Choreograph A Beginning Jazz Dance
Elements needed to choreograph a good jazz dance routine.
Instructions
1. There are several elements that go into choreographing and developing a good beginning jazz dance. Although you want the dance to be simple enough for the dancers to look good, you don't want it to be boring. You can achieve an entertaining and well developed dance by using basic beginning jazz moves and technique coupled with good music, levels and timely formation changes. If you put all of these elements together when choreographing a beginning jazz dance you're sure to create something worth watching and fun to do.
Pick Good Music
The first thing you'll want to do is pick good music. I have always said that picking the right song is half the battle. You want to pick music that is relevant to the mood you are trying to set or message you are trying to get across in your dance.
2. Visualize Moves
Once you have chosen your song, you should always listen to it as many times as you need to in order to visualize what kind of moves should go with certain parts of the music. You want to make sure the moves complement what's going on with the music at a particular time.
3. Combine Basic Combinations
When choreographing the dance, combine basic moves together into what's called combinations. You will want to divide these combinations into eight counts set to the beat or rhythm of your music. For beginning jazz your combinations should include kick ball changes, pada berets, plies and beginning turns among other things. Again, you want to choose moves that the dancer or dancers are capable of doing. The worst thing you could do is choreograph a dance that is too difficult for your dancers. No matter how good the combinations are, the dance will be a flop if the dancers can not execute them properly.
4. Add Levels
Adding levels to your dance will make it more interesting to perform and to watch. Use standing and ground work together as well as plies and releves. This will add elevations to the dance and give it more depth.
5. Add Transitions and Formations
When choreographing a beginning jazz dance you definitely want to add a variety of transitions and formation changes more so if you are choreographing a group dance. Different transitions and formations make your dance more entertaining and pleasing to the eye.
If you use all of the above elements when choreographing your beginning jazz dance you should be able to come up with something that is fun to perform and entertaining to watch.
