STEP 3A: Class
FINALIZED MY PIECE THIS PAST WEEKEND! But I thought I'd save the final result for my update tonight
Met the team tonight and held the first class to teach them my piece! We got all the way up to just before the chorus before the kids started getting tired/struggling with retaining the choreography. I'll be coming back another day to teach the rest of it.
In the meantime, I performed a solo of my whole piece for them so they have a reference for when they practice as a team. I also got a video of them performing what they've learned so far. The group is TINY this year but I'm confident they'll be mighty Enjoy!
NEXT STEPS...
The team has about a week to practice my piece before I come back on Wednesday to "cast" and "block" them. Casting is essentially the audition to be a part of the piece in the set. The team will break out into smaller groups and perform the piece in front of the choreographer. Then, the choreographer selects the dancers he or she wants to include.
Next, the choreographer blocks those selected, meaning he or she will place the dancers in specific spots on stage and create formations and effects throughout the piece. This part is pretty fun and you get to be really creative! The brainstorming starts now...I'm usually kind of sucky at blocking but I hope it turns out ok hahaha
Bruh, it's been SOOO COOL to see the progression of these moves!! I've been watching your old vids and it's neat spotting what made the cut to the final presentation and what's been scrapped. LDKJFLADKSJFLKDS. Bruh, seriously, thank you for letting us take a peek at this process!!!
Bruh, it's been SOOO COOL to see the progression of these moves!! I've been watching your old vids and it's neat spotting what made the cut to the final presentation and what's been scrapped. LDKJFLADKSJFLKDS. Bruh, seriously, thank you for letting us take a peek at this process!!!
girl thank youuuuu I'm glad you find it interesting!!
In the 7 years I've been doing this, it never occurred to me to document the process so this is actually really cool for me too! It's also kind of forcing me to keep myself accountable and I ended up with a final product that I'm really happy with. This is probably one of my favorite pieces so far <3
Thanks again for checking in on the progress and stay tuned for more
STEP 4: Casting
As I mentioned in a previous post, 'casting' is basically the 'audition' to be included/placed in a choreographer's piece. Usually, not everyone on the team is selected to be in the piece, but this year's team is only 12 people, so all of them are going to be in it. Casting is still important though, in order for me to identify each dancer's strengths and weaknesses, and determine the appropriate 'placement' on the stage for each of them.
Since this team usually consists of new dancers, I'm extremely deliberate in my placement of each member, especially since there are different skill levels across the team. I try my best to distribute the stronger/veteran dancers evenly amongst the newer dancers, and I've seen in past years that being next to someone strong inevitably helps the newbie build confidence by mirroring them.
Last night we casted for my piece and I broke the team into 4 groups of 3 people. Each group had a chance to perform my piece once as a 'mark' (like a practice round) and twice 'full out' (actual performance). The rest of the team watches and cheers them on until it's their turn to cast.
STEP 5A: Blocking
Once casting is over, I review my notes and begin blocking. This is when I give each dancer his or her 'spot' and have them create formations and effects throughout the piece. This includes minor choreography changes for some of them.
By the time casting was over last night it was already a little late, so I only blocked a little bit of my piece before calling it a night. But they're looking really good so far!!! Check out the progress below -- they're blocked up until about :35, at which point I asked them to continue the piece in place through the end. Note the new floor work that I incorporated as 'accents' to the original choreo-- SICK!!!! *pats self on back vigorously*
Also you can't see, but it even started raining/drizzling while they were performing! FITTING!! nice work, cLOUDS!!!
Bruh I watched that last video about 9 times in a row - they've improved so much and they're looking so much cleaner and smoother!!!! The blocking looks fantastic too; the smaller numbers really accentuate the artistry in their collective form and as they appear as silhouettes in this video it makes it really quite visually spectacular.
The blocking is still a little dirty/messy, but this is not bad for having just learned it! Also the team shrunk even more - now they are only 8 members total - but I think they still look great. Pretty happy with how this turned out!
NEXT STEPS...
Next up in the process is to 'clean' the piece - which is when I come back and make sure every member is executing the moves the way they're supposed to, and that the different effects throughout the piece are showing clearly. This is probably the most rigorous part of the process and requires a lot of 'drilling' - repeating the same choreography over and over again until it looks clean - but the most fun and satisfying for me, personally, because this is when everything starts to look rEALLY good. Stay tunnneeeeddd...
@trash panda the team usually tries to find their usual spot at UCI (where those stairs are) but sometimes they are kicked out by other dance teams. In those cases, they try to find a different spot on campus to practice
Hmm I haven't taught smols yet! I was going to as a part time job, once upon a time, but unfortunately the time commitment was too much to balance with my day job
ok tbh when I compare this video to the last video I posted they're both still pretty clean BUT STILL the little changes/tweaks make a big difference I think! the team has been doing so great and lo and behold THEIR COMPETITION IS THIS SUNDAY!
the other pieces are looking great too and the team has actually completed the whole set, with transitions between pieces and all! this friday is their 'preview night' for the rest of the fraternity to come and watch them before actual competition day - I'll try and grab a video of that and share. then, this sunday is the actual competition which marks the end of this journey! super eager to see how it all turns out
The team debuted their set to the fraternity body this past Friday as a preview before competition day. Got a copy of the video to share so feel free to enjoy the whole set if you're interested! It's about 8 min long. You might not hear the music much over the cheering tho also my piece is third in the set at around 3:29 (some guy stands up in the middle of it tho pls ignore). I always like listening to the audience's reaction hahaha
Can you, in the future, tell me when and where your competitions are and I will make an actual appointment to lurk!??! Will bring coffee or cookies or grapes or koolaid or whatever you want.
asd;lkjfa;lkj OK I CAN'T CONTAIN IT ANYMORE THE KIDS GOT 3RD PLACE AT THEIR COMPETITION YAYAYAYAYAYYYY!!!!!
we heard the news last sunday shortly after they competed but I've been waiting on the GATDAMN hosting organization to post the videos and they haven't yet!!! i will post it as soon as it's available!
to be completely honest, considering their small size (this is a record for this chapter: 9 vs. typically ~30), i wasn't expecting too much from the results of this competition. no matter how clean they might be, a small team doesn't compare to how a large team looks on stage, y'know? it's hard to compete with that energy. so i am so incredibly proud of what these kids were able to pull off next to the other teams three times their size. it really is a testament to how hard they worked and persisted in spite of the odds. i heard that when they heard their name announced, they were SO shocked and ecstatic, even if it was only third place -- and that makes me soooo happy!
swiped this photo from one of the teammate's IG accounts. caption is: "peek the 3rd photo to see our tiny-ass team hugging (screaming) when they announced that we placed LOL" <3
