Activities 3 and 4
Activity three: Structuring your choreography
  1. Go back to your floor pattern, using the movement motif you have created, add the motif to the floor pattern. Use your transition movement to link movements as necessary (this will help you to travel your floor pattern). By doing this you are structuring your choreography.
  2. Now look at your characters description and design. How would your character(s) perform your choreography, how would they perform each movement in your original motif, how would they travel the floor pattern?
  3. Practice and develop your choreography - make any changes you need to suit your character: that’s part of the process!
Activity four: Notating – recording and remembering

Notation is a short hand way of writing down choreography so it can be remembered.

Historical background of Notation

Since the early Egyptians the world has evidence of people recording movement through pictures. Since the Renaissance period early 15th–early 17th Century, the period where the origins of ballet can be traced (in Italy), people have been notating dances. Notation is to dance what it is to music, a way of recording and remembering choreography through symbols. There have been many different and personal methods, the most prominent these days being Benesh and Laban. Benesh is and has been used nearly specifically in The world of ballet and Laban being more prevalent in Contemporary Dance. In some books and information about Ballroom dancing, the feet we’ve used for the floor patterns mark out steps and movement patterns. However It has to be said that nowadays, video and dvd recording is mostly used by both Contemporary and Ballet companies.

Choreographers, dancers and teachers have many different individual methods for recording movement and patterns, words, diagrams and musical counts are often employed.

Task: Recording and remembering for yourself

In order to remember your choreography how would you choose to record it?

- Film

- Notes – words or diagrams

- Photographs

Find your own method and record it!