Yummy and I often get into deep discussions about what makes choreography ‘good.’
For me, other’s choreography is often like art – I know what I like when I see it.
I don’t know how other people choreograph, because it’s not generally something you watch other people do.
You could, but it would probably be incredibly boring, because much of what goes on is internal – personal decisions about what will/won’t look good, how to put things together, what overarching concept the choreographer is trying to achieve.
When I choreograph, it starts with an idea – sparked from a song I’ve heard, a costume I’ve seen, a fantastic prop piece I’ve found, or it can all start with the end vision.
I never know.
I went out internet searching for information on choreography theory.
What I found was a good Prezi presentation (albeit with a few errors) about choreography theory.
You can find it here.
It’s worth a watch, if only for the fantastic Fosse video embedded in it. 😀
I’ve long wanted to do a class on Formations, and I think that will be the next course I write curriculum for.
If you have a large stage and multiple dancers, formations are essential to keeping the audience engaged.
Choreographing for a group is very different than choreographing for a solo or duet.
The presentation did remind me, however, of my love for dance – especially Fosse.
God, I love Fosse.
So much so, that I was inspired to create a couple of poses from the video in the presentation.
I love the lean back pose the girls strike in the video at various times, so I made one. 🙂
I also made another pose that I think will work nicely as a transition pose for several 60s dances, like Abranimations The Jerk.
I am putting them out in a box at my theater for free, so stop by and pick them up. 🙂
Turn left as you enter the theater and the box is on the wall – touch and ye shall receive.
(Also, you could hit up my subscribo right above it while you’re there.) 😀
Enjoy!!
A Kat and A Mouse 
My choreo days date back to ballet and figure skating. For a while, I made a bit of a living choreographing for other skaters. I had some weird inherent ability to know what went with what music…which is not as easy in SL since we have to deal with what we have available. I know despite what I have in inventory, I will play music and go to animation stores and try dances out until I find what I think goes best with the music. It’s not always perfect, but again, working with some pretty good limitations, lol. I do know that when I skated one of my dearest friends had no idea how to do what I call “feeling the music”. She had to count out every beat of a song and know which thing went on which beat. It would make for a jarring sort of performance since she never really got the flow from movement to movement. My brain never understood that she didn’t just get where things belonged. She was a better technical skater, but I would score better because of the choreo. You can see it even more now that skating has what I lovingly call “stupid, compulsory moves” that everyone has to include in their performances. Most girls look like automatons…skate, skate, jump, skate, skate, skate, spin…skate spiral sequence….etc. That is what is a challenge for me in SL, I want it to look fresh even though we all know that there are better animations that others and animation makers who create animations that transition better than others. I don’t want to fall back and always use the dances I’m most comfortable with so that the audience doesn’t get bored.
Wow, clearly I had an opinion about that! Sorry for babbling, lol 🙂 It’s interesting to find out where everyone gets their inspiration from and how they pick what they think makes the whole concept gel.
Yes, I know what you mean. When I was a cheer coach, I could tell just by watching practices who would make the team and who wouldn’t. I always liken it to the scene in Footloose where Ren (Kevin Bacon) is trying to teach his redneck friend how to dance when he can’t ‘feel’ the beat.
SL is a challenge because you have to work with the anims available. I do like to see people ‘keeping it fresh’ as you say. I try to do the same – mixing up styles rather than doing the same thing all the time. (Although I confess lyrical dances are my favorites.) 😛