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So, I teach at a very small studio. The owner is a wonderful lady, and we've kept afloat (sorta) throughout the years, even with the owner having gone through 2 bouts of cancer, losing most of our teaching staff (1 got re-located due to a job, 1 decided to take a break from dancing and is still not back, etc.), and a few other things that have hit us hard.
There's only one thing about our studio that bothers me...so instead of complaining about it, I'm trying to fix it.
We never perfect choreography and routines. Most of our choreographies get learned in a slap-dash fashion just before we perform them...then we don't do them again until we need to have a performance ready for the next show. This makes us sloppy. We have pictures where all of us are doing a completely different arm position at the same time...not intentionally.
So, we're trying a new thing. It will be 2 hours per week (one day) of troupe practice. Why am I telling you all this? I want some input on my thoughts to see how others do things. I have no experience with performing with any other groups but this one.
My plan for format is:
30 min: review of old (while we're first starting to get routines ready, this will be to make sure that no one's forgotten the previous week...or to go back over a particularly tricky combo in the routine that was taught the week before. Once we're more on track, this time will be for run-throughs of the routines that we know)
1 hour: learning/practicing new combos from the routine and combining those combos into sections of the routine (setting a limit on how much new will be taught each week so that it's not overwhelming and can be absorbed)
15 min: zil technique and practice (I know this isn't a lot, but we're really bad about actually practicing zils in or out of classes, so any amount of zil time is good).
15 min: Balancing drills (We have a tray choreography from the past and want to add a sword choreography, but again, like zils, no one practices like we ought to).
How does our breakdown sound? Any other suggestions for helping us get off our rearends and getting our performing together instead of 4-6 soloists all doing similar routines to the same song?
There's only one thing about our studio that bothers me...so instead of complaining about it, I'm trying to fix it.
We never perfect choreography and routines. Most of our choreographies get learned in a slap-dash fashion just before we perform them...then we don't do them again until we need to have a performance ready for the next show. This makes us sloppy. We have pictures where all of us are doing a completely different arm position at the same time...not intentionally.
So, we're trying a new thing. It will be 2 hours per week (one day) of troupe practice. Why am I telling you all this? I want some input on my thoughts to see how others do things. I have no experience with performing with any other groups but this one.
My plan for format is:
30 min: review of old (while we're first starting to get routines ready, this will be to make sure that no one's forgotten the previous week...or to go back over a particularly tricky combo in the routine that was taught the week before. Once we're more on track, this time will be for run-throughs of the routines that we know)
1 hour: learning/practicing new combos from the routine and combining those combos into sections of the routine (setting a limit on how much new will be taught each week so that it's not overwhelming and can be absorbed)
15 min: zil technique and practice (I know this isn't a lot, but we're really bad about actually practicing zils in or out of classes, so any amount of zil time is good).
15 min: Balancing drills (We have a tray choreography from the past and want to add a sword choreography, but again, like zils, no one practices like we ought to).
How does our breakdown sound? Any other suggestions for helping us get off our rearends and getting our performing together instead of 4-6 soloists all doing similar routines to the same song?
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Texas
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Re: Striving to Improve
Mon, March 30, 2009 - 9:13 PMsounds like a pretty good break down- although we always end up spending more time on review than that- I would plan on going through each review piece at least 2x if not 3x. If you have a set number of choreos for a season, you might want to work out a review rotation- this week we will review choreos 1-3, next week 4-6, etc. with extra rehearsals of more problematic ones. It takes our troupe about a month to get a choreo down enough to include it in our repertoire on this kind of schedule. All members are also required to continue taking (or teaching) class- so those zill & balancing drills should rightly be part of outside practice, not choreo practice. But that's just what has worked for us!
so ours looks more like: 5 min. basic warm up, 45 min. review, 1 hour new choreo or full run through for upcoming show (usually 1/2 hour to hour long shows for the full troupe) so we get formations down for every event (if we know a dancer can't be there, for example)
Best of luck! -
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Re: Striving to Improve
Tue, March 31, 2009 - 7:43 AMAwesome. Thanks for the advice!
The reason that I've included the things that should be in other places (zils and balancing drills) is because we've all been slackers about practicing them...even in the other classes. Part of that is because we're currently having to teach out of our houses (long story, but we're looking for a new studio home), and we don't want the zils to drive our husbands and pets up the wall too often. I'm hoping, though, to get the balancing and drills in our other classes, too. This would just be extra practice.
One other thing I forgot to mention. One of our plans is to perform choreographies until we are tired of them...then, making sure that we have them written down, perform the choreography on camera and put it on a DVD so that it can be archived. That way, if we decide in 3 years that we want to do that choreography again, there's not the "Ok, what did I mean when I wrote this down?" moment that we tend to have now. :-) -
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Re: Striving to Improve
Thu, April 2, 2009 - 8:51 AMhi cahira,
just thought i'd add that i've also specifically scheduled "clean up and tighten up" sessions. the focus is completely on cleaning up the movements and the transitions and well, everything.. also, i've scheduled more than several run-throughs in full jewelry and costume 'cause it feels really different from casual dance practice gear.
i think it's great how you are striving to make improvements. stay strong with it and it will happen.
:) -
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Re: Striving to Improve
Thu, April 2, 2009 - 10:37 AMOoh! also good ideas! I hadn't thought of having specific "clean up/tighten up" sessions. That's a great suggestion. :-)
And I don't know why we've never done practices in fully costume...the studio owner always tells us to make sure and practice in our costumes...yet the troupe never has (that I know of). So, also a great suggestion.
Thanks!!
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Re: Striving to Improve
Thu, April 2, 2009 - 10:11 PMHi there :)
I'm not a dancer, I'm a musician, but I think this kind of thing applies to all groups.
My suggestions are:
* Consistancy: Practice every week at the same time and place. Djinn practices every Tuesday from 7pm to 9pm. Keep talking/chatting to a minimum and stay focused.
* Video/Record yourself: Sometimes I felt a show was terrible and when I watched the video I realized it was fine and vice-versa too! It might be a good idea to video your next show and have the whole class watch it together. I've watched videos of my band all together and we'll notice everything from.. "hey I thought i was smiling.. why do I look like I have to go to the bathroom the whole time." "I didn't know I was looking down the whole time." "That looked great when we did x, y, z we should do that again."
-Carmine
-Carmine
