First rehearsal...

So now we can talk about my first rehearsal.

But first, we have to rewind back a little more... For weeks, I have been searching for some sort of song that my dancers could be friends to and fight to at the same time. After hours of pandora, itunes, and youtube, I finally came up with the perfect song at 11:00 pm the night before my rehearsal. And now, you all get to hear it!

(not my video, I give full credit to the owner of this video)

I am definitely going to edit the song, so that I don't have to choreograph for 4 1\2 minutes.


So after coming up with four counts of 8 at 12:00 am, I was ready for rehearsal. I had my first rehearsal on Saturday from 4:30-6:00. I got there about 4:20, and a bunch of my dancers were already there and ready to go. We actually practiced our company numbers for 10 minutes until all my dancers were ready. Finally 4:30 hit, and I sat everybody down in a circle and we talked about the piece and the concept. I played the music for them (everybody loved it!), and then I told everybody the parts they were going to do.

I told everybody that I wanted to keep my two main girls for a little while and that everybody else could go hang out and do whatever. I taught my two main girls my little phrase, and they did a great job! I love watching my own choreography being performed by someone else. It feels very fulfilling.

Then after they were comfortable with the choreography, I got everybody back in, and we experimented on some partnering things. Nothing huge, just some lifting and a linked circle. I think it looks great.


So that's about it, we have a two week break. Next week we are going to TAD (be on the lookout for a post about that!), and the week after that we are dancing at a festival for company. That's good though, it gives me plenty of time to makeup new choreography!

And it continues...

 My piece is very complicated. I want to do something creative, yet relatable. All the pieces MUST have a concept, and here is my concept:


The basic idea plays off of the expression "less is more", in the form that it is better to have one really great friend who cares a lot about you than it is to have a bunch of friends who don't truly care much for you.

But how I'm portraying it is complicated. It's hard enough to say, much less type out. Imagine this, I have the lighting done so that there is a vertical line going right down the center of the stage. I have a girl come out on stage left (we'll call her person A) and a person come out on stage right (person B). They both do a little combination staying on their own sides of the stage (having nothing to do with eachother). Then person A has one friend come out and dance with her while person B has four friends come out a dance with her. Later in the dance, person B's friends start ganging up on her and eventually leave her, while person A and her friend stay together happily. In the end, person B is left all alone on her side of the stage while person A still has her friend.

So that's the concept. Did that make any sense? Oh well, I hope so....

The next post will talk about my rehearsal.

Let the Choreography Begin...

First off, I'd like to apologize for having the lamest post titles ever.


So like I said in my last post, I have been given the INCREDIBLE opportunity to choreograph a dance to be in our upcoming concert! Well, I had my first rehearsal on Saturday, and it was amazing!

We had our Student Piece auditions two weeks ago. We had about 16 people come to the audition, plus girls who couldn't make the audition and our fellow choreographers to choose from. That was a total of about 25 incredibly talented girls!

The auditions were a lot of fun, the way they are set up, is one girl is in charge of doing warmup and some across the floor. Then we get a chance to have them do a couple things at our own request, such as a combination, improvising, etc. I asked the girls to get in pairs and dance in a way to show how much they love there partner, then I told the girls to dance in a way to pretend like they hate eachother. They all really enjoyed it, and were very good! I also had the girls improvise across the floor and do whatever big movements they wanted.

Well, after the auditions, the other choreographers and I got together and we chose our dancers. It was very hard, because we added up all the spots in each of our pieces together, and came out to a total of 19. 25 girls wanting to be a piece, 19 spots available. The good news was that there are two girls who are choreographing a hiphop piece together, and using everybody, but I still felt bad that not everybody got picked for a modern dance.

But anyway, I picked my dancers and claimed by time slot at the studio, and then I went home an sent the e-mail to my girls....

The rest of the story coming soon!

I have Officially Moved Into My Dance Studio...

... Well, not literally. But I kind of feel like that. I'm pretty much there all afternoon and evening on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Then on Saturdays I have classes and rehearsals all morning.

I am so sorry that I haven't been posting lately! I have just been really busy!!! My days pretty much go like this, school, get ready for dance, take class (or help teach), do more school inbetween classes, take more classes, go home, finish school. Let's just say, I only eat dinner with my family three days a week, and the rest of the time it's at dance. But not matter how exhausting it gets, I love what I do, and I could never give it up.

So here's what's going on!

• Remember how every year the older girls get to choreograph dances for the younger girls to be in at dance concert? (if you don't the link is right here!)... ....Well, this year I GET TO CHOREOGRAPH A DANCE! Yes, I get to choreograph a dance to be performed by other dancers on a proffessional stage in our dance concert. Lights, Costumes, it's all there!

• We are working away on our Company numbers. Our Michael Buble jazz number is finished and AWESOME! We performed that one at the mall not to long ago, and it's pretty awesome. Our ballet number is really close. We actually might finish at rehearsal tomorrow. And by the way, I did end up getting the part in the battle scene. Our sticks are HUGE and I'm kind of afraid that I might knock someone out with mine... Also, we have been working on our pointe number which is so cute! It's kind of hard, but I know I can do it.

• We are leaving for the Tennessee Association of Dance conference in 3 weeks! I'm so excited! That is the conference that we go to for a weekend in October. The senior company piles into a van, we drive up, stay in hotels for the weekend. And then all day Saturday we take master classes. Sunday morning is more master classes with a performance at the end. There is a scholarship audition to receive a $500 summer study scholarship that I will be auditioning for. I don't think this is the year that I'll receive a scholarship, but it will be great practice. We will perform our Michael Buble dance, and not to mention take some fabulous classes.

I'll do some of this...

 

And this...

 

A little of this...

 

And even some of this!!!!

 

 

 

P.S. These are not my photos, and I give full credit to the owners.