choreography ?

[dancingjet]

is this a must for most of you guys ? i like to see technique. i dont want to see dancers crawling on the floor, or trying to tell me a story, by doing all sorts of emoting. to me, that is what acting is about.

i have watched some of the "so you think you can dance" shows. they seem to be promoting this aspect of dance, heavily.

i just dont consider that to be dancing, but rather acting.

i like choreographing technique, so that it seems to flow together as a movement, but "telling a story" usually makes the dance part of it, worse for me.

and the audience will usually be told beforehand what the story is about. cuz if they werent, nobody would figure it out - lol. i call that the power of suggestion.

[LolaEden]

well, when i did my choreography for my last show i did a contemporary lyrical piece with a theme of "touch". i under stand what you mean about all the technique but there are times when you need to use a lot of choreographic devices such as retrograd and juxtaposstion, these help to the telling of a story and a dance needs to be about something which is why they are all given theme's
acting in dance is important but i think you should note that not all dancers should tell a story in their performance, i'm always told in college to communicate with the audience using my eyes so i can tell them my story

[dancingjet]

i love to dance, and i most definitely do so "as if no one was watching". i would never do it professionally, simply because i dont want to dance to someone else's expectation. that would destroy the fun and spontaneity of it for me.

i love to watch dancing. but i like to watch the movement. have that total motion be entertaining to watch.

i guess i might liken it to watching a sport. if i watch basketball, i am watching the movement of the players and the ball. i couldnt care less what an individual player is telling me, be with his eyes or his body.

so if i am watching a dancer, or more importantly, multiple dancers, the "choreographing" of the movement makes a difference for me.

anyways, thanks for your reply. was just curious how people felt about it.

i dont think the sytycd show is keeping the best technique dancers. these are the people who i think have the most dancing skills. but then i think they are trying to sell these people to the public, so they want bubbly personalities to sell. just my opinion.

[Larinda McRaven]

Welcome to Dance-Forums dancingjet.

[_malakawa_]

when it comes to choreography for example in international ballroom or latin, you can see a difference in making choreography for show and for competition.

i have a dvd with best latin couples in the world doing shows and it is a beautiful choreography beautifull story, but when they are on a competition you can see more technique, more basic steps but beautifully done.

ah .... :D

and when it comes to make a choreography - best teacher, for me, is M. Stylianos.

[Ampster]

is this a must for most of you guys ? i like to see technique...

I'm an Argentine Tango dancer. It is all improvised, and we use no choreography. Perhaps, if really needed, and only in a performance. We would even improv a performance most of the time.

[Chris Stratton]

Good choreography shows the dancer's fundamental capabilities in a way that gives you confidence that they'd be nice to watch even in a situation where they couldn't use their choreography; poorly chosen choreography leaves you thinking that's all they can do.

[Movement]

I think acting is an important aspect of dancing but certainly not the only aspect. I don't mind people telling a story with dance as long as it's coherent and it's good dancing.

What I don't like though is people trying to make dance moves to the lyrics. Like if it says heart, they make a heart with their hand. Ugh...Very rarely have I seen that type of choreography turn out well.

[Standarddancer]

acting is for show dance, can be very pleasing to audience...great choreo for comp has to allow dancers to show both basic fundamental skill and dynamic movements, a combination of showing great lines as well as movements, flows well...

[QPO]

Some of the comtemporary pieces of dance is about telling a story through movement and expression. It just depends on what style you like.

[dancingjet]

yea, i think it depends a lot on what one defines to be dance. a very basic definition is movement to music.

i can enjoy all sorts of dance types, so that is not the problem for me. i like ballroom (except when they do sexual suggestiveness in latin), contemporary, hip-hop, tap, just about anything that shows dancing talent.

i just dont want emoting to take the place of the movement.

i like the athletics of it, and appreciate various movements, and their difficulty.

if we take ice skating for example - michelle kwan is the ultimate emotist, if that is a word. she doesnt have as good raw skating skills as several of the people she skates against. but she is consistent, almost never makes mistakes, is loved by the crowd, and tries to appease them through gracefulness and emoting. she does not have the fast feet or athletic ability that some of the other skaters have, and doesnt do the hardest skills. compare that to scott hamilton, the fastest feet that have ever been on ice. add to that front flips and back flips - he has unbelievable skating skills.

