dance had to be performed in front of the curtain on the few riser steps. The girls could move in only two directions -- side to side. They could also turn in place. So their dance was fairly two dimensional, but still they had effective movements.
Variations in walking -- I think there is a lot more to it than it sounds!
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