How To Create Simple & Effective Choreography

I think that too often small groups such as school and community shows (and sometimes even small professional groups) underestimate the importance of choreography in their shows. Choreography provides a visual complement to what is heard and can actually emphasize certain qualities in the music. It can liven up a less-than-stellar song and showcase the talents of chorus performers.

Design your choreography to fit within the plot and context of the show
What leads into the dance? Why are they dancing? Taking a look at the dialogue that lead into the song will often help spring some ideas about what is happening during the dance. In Matchmaker, from Fiddler On The Roof, for example, it is a change in the attitudes of the daughters regarding marriage while they are supposed to be washing the floor. They begin by being excited by the prospect of marriage, but by the end have realized that they aren't quite ready. The dance should show this transition.

Choreography doesn't have to mean dance steps!

Even the most inexperienced of dancers can look talented when you make active use of props. For Matchmaker, you could use rags, a bucket and a mop to inspire movement. Give a girl a song and what does she do? She sings. But give a girl a song and a mop, and she sings while washing the floor. If she can mop that floor gracefully, you've got choreography.

Fewer Steps, More Practice

You don't need complicated steps to have an impressive dance sequence. Take a few simple steps and practice them over and over until they are perfect. For variation, repeat a step you have already taught but use different arm movements or a different formation. The effect will be much more pleasing than complicated steps that only half the performers do correctly. Unison is extremely important - a group of people performing a step in perfect syncronization is impressive, no matter how simple the actual step is.

Symbolism

If the dancing is symbolic, who cares if its complicated? For the Little Chavaleh dance, I used ribbons to symbolize the tradition holding the family together. The entire dance sequence was done with 4 different coloured ribbons, each daughter holding the end of one in each hand. They danced in various circle formations (sometimes with one daughter in the center, like a maypole) until the exit, when Chava is unable to catch the end of the last ribbon and her sisters leave without her. It was simple, yet very effective.

Number of Dancers

Wherever possible, keep the number of dancers to a minimum, especially if your dancers are inexperienced. A group of 4, 5 or 6 is easiest because you have enough people to make use of interesting formations (a V, for example) but it is still a small enough number that the stage doesn't look cluttered, they have enough room to move, and you can give each dancer individual attention and help when they need it. If you have a large number of people who want to be involved, simply split up the dances so each group dances to a different song (or different part of a song if you have long dance sections).

Let The Music Be Your Guide

I cannot stress this enough - choreography must be inspired by the music it accompanies. Music and songs, particularly in musicals, are full of context and structure. Use these things to your advantage. Split your choreography up into sections based on the verses and chorus, and teach the choreography so that your dancers associate certain movements with certain words in the lyrics. But never, ever, ever try to choreograph just by looking at a printout of the words. You need to listen to the music!

Variety, Variety, Variety

Variety adds interest to your choreography. Look for contrasts or opposites that you can create in your movement. Some examples are in-place steps & travelling steps, on the beat & double-time (slow & fast), partner & independent steps, high & low (standing & on the floor), symmetrical & asymmetrical, there are tons of possibilities.

One Last Thing...

Please, please, please don't feel it is necessary to match every line of lyric with a movement or "action" that matches the words. Choreography that is done this way will always look terrible, and it is also much too hard to choreograph because you end up trying to find a piece of business for every word. The other problem is that choreographers who get too caught up in the lyrics often forget to plan steps for the music in between. Use larger ideas that take up several lines of text rather than looking at each line individually.

Links to More Choreography Tips

Give Ballet Routines a Kick : An article from: Dance Teacher

Photo illustrated dance routines for teachers and students