to me, when people emote - it is a signal that they are not as good at dancing or skating, so they try to make up for it by doing something other than the skill that they are supposed to be doing.

i have never had a dance lesson in my life, so i dont know if i appreciate lines or not. since i dont know anything about the various dances, i wouldnt know if someone was doing the particular steps correctly or not.

one thing that i dont like about ballroom is that the couples dont seem to ever look at one another. i like them to look like they are having fun, like yul brunner and deborar kerr did in the king and i, in the shall we dance number.

in fact, that is my number one complaint about professional dancing. when a dancer is paid to do something, he is doing something that other people want him to do, instead of what he wants to do. i would find it more entertaining to watch a dancer free form and dance however he dang well wants to dance. a good dancer is a good dancer - he doesnt have to follow some particular steps or choreography to look good. and just watching him truly enjoying himself is wonderful. when i dance, i am in my own world, and i think it shows.

[dancingjet]

yea, i think it depends a lot on what one defines to be dance. a very basic definition is movement to music.

i can enjoy all sorts of dance types, so that is not the problem for me. i like ballroom (except when they do sexual suggestiveness in latin), contemporary, hip-hop, tap, just about anything that shows dancing talent.

i just dont want emoting to take the place of the movement.

i like the athletics of it, and appreciate various movements, and their difficulty.

if we take ice skating for example - michelle kwan is the ultimate emotist, if that is a word. she doesnt have as good raw skating skills as several of the people she skates against. but she is consistent, almost never makes mistakes, is loved by the crowd, and tries to appease them through gracefulness and emoting. she does not have the fast feet or athletic ability that some of the other skaters have, and doesnt do the hardest skills. compare that to scott hamilton, the fastest feet that have ever been on ice. add to that front flips and back flips - he has unbelievable skating skills.

to me, when people emote - it is a signal that they are not as good at dancing or skating, so they try to make up for it by doing something other than the skill that they are supposed to be doing.

i have never had a dance lesson in my life, so i dont know if i appreciate lines or not. since i dont know anything about the various dances, i wouldnt know if someone was doing the particular steps correctly or not.

one thing that i dont like about ballroom is that the couples dont seem to ever look at one another. i like them to look like they are having fun, like yul brunner and deborar kerr did in the king and i, in the shall we dance number.

in fact, that is my number one complaint about professional dancing. when a dancer is paid to do something, he is doing something that other people want him to do, instead of what he wants to do. i would find it more entertaining to watch a dancer free form and dance however he dang well wants to dance. a good dancer is a good dancer - he doesnt have to follow some particular steps or choreography to look good. and just watching him truly enjoying himself is wonderful. when i dance, i am in my own world, and i think it shows.

[Standarddancer]

Some of the comtemporary pieces of dance is about telling a story through movement and expression. It just depends on what style you like.

For showdance, a good choreo very much related to a story-telling and can be dramatic and interesting, for comps, a good choreo has to be eye-catching, catch's judges' attention even in a packed floor in an early round, of course the dancers must have the good technical skill to interpret it right.

[_malakawa_]

acting is for show dance, can be very pleasing to audience...great choreo for comp has to allow dancers to show both basic fundamental skill and dynamic movements, a combination of showing great lines as well as movements, flows well...

nice. :p

when you are creating a choreography it is also important that that choreography is in character of a dance.

for example for intl. latin:
samba - it is flirting,seduction ....
cha - cha - is a first date
rumba - making love
paso doble - first fight
jive - reconciliation

[Standarddancer]

for example for intl. latin:
samba - it is flirting,seduction ....
cha - cha - is a first date
rumba - making love
paso doble - first fight
jive - reconciliation

oh these are so cute:)

[Standarddancer]

probably you could put ChaChaCha before Samba so it's in exactly order of dances...

[_malakawa_]

probably you could put ChaChaCha before Samba so it's in exactly order of dances...

sorry, in my country we danced first samba, than cha cha. :p

but i think that you see the point. ;)