Stage | The Guardian: Ellen Kane is on a roll. When we speak, the choreographer and movement director has two shows running, Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre, and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 at the Donmar. She has just finished Why Am I So Single?, the follow-up from the writers of Six, the smash hit about Henry VIII’s wives, and she’s in rehearsals for the revival of Dear England, James Graham’s funny and stirring depiction of Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England manager. If you watched all those shows in a row, you would have no idea the same person had a hand in them all, such is the art of the movement director, a job that many may not even realise exists. But it’s an essential one.
2 comments:
I feel like people often discredit choreography if the pieces that are choreographed aren't conventional dance. The reason the Oscars don't have an award for choreography is because most mainstream movies arent heavily dance based so people wouldn't expect there to be one. I think it's really important and cool that this article is shining light on how choreographers do so much more than just directing dance. One (one being my annoying ass self) would ask well what even is dance to begin with if we are always repeating movements we've done once before in some type of pattern? BUT I digress, choreography is so crucial to establishing character. Alot of physical acting training and direction are usually placed on the director, but the choreographer really has to plan out not only how the individual actor should move, but also how they should move and interact with other actors within the space. If i was better at dancing i would honestly love to have this job because it is so gosh darn cool.
I agree so much with this article. Choreography really is one of the things that makes theatre theatre, and it just adds so much emotion to performances. Choreography can completely change the meaning and feeling of a piece, and it is so upsetting that choreographers are so underappreciated and under-credited. I think the biggest example in the article of this was Kane‘s work on the Matilda the Musical movie. I remember after the movie came out, and even still, it is constantly on TikTok and such specifically for its choreography, but I have never once seen Kane‘s name attached to any of this. Furthermore, the idea that a choreographer would be credited on IMDb as part of the additional crew section is crazy to me. A choreographer‘s work is just as important as the work of scenic and costume designers and the like. I feel like choreography is just something that we as viewers take for granted and that we just think is part of it— not something that is deliberately created and engineered in an artfully masterminded way. I really do think that they should probably add an Oscars category for choreography, that would be such a huge addition to the awards and a step in the right direction for choreographers everywhere.
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