So you want to choreograph...
Or were coerced into it.
Welcome to the best dir-staff position around. This guide contains things that I wish I knew before I tried my hand at this nonsense and good bits of advice that were passed down to me. Show to show and director to director choreography changes, but how you go about it (due to the way MTG is structured) stays fairly constant. The one thing that I find important to keep in mind is that while, as choreographer, you don’t always have the loudest voice, you have the power to change a lot about how the audience watches your show. So without further ado, let’s begin.
--Carrie Fowle, 2018
Before auditions
or how to get the cast you want
Read the Script
Just do it. I know you have probably listened to the cast recording a dozen time and read a plot summary or two, but take the time to read the script. While reading, take notes and sort out where you would like to see the strongest dancers. Want to have a core group of dancers? This is the time to realize it. Is there enough dance that you’ll want a dance captain? Decide this know so you know to look for one during auditions.
CRB
Before auditions, you are going to be getting a lot of emails about the CRB (or Casting Review Board) document. This document is MTG’s way of keeping auditions as fair as possible and also gives the different members of the dir-staff a time to talk about what the casting requirements and priorities there are for each character. A well written CRB will list the three following things for each character:
Musts
These are things that an actor must be able to do in order to play a given role--say, this character must have a split, must be able to tap, etc. As a choreographer, you will probably very rarely have any musts and should be flexible in this category.
Strongly Prefereds
These are things that will help break ties between people who meet all of the musts for a role. This is a very good place for you to input your desires, and allows you to have more sway in the casting decisions.
Priority _______
The blank is filled in with acting, vocals, or choreo. This is the person who gets the most say in casting that character. Very few characters a priority choreo. A good example of one would be Cha Cha in Grease. Sometimes a secondary priority will be stated. Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes might give choreo secondary priority
These distinctions can (and should) be brought up during casting. They’re there to help the dir-staff keep on track and to prevent things deemed unimportant before auditions from playing into decision making.
Do I really need to have a dance audition?
This is a very important question to ask yourself. Believe me, your goal in life should be to make auditions and callbacks as quick and painless as humanly possible. Dance auditions take a long time, so if you have the slightest inkling that you can make whatever the director and vd pick work, which is true for many shows, you should not have one.
That being said there is one case where you must have some sort of dance audition: choreo was brought up in the CRB. Anything listed on the CRB must be tested in auditions. This, however, does not necessarily mean that everyone must have a dance audition. Do your best to not waste people’s time and to only test those whose dancing ability has bearing on how you cast them. For example, for Spelling Bee, I only tested Marcy, as she was the only character whose dance ability was specified to any major degree in the CRB doc.
Pick (a) combination(s) that show you what you need.
While it’s tempting to get some work out of the way ahead of time and teach people choreography direct from the show, resist that urge and teach a combination that covers the entire extent of what you want from an actor. Make your audition combinations as information dense as possible
Before you choreograph
or how to avoid surprises down the road
Re-read the script
But I just read it before auditions you say? Seriously, read it again. Get to know the characters and understand how the songs all fit together. In addition to allowing you to help the actors find interesting moments in your work, you avoid blatant mistakes that will distract the audience (e.x. partnering people who hate each other.) Knowing the show will only help your choreography.
Talk to the Dir-Staff
Sit down with the other members of the dir-staff (mainly director, ast. director) before you get to attached to any ideas and talk through the show song by song. This is your time to figure out what the director’s vision and how she sees dance fitting into it. If you have any untraditional ideas (say, adding dance where the normally isn’t), this is your time to talk to your director about it if you didn’t already before auditions.
Make sure to check with the music director to establish differences between the soundtrack and the score. Most cast recordings are the Broadway version of the shows and often have dance breaks cut, so they are very rarely identical to the version we get from licensing companies. It is frustrating for you (the actors, and the music director) to have to change things to make the choreo and the music match up--take the time early on to avoid this.
This is your chance to establish the division of labor (mainly, who runs which rehearsals), so you are on the same page before you get in front of the cast. There is nothing more embarrassing than stepping on each other’s toes in front of the actors. It’s awkward for everyone involved-- do the work ahead of time to avoid it.
This is also a good time to sort out what the set looks like. Hopefully at this point a drawing exists. Take a picture of it and confirm that you really understand how it works in three dimensions. During Spring Awakening, I thought platforms existed where they did not, forcing me to awkwardly rework a song when an actor pointed it out to me. Awkward. Don’t learn that lesson for yourself.
Before you teach
or don’t set yourself up for failure
Considerations while actually choreographing
How dance-y do you want the show to look?
For some shows, a blatantly “dance-y” aesthetic works (think Magic Foot in Spelling Bee or We’re in the Money in 42nd Street), but for others, the dance shouldn’t look quite so crisp; it should look like it comes from a place of emotion (Totally Fucked in Spring Awakening or Cell Block Tango in Chicago). Know what aesthetic fits each number you are choreographing.
How can your choreography add to the story?
If your choreography ever has the opportunity to expand the audience’s sense of character relationships, or the show’s themes or setting, take it. This is the best part of choreographing
How hard can you reasonably make things?
