Dance Magazine: There’s nothing judges love more than sparkling-clean choreography. Keeping competition routines in tip-top shape is always labor-intensive—but especially when the number is the work of a guest choreographer, who may have set it months ago and probably isn’t available to oversee the cleaning process. Here’s how to polish even the smallest details of a guest artist’s routine without altering the piece’s integrity.
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As a stage manager, this is something we encounter often on long running shows. There is a very delicate line when knowing when and how to address choreography (or staging in general whether it is regular blocking or fight choreography) that is being performed differently than intended by the person who set it. This begs a larger question often discussed in stage management is where the line stops what can and cannot be changed while still keeping the integrity of the show the same from when it was set with the entire team during tech. Often, I have found this to be a discussion heavily around media. If the media does not work, at what point do we stop the performance since the show is not upholding the artistic vision? I feel the same way about choreography. How much can slip before the choreography is no longer what it needs to be and who is responsible for making that call? Is it a director or assistant director? Do we use videos to send to them like mentioned in this article Or does stage management have the ability and knowledge behind the piece to make that judgement call.
It sounds like Heidi Knight is doing a great job balancing between keeping the integrity of the original choreography and keeping the dancing clean. I’m sure that like theater, egos and feelings can easily be hurt if someone unintentionally changes the artistic vision of a piece or performance, so finding that fine line and walking it must be extremely difficult. Danielle Braithwaite said, “The motivation behind the routine should be honored.” Having an assistant in the room that is part of the company, in addition to the dancers, is a simple and smart way to help achieve this. Morgan Burke’s statement, “Remember that it’s fine to feel uncomfortable at first—good, even. Before you decide something isn’t going to work, sit with it a little longer. That’s how you become versatile,” also applies to theater. Many times a cast or a design team will try something and if it doesn’t work immediately they get discouraged and say it won’t work at all. But you have to be willing to try again to see if it will really not work, or if it just takes practice.
This article was so helpful to read. There aren’t a lot of articles on the newsquiz blog about dance so this was very nice to read. I am currently working on two pieces for Dance Light and one of them involves a lot of individual work. In doing so I am finding choreographic beats in the music that I really resonate with that were not specified during rehearsal. I am struggling with making the choreography my own while still being true to the choreography and the choreographer's vision. This article reminded me to keep checking in and making sure that I run the dance full-out with the choreographer so they are appropriately caught up and can provide their insight. I feel like I am starting out with a good piece to work on developing this skill with as the choreographer is here with me and can periodically check in during a rehearsal.
The dance world is basically brand new to me. I danced a little when I was like eight years old and I’ve gone to a handful of ballets. As dance light approaches I find myself learning more and more about what the dance industry looks like but also what my role might be. As a stage manager, it is my job to uphold the integrity of a team’s vision. Something that managers need to constantly balance is the limits of what can be altered without compromising the show's original integrity and this is made even more difficult by throwing in a skill that I for one am not proficient at. There is a broader conversation at play here which is what is the stage manager’s artistic role in a piece as an artistic collaborator but that is for another day. This article was useful for me moving into the next few months. There are complex dynamics involved in maintaining the artistic vision of a show and it takes practice.
The shows I have worked on in the educational setting have had short runs and only one cast, I have yet to face the issue of maintaining design integrity. This being said, I know that once I begin in the industry, this will be something that I will face. As an artist, it can be easy to implement small changes that in my opinion will make a piece better. However, when I work as a technician, I have to catch myself on this as it is not my design. Egos can very quickly stir and the situation can become less than ideal. While this article was made for dance studios, I still find it quite illuminating to how to work with guest designers. One quote I really appreciated was, “The assistant cleans the details of the choreography, but if we perfect too much, the work becomes stagnant, and the intention gets lost.” When I stage manage, I cannot turn into the choreographer and change the intention of the piece but rather should work to get pieces just to a place of cleanliness.
Cleaning up a choreographer's work after they leave is a big deal; it's about keeping the artistic vibe intact. Once the director's gone, it's on the stage manager to make sure the piece stays true to its roots. The article brings up a cool point—who gets the final say in decisions? It's a real puzzle. They suggest a practical fix: record videos of the original choreography and share them with the choreographer, director, and others in the mix. It's a smart move, and actually exactly what we did for “Put Your House In Order” this year. The article makes you appreciate the nitty-gritty of stage management, where you're juggling between sticking to the choreographer's vision and dealing with on-the-fly adjustments. The video idea seems like a lifeline, a way to bridge the gap when the original creators aren't around. It's a reminder that being a stage manager isn't just about calling cues; it's about being the keeper of the dance, ensuring it stays alive and true even after the creators have left the stage.
As a dancer, this was really interesting to read. I haven’t really worked with a guest choreographer before, and when couple of times that I did, they were there the entire time, and that was really helpful during the entire process. Cleaning can always be a challenge, even when the choreographer is there, because of how the dancers dance, and it may slightly change the choreographers original thoughts for the piece. Even when I’m doing a dance cover, instead of looking at the dancer or the artist doing the dance, I tend to go back and look at the look at the original choreographer’s demo, and see how they execute the moves, so I can better replicate the dance. I always think about in these cases, how do I clean the dances the best if I can’t get the original choreographer to look at it. Do I just keep doing it until I replicate it as well as I can? Or should I just make it my “own” dance?
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