There is no such thing as a Broadway soundtrack. A soundtrack refers to movies. Broadway has original cast recordings or OCRs. In book and music stores soundtracks and OCRs are usually lumped together under the label Soundtrack, but this is incorrect. (Shame on you Barnes and Noble.)

Choreographers in high school and musical theatre can help themselves by casting performers who make not think of themselves as dancers but who have a facility for math, engineering, and/or soccer. There is a great deal in these subjects that can apply to dance as well.

Patterns. Putting dancers in Vs, Xs, triangles, circles, etc.

Choreographers should also know the emotional associations with the six major regions of the stage. E.g. USL is associated with judgement/being judgemental.

Movement abstraction of an idea or entity can be a great way to build vocabulary. It is also a great way to give a singer something to do with her hands.

And I’ve had to fight for my time in choreography too, unfortunately. I often feel it’s a similar issue to the above – the director does not necessarily have any idea what it takes to teach/build/learn choreography. As choreographer, it’s necessary to communicate what you need to do your job well and insist it be blocked into the schedule.

Thanks so much for your comments, Michelle! I really appreciate your stopping by and I look forward to reading more of your blog posts as well.

I would like to add my two sense here on the Movement portion of the blog and working with the director portion.

For the movement portion: I agree that choroegraphers need to keep dance moves simple when working with amatuers or high school students. Surprisingly, the people you choreograph struggle with even the simplist of dance moves you give them and look awkward, so it’s important to be a flexible choreographer. Be ready to modify the dance moves to fit the performs abilities evenmore. I choreograph two high school productions a year, and I adamatically create a “plan b” dance moves just incase, so I don’t waste time in rehearsal.

Communicate with the director: I absolutely agree with you on this. Alot of times, I have worked with director’s who want to spend alot of time helping the actor’s “act”. That is an important part of the show, however, make sure you fight for your rehearse time. In the past, I have found myself with less rehearsal time then what the director and I agreed to. Consequentely,as show would get closer, I would have to cut my choreography vision in half inorder to just finish the numbers. So really pay attention to the director’s schedule and make sure you get your time.