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What does a musical theatre choreographer actually do? They just 'make up the steps', right? This book firstly debunks the misunderstandings around what musical theatre choreographers actually do, demonstrating their need to have an in-depth understanding of storytelling, music theory, performance practices and plot structure in order to create movement that enhances and enlivens the musical. Secondly, it equips the musical theatre choreographer with all the tools needed to create nuanced, informed and inspired movement for productions, through structured activities that build specific skills (such as 'notating the script' and 'scoring the score'). Traditionally, this training has been something of a series of secrets, passed from mentor to apprentice. The author demystifies the process to make the previously undisclosed “tricks of the trade” accessible to all choreographers, everywhere. Covering the entire process of choreographing a musical from the first script reading to the final curtain call, this book makes case for the absolute integrity of the choreographer to any musical theatre production and sets out the theoretical principles of choreography alongside the practical application during every step of the production process.
Beginning Musical Theatre Dance introduces students enrolled in their first musical theatre dance course to techniques, steps, and practices to prepare them for a future of on-stage performances. The text and web resource offer students what they need to know to audition, rehearse, perform, care for themselves, and have successful dance experiences.
Musical theatre choreography has indisputably evolved over the years and choreographers develop methods of working and philosophical approaches that should be documented but rarely are. Textual information is limited, and what has been written is generally more practical than theoretical, and is minimal compared to those books written for choreographers of modern and contemporary dance. By pointing out the similarities and dissimilarities between concert dance genres and theatre dance, and by identifying the specialized demands of crafting artistic and script-serving theatre dance and staging, this text differentiates musical theatre choreography as a separate and bona fide art form and suggests that 1) universities recognize it as such by offering training possibilities for future musical theatre choreographers, and 2) established choreographers of musicals begin to write down their own artistic processes to help fill the choreographic toolbox for young choreographers wanting to work in this field. In 1943, a light switch was flipped with the musical Oklahoma! when Rodgers' and Hammerstein's mission to keep the book absolutely central to the making of a musical was established. After that, other musical theatre artists followed suit causing standards to change. Now, no other artistic element in a musical makes a move without first ensuring that it serves the script. By creating original material that is integral to the telling of a story, composers and lyricists came to be thought of as dramatists. Likewise, Oklahoma! choreographer Agnes de Mille seamlessly integrated her dances and staging into the action and created character and situation-specific movement that actually helped forward the plot. Because of her groundbreaking advances, choreographers are now also expected to create dances that serve the script and help to tell the playwright's story. The choreographer, like the librettist, composer, and lyricist, is now positioned as dramatist, as well. In Part 1, the choreographer as dramatist is stressed as the author uses each chapter to reflect upon ways she analyzes librettos and scores to determine the function of each song in a musical and the stories that should be told through dances and staging created for each song. Drawing from her own experiences as a musical theatre director/choreographer, she reflects upon and shares her artistic process, not in a linear way, but anecdotally, to illustrate the kind of thinking that will lead her to effectively tackle the job at hand. At the end of each chapter, assignments are suggested that may be useful to aspiring choreographers and directors of musicals. This text is a valuable resource for teachers designing a course in theatre choreography on either the undergraduate or graduate level, as well as for professional directors and choreographers who want to think more deeply about their own work. Students of choreography will be asked to reflect upon and to work with techniques that are sometimes similar to, but also often oppositional to those learned in modern dance choreography courses. Part Two offers an overview of the scope of literature and representative articles that have been published on both topics, modern dance composition and musical theatre choreography, as it concisely traces the history of modern dance choreographic pedagogy, aligning it with concurrent trends happening within the American musical theatre since the mid-19th century.
"Musical theatre dance is an ever-changing, evolving dance form, egalitarian in its embrace of any and all dance genres. It is a living, transforming art developed by exceptional dance artists and requiring dramaturgical understanding, character analysis, knowledge of history, art, design and most importantly an extensive knowledge of dance both intellectual and embodied. Its ghettoization within criticism and scholarship as a throw-away dance form, undeserving of analysis: derivative, cliché ridden, titillating and predictable, the ugly stepsister of both theatre and dance, belies and ignores the historic role it has had in musicals as an expressive form equal to book, music and lyric. The standard adage, "when you can't speak anymore sing, when you can't sing anymore dance" expresses its importance in musical theatre as the ultimate form of heightened emotional, visceral and intellectual expression. Through in-depth analysis author Liza Gennaro examines Broadway choreography through the lens of dance studies, script analysis, movement research and dramaturgical inquiry offering a close examination of a dance form that has heretofore received only the most superficial interrogation. This book reveals the choreographic systems of some of Broadway's most influential dance-makers including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett and Camille Brown. Making Broadway Dance is essential reading for theatre and dance scholars, students, practitioners and Broadway fans"--
Provides advice on all aspects of staging dance, from understanding the score and planning the routines, through sets, costumes and props, auditioning and casting dancers, to rehearsals and the final performance.
YOU, THE CHOREOGRAPHER, Creating and Crafting Dance offers a synthesis of histories, theories, philosophies, and creative practices across diverse genres of concert dance choreography. The book is designed for readers at every stage of creative development who seek to refine their artistic sensibility. Through a review of major milestones in the field, including contributions to choreography from the humanities, arts, and modern sciences, readers will gain new perspectives on the historical development of choreography. Concise analyses of traditional fundamentals and innovative practices of dance construction, artistic research methods, and approaches to artistic collaboration offer readers new tools to build creative habits and expand their choreographic proficiencies. For learners and educators, this is a textbook. For emerging professionals, it is a professional-development tool. For established professionals, it is a companion handbook that reinvigorates inspiration. To all readers it offers a cumulative, systematic understanding of the art of dance making, with a wealth of cross-disciplinary references to create a dynamic map of creative practices in choreography.
"This foundational book provides the tools, terms, history, and movement theory for reading, interpreting, and analysing dance in musical theatre"--
A guide for dancers, choreographers and directors, this book examines all phases of the choreographic process, such as structuring the dance, creating floor plans, staging, director, costumes and styles. Shows by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein and Gilbert and Sullivan are featured.
This book is a compilation of all aspects of performing arts from costumes, to music, to characterization. The book takes a critical look at the similarities and differences between dance and theater choreography from the perspective of the author and their own experiences with both of these art forms. The book is filled with pictures from a variety of different shows as well as an included viewer's guide written by the author for those interested in learning more about dance or theatre.
Movement is crucial to setting the pace and mood of any play. Whether it's the synchronous movement of a crew of dancers or the seemingly random coordination of actors on stage, this physical activity is part of the vision established by the choreographer. This book explores the methods and techniques that meshes that vision with those of the director to create a unified message.