Examples of Skills required as a Choreographer 

Organisation – Planning, Setting up rehearsals, Creating choreography prior to teaching sessions 

Leadership – communicating with group via social media, teaching in rehearsals 

Creativity – creating original movement, developing flowing movements and captivating narrative, creating music to help structure/ narative/ portray intentions

Time Management- managing time during rehearsals (being organised and having content prepared) creating a choreography timeline 

Planning, Research- creating a mood board- planning before attending rehearsal content to keep ahead of time schedule  

Working with Dancers- communication, working on technique and dancers own specific needs 

Evaluation your Strengths and Development needs 

Requirements of the evaluation process in your choreography review 

N5 Dance 

Strengths - Candidates are expected to describe one choreographic strength and give two examples of this from their work. (Award up to 3 marks as follows:  Award 1 mark for a straightforward description of a strength evident or developed during the candidate’s work as a choreographer.  Award 1 mark for each valid example from any part of the choreographic process: research, planning, development and presentation of performance. 

Development Needs- Candidates are expected to describe one choreographic area for development and give two examples of this from their work. (Award up to 3 marks as follows:  Award 1 mark for a straightforward description of an area for development evident during the candidate’s work as a choreographer.  Award 1 mark for each valid example from any part of the choreographic process: research, planning, development and presentation of performance.) 

Higher Dance 

Candidates evaluate a choreographic skill and the impact this has on the finished choreography. (At least one point should make reference to the choreographed dance and one skill, and the impact this has on the finished choreography. 4 marks -Detailed ideas and information are given about one choreographic skill and justified with at least two specific examples.  Clear evaluation linking the skill identified and the impact this has on the finished choreography.) 

N5 Example 

Strength Communication 

One strength I have as a choreographer is communication by giving clear explanations to my dancers when teaching my choreography.

• 1)An example of this  strength is shown when  my dancers understand what I would like them to do when learning movements and applying the correct dynamics I would like them to use in certain parts of my dance to help portray the theme and intentions. I am able to verbally communicate my ideas and use personal demonstration so they can replicate the dynamics and apply it to their performance. As a result my dancers are able to communicate my intentions and the correct parts of the dance, creating contrast between soft emotional sections and strong, hard hitting impactful sections. 

• 2) I also know I have good communication as when I give my dancers a feedback ot correction, they are adapt their performance quickly to enhance the performance or change it to how id like it to be performed. The clarity of my instructions  helps my dancers to understand what I am trying to communicate, this means time isnt wasted trying to constantly go over the same sections of choreography which I wish to develop and  has a positive impact on my overall performance as I am able to polish more of the dance to a standard i am happy with.

Development Need- Organisation 

One area for development I have as a choreographer is my organisation.  

• 1) An example of this is that I did not create movement prior to my scheduled rehearsals, meaning i had to create movements up on the spot. Sometimes I teach parts of my choreography then end up changing it because I don’t like the way it looks or it didn't relate enough to my theme and intentions. This lack of organisation has a negative  impact on my time management and as a result I had to arrange additional rehearsals closer to the exam which I had not planned to, meaning my dancers had to commit over and above before their initial expectation. To  improve this I could  think more in depth about what needed work before coming to class so that I was coming to class more prepared, if my organisation was better, then I would have been able to manage my time better to get things done quickly and efficiently.

• 2) Another example of my lack of organisation is that I didn't create a rehearsal schedule at the beginning of my choreography journey. This meant dancers were not committed to a specific day or time for rehearsals. As a result there were many times that both my dancers could not make the scheduled time for that week. This resulted in me having to hold 2 separate rehearsals and having to dance my choreography. As a result I wasn't able to watch the performance of that section as it was being taught making it difficult to make corrections or give feedback. This ultimately resulted in me needing more rehearsals than anticipated to clean the routine prior to my final exam. 

Higher Example

Strength- Creativity 

A choreographic skill that was a strength of mine during the choreographic process was my creativity. My creativity is shown through my motif which clearly shows the mental effects bullying has on its victims through creative movements.  I have further used my creativity through the development of the motif to enhance the theme further and show how mental effects develop over time and can be long term.

1) An example of my creativity would be my use of props throughout the dance. The use of the backpack allows the audience to understand the weight of the mental and physical abuse the victim of bullying endures. Everytime the dancers feels mentally frustrated the movement gravitates back towards the backpack, everytime the put the backpack on their movements are low and grounded to show the weight that being bullied causes them. The backpack is a common school item and also helps portray the theme and show the setting which this behaviour most commonly exists. Using the backpack helped to create a visual for the audience making it clear that the dancer (victim) was unhappy.  This had a very positive impact on the finished dance as it  helped communicate the ideas of mental health in my theme. It also gave a cue to my dancer playing the role of the victim when to use certain emotions and dynamics to help show the emotional stress and mental breakdown.  This meant that the emotion was there and it allowed the intentions to become clear for the audience and for them to buy into the emotional intent of my piece.

2) A second example of my effective creativity would be my original and unique movements which helps gets the theme of bullying across in an interesting way, my movements all relate to my theme but are not typically seen in dances. An example of this creative use of movement includes the move that helped to show the dancers mental health deteriorating.  I chose to use a motif where touching of the head the dancer is in a seated position on the floor, the low position helps to show depression.  They put their hands on their head, firstly with the right hand following with the left. This movement is used to help show that bullying has affected their mental health. The dancer rocks back and forth, this helps and shows the anxiety described by victims in my research. The dancer contracts their arms and stomach to show the physical impact the bullying is therefore having on their body. The dancers reaches up to the sky to show they are reaching out, no response shows the isolation victims feel. The dancer places their hands over their face to show the rejection that they feel, hiding showing poor social function which my research describes. This motif was developed through substitution, augmentation and cumulative cannon to she the development of the mental effects.   I believe this made the finished dance look more interesting and gave a mature approach to conveying my intentions.  Another aspect of the choreography that showed my creativity was the use of contact partner work section.  I experimented with different ways of having my dancers in contact with one another to show the physical aspect of bullying, the minisplation and control.  This resulted in some creative lifts where dancers manipulated the victims movements, through pushing and pulling different body parts.  Again, I felt that this had a positive impact on the final dance making the message of [power, control and victimisation clear through creative and interesting movement choices.