How Is Dance Choreography Created?
Many choreographers may also find it helpful to use both approaches. They may find it easy to find inspiration when they have total creative control in selecting dancers and music.
But in other instances they may be given the music to choreograph a routine for and may not be familiar with the song. In cases like this they may need to listen to the song many times and get to work on it straight away by trying out different things with it.
Usually routines are created in sections at a time rather than the whole choreography in one go. So the choreographer might be working on the first 20 seconds of a song and find that first 8 counts come to them, then maybe 10 counts and maybe 5 counts after that.
It is usually built in small blocks like this, and after each little block is done they will come up with new sequences that will link up well with the work that they have just completed.
Working in small consignments like this also helps them to remember what they have done, as even the choreographer needs to learn their own routines!
They don't need to work in any particular order either. They may find that the ideas for the start come first, then the sequences for the end of the routine come next and then from there they can figure out what comes in the middle section.
As they are working they are also reviewing what they have done to see that it still works with each new section that they create. They may find that they need to replace sections, re-order them or even take them out completely.
Their aim is for the whole routine or the whole choreography to work, not just small sections so this review is necessary. The way they do these reviews is down to the way that the particular choreographer works.
Some like to review after each little section, whilst others like to review only towards the end of creating so that they can see what they have to work with. Regardless of how often it's done, it needs to be done regularly enough so that they don't have to throw away whole sections of choreography too often.
The reviewing process saves time, though it should not be done too often either. If you review after every move or every two moves then you are unlikely to get any work done and will greatly disrupt any flow that you can get while working.