Hello dancers!
As part of your June performance, we’re bringing back the opportunity to create your very own creative dance story. This year instead of focusing solely on ballet, we’re calling it My Dance Story so that you can expand your storytelling options to include ballet, modern, and jazz!
Rene Lynch - Flock of Crows
Here are some guidelines for you as you get started:
STEP 1: Write your story.
Express yourself! Your story can be about anything you want! It can be funny, lighthearted, quirky, dramatic, angry, emotional, realistic, fantasy, or anything in-between. You can write a couple of sentences, paragraphs, pages, or even just create an outline. Make sure to give it a title!
STEP 2: Character Development
Think about who is telling this story. Is it you? Are there other characters involved? Are they human, animal, mystical? Describe their physical characteristics and any personality details that you feel are important. Be specific. List your characters and give them names.
Rene Lynch - Earthly Delights
STEP 3: Costume Design
What your characters are wearing can be a key component of telling a visual dance story! Draw and craft your costume ideas on a piece of paper, in a notebook, or make a poster if you’d like. Get creative! You can do anything from a simple sketch to detailed drawings, tiny mockups, or even create a real costume for yourself to wear! Use whatever craft supplies inspire you. (Colored pencils, markers, rhinestones, glitter, sequins, felt, feathers, pom poms, pipe cleaners, fabric, paper bags, paint, stickers, etc…Feeling excited yet?)
STEP 4: Music
Do you have a favorite piece of instrumental music that suits your story? If not, start listening and discover what you like. Remember that YOUR story is important, and you don’t need to rely on someone else’s words to tell it. Find a piece of music without words…Think classical, jazz, folk, instrumental versions of pop, or whatever musical genre strikes your fancy.
STEP 5: Set Design
Give some thought to how you want the stage to look. Are the characters inside an ornate castle or outside in a forest with the animals? Does the setting change as the story unfolds? What’s happening with the lighting? Is it warm and bright like a morning sunrise, or dark and mysterious with just the moonlight providing a gentle, eerie glow? What does the floor look like? Think about colors, shadows, murals, props, furniture, and any other elements that would help communicate your story. When you have some ideas flowing, create a sketch of your design. If you’re really interested in architecture or set design, you could even try making a miniature model of your set!
STEP 6: Choreography
Create a piece of movement for one of your characters, based on the elements of your story and designs. Sometimes a great way to start is to play the music and just start moving without trying to do specific steps. You might find that your body likes to move a certain way with the music. Go with it! Or, you may already have specific steps in mind that you’d like to experiment with. Some dancers find it helpful to write down the steps with corresponding musical counts to refer to later. (I do!) There is no right or wrong way to create, so just do what comes naturally.
You do NOT need to choreograph an entire full-length dance performance. Just focus on one of your characters and give us a glimpse into the story. Your piece should be no longer than 1 minute and 30 seconds. Please take a bow at the end!
NOTES:
Each of you dancers is unique with your own creative mind. Therefore, you do not need to complete these 6 steps in order! Last year, many of you found it helpful to start with the music first. Some of you started with costumes. Just begin with the step that you feel most excited about and the rest will come together from there.
We love seeing the full scope of your creations, so the more supporting materials you provide (sketches, designs, story & character details), the more we can visualize your stories. With that being said, this is an optional creative performance opportunity that is meant to feel FUN and inspiring for you! If you choose not to go through all the steps, but still end up creating a piece based on a story or idea, please submit it anyway!
Rene Lynch - Wild as the Wind
HOW TO SUBMIT:
You are welcome to submit your piece anytime within the next 3 months. My Dance Story submissions are by DUE MAY 15th.
Please upload all of your materials (videos, photos, documents) to Google Drive or Dropbox and then you can share the files with me: mayer.whitney@gmail.com or send me a sharable link. This seemed to work well last year.
You can also try emailing me your files as attachments.
***I will e-mail you to confirm receipt of your files! If you submit materials and don’t hear from me within a week, please check with me to make sure I received everything.***
QUESTIONS:
You may have the same question as someone else! Please click on the title of this post at the top, scroll to the very bottom, and write your questions in the comment section below. I’ll respond there for everyone to see.
Most of all, enjoy and have fun with this! We can’t wait to see what you create!!
Whitney