10 Simple Steps to Writing a Choreography

​There is nothing quite so exciting as creating your own choreography to a piece of music that you love.  Taking the sound of an instrument and turning it into movement - making sound visual!  For some of us the process is almost as exciting as performing our creations in front of an audience.  Here is how you can get from a blank sheet of paper, to a dynamic dance in ten simple steps.... 

• ​Listen to the music 100 times, in the car, in the kitchen, on headphones. Check you still like it, then play it 100 times more.  If you are sick of your music now, you wont enjoy performing it to others.

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• Jot down a few ideas, key words, maybe an image or two -  like creating an inspiration board.  Nothing is out of bounds at this point.  Some dancers pick just one word, others make up a full length movie script to give themselves a deep and interesting story to portray.  Look at pintrest boards, color palettes, textures, sounds, smells and random objects.  Go with what inspires you!

• ​Split the music into timed sections (I call this a time plan) - that might be :

0.00 - intro, 
0.30 - chorus, 
1.00 - verse, 
1.27 - chorus, 
1.57 - verse plus lalalala
2.24 - chorus, 
2.54 - chorus, 
3.24 - exit. 

Or it might be :
0.00 Dumdum, 
0.03 shuffleshuffleshuffle, 
0.07 dumdumdaha 
0.10 - fluffy bit
0.13 - squeak, Dum, Dum
(onwards)

- this stage very much depends on how detailed my choreo is going to be.

• ​Dance around the room for a bit. Usually I video this stage to see what moves fit naturally to the music, where I am having fun, where my body does something strange, where I travel and where I own my spot in the center of the stage.  After I have done this half a dozen times, I sit down to watch my videos and note down the "highlights" or the moves and combos that I have repeated several times.

• ​​Fill in the timeline like a jigsaw.  I return to my time plan and make notes next to each section with ideas for building a dance.  I go for the "easy" bits first. Maybe I have a combo in mind for the chorus, or I know which turn I want to do for "swish".  Sometimes the timing will restrict your movements, or you will have to change the count slightly to better fit in with the music.  This is also a good time to check in with your inspiration board for ideas.

• ​Fill in the "I'm going to improvise it anyhow" time slots. I know that sometimes it doesn't matter what I write down, I'm going to improves that Taqsim, so there is no need to over plan. If I am writing a group choreo this section might have to be choreographed or I might call it "Everyone improvise" if that is what I want to happen.  Belly Dance has a strong improvisational style, so allowing yourself time to be "in the moment" is great.  However, don't use "improvise" to cover part of the song that you don't know what to do.  If you can't dance it now, you will probably blank on stage.​

• ​Look for the repeats and fill those. If I have a chorus planned, it makes sense to repeat the same moves to the same music when they reoccur. If possible I want to make a slight change - maybe facing a different direction or changing the arm positions, just to keep things interesting.  Repeating the same dance moves to the same music makes an audience feel clever.  They get a moment of "I knew they were going to do that !".  However, there is a fine line between being predictable and being boring.  If you are repeating the same moves to the same music more than twice, end your combo with a surprise - a fast turn, a cheeky wink or an extra bum wiggle.

• Take on the "holes" - the parts of the choreo that are harder to fill. I keep a short check list to make sure my choreos are dynamic.  Now is a good time to check the list to make sure my choreo is interesting and try to add in what is missing. If my first draft of the choreo is very planted in one spot, then I know I need to add more travelling steps - sometimes a simple cue like that is all I need to know how to fill the next section of music.  .  Here is my list: 

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Levels (up on toes, bended knee...)

directions, (Facing front, back, side and diagonals)

emotions, (cute, angry, teasing....)

attitude, (Interesting faces, body posture)

travelling/stillness, (Fast travelling, slow travelling, standing in one place)

upper body/ lower, (using all my body parts)

volume (projection, internal and external moves, eye lines)

size (small, medium, large and super large)​

• ​Check the links, that is, how each move flows into the next. While each section might work as a single moment in time, they need to flow seamlessly from one to the other. Sometimes I have to go back over the work I have done to add in a tiny weight shift, or a step onto the diagonal, so the next move is more interesting to the audience (or easier to dance).

• ​Make sure its dancable. Ideas and movements that seem perfect in the moment, might not work in the big picture. I usually video myself at this stage to see where I stumble, if I get out of breath, where my face shows stress, or if I have to count the beats. I believe that it is better to dance at a lower level and have brain power to smile at the audience and look like I am having a good time, so at this point I either practice the hard parts, or make them simpler.

There are thousands more great tips about learning, setting goals and self critique in Chapter One of  "Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage".  We took all our combined knowledge and shattered the illusions so that the belly dancers of the future can skip the potholes and move on their careers! 

"Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage" is a stagecraft handbook for belly dancers and its available now from Amazon:  

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​Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.

She has taught more than 4,000 belly dance classes, both in the UK and US.  She now teaches in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the SF bay area, as well as workshops world wide.  Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context.    Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching.

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​If you like this blog, go back to the blog page, for others you might like including:
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HOW TO GET AMAZING PERFORMANCE PHOTOS - CHEAT !
Dealing with Difficult StudentsTeacher Knows Best
Are you Ready Teach Belly Dance ?
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Or check out these Hub Blogs including:

"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"