How to Choreograph a Musical Theater Number

Musical theater is a great American tradition. The most memorable show-stopping moments in musical theater hinge on the choreographer's ability to design dance numbers which are both appropriate for the contents of the musical and well organized, succinct dance numbers. The steps break down the process of choreographing a musical theater piece and will provide you with the techniques you need to create a show-stopping number of your own.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Legal pad
• Pen

1. 
    

   Determine the style of the number you are choreographing. Some of the stylistic elements will be obvious when listening to the music of the piece. For example, is the number upbeat, a ballad or a down-tempo piece? Some of the more intricate stylistic choices may require a little research into the history and context of the musical. For example, if you are choreographing a number from the musical "Chicago," you can identify the style of dance as jazz. Whereas if you are designing a dance for a song from the musical "Sunset Boulevard," you will need to create a grand chorus piece. The style of dance should be determined by the style of music. Listen for musical clues such as a swing beat, dance breaks, or tempo lifts and changes.

2. Dissect the structure of the song you are to choreograph. Most musical theater songs are done in an eight-count structure. For this, you will need to sit down and tally the total number of eight counts in the song. Then write the numbers 1 through 8 down the side margin of a legal pad for each eight count. Identify the section of the song in the margins as well, next to the numbers. For example: verse 1, chorus, bridge, break. (For four-count breaks in the music, simply write 1 through 4 instead with a notation of "break" in the margin.) The completed numbered pages compose your dance chart. These eight counts are what you will need to fill to create a professionally choreographed number. If you are choreographing a large chorus number with multiple parts, you will need a separate chart for each part.

3. Determine if there will be any repeating sections of the dance when designing the dance steps of the number. For example, creating a repeating section for the chorus of a song creates continuity throughout the piece which allows the audience to focus on the music as opposed to the intricacies of your dance onstage. This technique is especially useful when choreographing a number for educational theater, in which you may be dealing with less experienced dancers who will appreciate the simplicity of repetitive dance. Create the individual dance steps contained within these repetitive sections and record them next to the corresponding eight count sections on your dance chart. Then move on to create steps for the non-repeating sections of song.

4. Remember when choreographing a musical theater number to keep your dancers' abilities in mind. Do not create a dance sequence too difficult for your performers to execute. It is far better to keep steps simple and precise than to create complicated steps which will appear messy and disorganized onstage. A good rule of thumb to remember is that the greater the number of performers onstage for a number, the simpler the dance steps should be. More people in the audience sight line creates a greater margin of error between each individual dancer. And a simple step executed in perfect synchronization looks far better than a complicated step out of sync.