So you’re gearing up for rehearsals for your musical and realize, thanks to your handy-dandy character breakdown, that there are multiple musical numbers that call for the full cast or a large portion of it to be on stage... all at once. Depending on your venue, you potentially have limited space, and now adding a set and 30+ students can make it feel like there can be no room for creativity or excitement in your choreography. This can’t be further from the truth. It may take some thinking outside of the box, but it is certainly possible!
Take into account and use what you have to work with as a starting point, not an inhibitor.
It’s all about using your space effectively. If you have a large cast but a smaller stage, see if there is a way to maximize the usage of your space by designing a set with levels sturdy enough to handle dancing or minimal movement on them. If you don’t have the height, creating smaller, stationary or mobile units dispersed around the stage might work as well. OR, if you’re completely limited with what you can have as a set, utilizing rehearsal blocks in various configurations can be a great option as well.
All of these options can be used for larger spaces as well, it’s just dependent on what the show may call for and what your team is capable of. Unless you are a one-person-show producing your musical, a great time to discuss these details would be during production meetings that take place before and after auditions; you can communicate what you might be envisioning for movement and then your set designer/builder can take that information to figure out what is possible.
Regardless, defining the space you’ll have to work with for choreography before you start creating is extremely important, as it will lessen or even negate a lot of unnecessary issues and headaches in the future.
So you’ve taken into account your space and are ready to create movement; where do you even begin?
I touch on this topic a bit in my blog about creating choreography for different experience levels, so if you haven’t read that already I encourage you to do so! …
Did you read it? Cool. Welcome back!
While you’re listening to that specific song non-stop, see if you can naturally break up the song into smaller sections. This comes naturally with a verse, chorus, verse, set up, but sometimes there’s a dance break in there, or the chorus comes back, but with a slight variation.
Use these changes in music to your advantage. I generally like to go through these sections of music and label them with movement ideas that come to mind when listening. That way, I’ve created myself an outline for what I’d like to see happening in a specific number. Sometimes there’s a storyline and sometimes it’s a number simply meant to dance for dancing’s sake with fun sections like “booty shake circle” or “mass chaos conga.” (Those are both entirely made up on the spot, don’t judge)
Either way, it’s important to keep in mind that sections may change once you start to put the number on its feet, but I find that giving yourself the structure to work within can be a great starting point to allow further exploration within a certain theme or idea.
Layers, Rose, Layers!
This is another topic mentioned in my previous blog, but fight the urge to simply have everyone do the same thing the entire time. I am a firm believer in unison movement having a great, visual impact, but not if it’s the entirety of a dance number. Booooooring. The nice news is… you don’t have to create a whole lot extra in order to make something look different. There are a lot of options using the same chunk of movement.
Let’s take the chorus of a song for example:
Create a “full out” combination. This is the main combo that your strongest dancers will perform, most likely on the stage proper, front and center.
Take that same combination and lessen the intensity. This is for your less dance savvy cast members. Depending on your set, you could have this happen on platforms, rehearsal boxes, or even on the outskirts of the stage so this group is surrounding the featured dancers. What do I mean by lessening the intensity? Maybe take out the jumps or spins you might have put in there and keep them facing forward and doing a bounce instead. Rather than a high kick, replace it with a knee kick or something lower, even a stomp. The options are endless when figuring out what to lessen, but the main goal is that there are only a few moments of exact unison so the audience is saved from too much visual monotony.
Reverse the combination. This may not always work, but you could have a structure where during the first chorus, everyone is doing the same thing, but at a repeat a small group starts the combination backwards while the rest do the original, so then there’s a moment in the middle where they’re all unison.
Inverse your arms or directions of movement. Same combo, but have the group split in half and have some starting right and the others left. Or, maybe you have groups doing the same lower body movement, but one line’s arms go up and the other’s down, or to different sides.
Canon your movement. Have a long dance break making you kind of sweat? Dance in a round! The music may dictate just how far you can go with this, but having a short combo that is performed in a canon and in a tight formation can have a really cool effect, while also saving you a lot of time. You could have as little as two group or up to even four or five. Experiment with your cast!
Speaking of formations, switch ‘em up! Having windows in your formations for the maximum amount of people to be seen is ideal. Get fancy with formations by not just sticking to four lines; spread people out more or try placing them in smaller clumps, diamonds or V formations more dispersed around the stage. Then you can spice up the movement by using your main combo in a first position, giving the cast 4-16 counts to switch spots with someone near and voila! A new visual.
Not everything has to be figured out right away.
I used to waste HOURS trying to come up with “creative” and different choreography to have prepared to teach ahead of time, but what I found is that sometimes the choreography is meant to happen in the room. Prepare yourself enough with a structure as well as a few combinations you’d like to work with, but then rely on your cast to help you figure out how to get to different sections or change it up within that same combo.
When experimenting, use the suggestions above and create some ideas your own. It may also turn out that a few cast members can help come up with suggestions as well. Collaboration for the win!
As always, there is no “wrong” way to choreograph a musical. You’re going to find your own personal style and process the more experienced you get, but hopefully this provides you a few ideas of how to get started in your choreographic journey.
Make sure to check out our ever growing resource page for helpful content and free resources to help you on your new journey of directing musicals.
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