By the time a dance has been performed under the spotlight in front of curious eyes, it has already undergone multiple adjustments and fine-tuning processes. Lots goes into the background work of a dance routine. Where it starts, however, often stems from the same place.
Think of the last time you were first exposed to a catchy song. Your first instinct isn’t to belt out the lyrics — after all, you don’t know it well enough yet. The first thing you’re likely to do is to tap your foot or nod your head. You don’t quite have the words to express how the song makes you feel yet; hence, you’ll use movement to convey the message.
“The music usually comes in first, and then we choreograph to the music,” Rurak explained. “My teachers usually pick a few options, and then she’ll show them to me, and I can say which one I like best, or I feel will dance the best too.”
“If you have a song, you could suggest it. But most of the time, our teachers give us some options that they found, and then we get to pick and then we’ll just kind of start,” Jonat added about the choreography process.
In that way, picking music plants the seed of what will later become a fully-blossomed dance performance. It’s the first piece in a puzzle that becomes fuller and fuller as each move is added.
After the music comes the choreography. This is where things begin to differ from dancer to dancer, and from studio to studio, with a few different elements impacting how each process unfolds. For starters, a solo dance performance will involve more of the individual dancer’s input. Group work features a more collaborative element, with instructors occasionally at the helm.
“For my contemporary solos, we start [with improv], and then we kind of choreograph it together and then finalize that. And then throughout the year, I just watch videos and see what I can improve,” Jonat explained. “With groups, there’s a lot more instruction, I guess, because the teacher has a set song, and then they kind of make up the choreo. But also, as we’ve gotten older, we work on it together, sharing our ideas.”
Another thing that factors into the choreography process is age. The older a student is, the more likely they are to have a little extra creative freedom. For Rurak, who is still a high-school freshman, dance routines still carry a fair bit of influence from her instructors.
“I’d say they’re very hands on. They’ll sometimes ask me to improv or ask my opinion on something, but usually they’ll choreograph the whole thing themselves.”
Jonat, who is a high-school senior, recalled some of her experiences as a younger dancer and how creating a dance differs from her current processes.
“I think when I was about 12, it was pretty much only the teacher choreographing, and sometimes we’d get like, ‘Do you like this?’ or ‘Would you rather do that kind of thing?’ But now it’s a lot more like, ‘What do you guys think should go here?’ or, ‘Can you guys come up with something for this part of the music?’ and then together we’ll adjust it.”
Completing the choreography is one thing. Running through it is a completely different process.
“For solos, we’ll kind of improv and set the choreo in a private and then on my own, I’ll get more comfortable with the movement and kind of explore and see what I can do to make it feel best for me. So it’s not really just repeating the steps, but figuring out ways that I can make it best,” Jonat explained.
Rurak echoed the sentiment shared by Jonat, noting that the process itself involves practicing specific moves over again to fine-tune them as well as running through the entire routine as a whole to help remember it come performance day. Completing the construction of the choreography can take anywhere from three to four classes for Rurak, while remembering it comes as quickly as one class after.
“I usually would remember it pretty much by the next class, because I practice at home a lot,” she said.
With a soundtrack selected, choreography complete, and the routine in the stages of being committed to memory, the next step is to find the time to be able to practice.
Easier said than done.