You were probably poked to choreograph because you are a good dancer. The fact of the matter is, however, that the bulk of the guild does not have a dance background. Keep in mind that what you think is trivial can be difficult for others. Sometimes cool tricks can have a lot of impact, but use them sparingly.
Think about how you will actually teach things (and how long they will take)
Early on in the rehearsal process, you will (hopefully) get an email from you stage manager(s) to see who you need to rehearse the numbers and for how long. When sending them that list there is one important thing to take into consideration: MIT students (and people in general) really resent having their time wasted. Do everything you can to only call people when they are actually needed. (i.e. if a small group starts a group number, teach the small group before calling the whole cast). That being said, make sure you do give yourself enough time to teach a number. This is harder to gauge-- you’ll get a better sense on how things take to teach as you go along. Air on the side of caution to start--very few people get upset when rehearsal finish early.
Think about what kind of resources you want to give the actors
I tend to make drawings of formations for more complicated numbers and try to make videos of more complicated footwork. What you give the actors is entirely up to you. I like the drawings because it reduces the time it takes me to teach. At minimum, you (or your stage manager) should film all numbers once they are taught and share that with the cast.
Get a better sense of what actors can (and are willing to do)
Auditions are great, but they often won’t give you the best sense of every actor’s ability. Often before I start choreographing, I send a form out to the actors to find out two things. 1) Does anyone have any cool skills I can incorporate? 2) Is anyone unwilling to do something I wanted them to do? The first is a really fun thing to know. Is someone able to do perfect fuotees or a split--why not take advantage of that. The second is the more important: the last thing you want is to get to rehearsal and have to change something major--or worse have an actor do something that makes them feel unsafe because they don't have the agency to communicate their discomfort in the moment.
BOWS ARE YOUR RESPONSIBLITY!!!!
Plan and teach them early
While you Choreograph
Or how to make it all look nice
Use everything you got
Have an actor who can do a cool trick or two? Fit it in. Have an interesting set? Use every single inch of it. At MTG we can't always get what we want, but using every single one of your resources will leave you with a final product that you're proud of.
Avoid monotony
MIT is hard, we get busy, and our choreography gets lazy. If ever you are working on a number and say to yourself “Wow. They're doing a lot of x”, change it up. People get bored watching the same thing over and over again, so give your audience a variety of things to look at. This not only extends to the steps themselves but also to what parts of the stage you use. Not everything needs to be symmetrical. Not everything needs to be centered.
Don't feel trapped
Sometimes when you think of choreography you have flashbacks to your elementary school dance days where dances were a mishmash of a cannon of steps. In theatre, especially when working with a group with little dance background, you have the freedom to make new steps. People are skipping? What's a more visually interesting way for people to skip? People are doing something (say, going on a picnic)? What parts of that action can you stylize into a dance move?
This is not theatre for the deaf
If you ever feel that more than one of your dance moves could be sign language for a lyric, go to jail; do not pass go; do not collect 200$. This looks kiddish and is boring. You're a more interesting person than this.
While You Teach
or how to make sure the cast likes you
Be a nice person
As a perfectionist, I had a hard lesson to learn: just because it’s not perfect doesn’t mean the cast isn’t doing well. Celebrate the small victories. Give compliments. Be careful not to sound condescending. All of these sound very obvious, but teaching people something that you understand well can be frustrating enough that these can be easily forgotten. Remember that while the guild wants to put on good shows, we also want to have fun doing it. Be your cast’s cheerleader while working hard to make the show better.
Don’t kill the actors
Keep an eye on how people are doing. If people look like they are going to pass out, take a break. If people look confused, touch base and ask if there is anything they want to clarify. When reviewing, don’t assume what works best for you will work best for others. A simple “do you want to walk through this before we run it” goes a long way.
Don’t waste their time
As MIT students, most of your actors will be extremely short on time. If they feel like you are wasting theirs, they will resent you. To avoid this, be sure to be prepared for rehearsal. Know exactly what you are going to teach and how you are going to do it before you walk into the door. That being said, it’s hard to tell exactly how certain pieces will be received by the cast, especially early on in the process, so if your plan isn’t working, listen to your cast (usually, veteran members will start to make suggestions if things are going wrong--listen to them).
Think about your relationship with your dance captain
If you decide to have a dance captain, think about how you will have her help you. Will she run warm-ups or run review rehearsals? Will he hold choreo office hours or just make themself available for questions?
During prod week
or how to let go
Know what’s worth fixing
During prod week runs, you’ll have the opportunity to give out notes to the cast. In the first couple of days, you’ll probably have to iron out a few spacing train-wrecks that inevitably result from moving into space. Once those are sorted out, it may be tempting to get really nit-picky, but before you give those notes, consider how much they will add to the show. Often, you’re better off becoming their cheerleader. Confident actors are way more fun to watch than perfect actors.
Technical things
Namely, warmups. You or your dance captain should run them regardless of how intense the show is. They should be approximately ten minutes long and fun.
TL;DR
or I know you’re hosed
Be a nice person
Be respectful of other’s time
Choreograph numbers that do more than just exist; choreograph ones that bring something special to the show.
Rules are meant to be broken.