Divina Teruel Wakefield and Professor Cathy Black, Dance

Dance productions often involve several different numbers or dances. A single number in a production is usually created with one selection of music. Everything else such as the style, mood, and theme relate to the music. When a medley or suite of dances are arranged in a single number, the components become much more complicated.

Since the 1940s Americans have been interested in the different Latin American rhythms (1). Each Latin American dances has it=s own style, rhythm, and tempo. For example, the Rumba is slow and romantically danced in 4/4 time with 28 bars per minute. A very different dance which depicts a bull fight, the Paso Doble, is danced in 2/4 time with a tempo of 62 bars per minute (2). Separately, each dance can easily be choreographed for production. When combining several different dances, the choreographer must find ways to blend the differences without changing the overall theme of the production. Several areas must be looked at when attempting to create or choreograph a medley of dances.

Perhaps the simplest part of creating a Latin American medley was arranging the music. Technology made it easy to blend different rhythms and tempos as well as add in sound effects for difficult transitions between music selections. This particular medley was centered around the theme of James Bond, with the music being entirely from James Bond soundtracks. With careful thought and a lot of time, the music was the least difficult part of creating the medley.

Developing the movement itself was not as difficult as choreographing movement that portrayed the theme of the production, James Bond. Creating movement that related to an underlying theme throughout the entire number was challenging. Careful attention was paid to the spacing, relationship between the partnerships as well as the whole group, timing, and energy quality. The most difficult choreographic parts were the transitions between the music changes. When changing from a slow, romantic Rumba to a lively, energetic Jive, there was a lot of experimentation and re-choreographing to make it work. This was difficult because the two dances are so different. The pieces had to be tied together, yet the two dances had to be kept distant. After several trials and manipulating movement, a beautiful transition was created.

Another difficult aspect was creating the costuming. Only one costume could be used for each dancer since they were on stage the entire time. For an eight minute number that included 5 different dances, this was a challenge. Naturally, all the ladies needed to wear the same costume and all the men likewise. This helps to keep the theme alive and create a clean look on stage. The difficulty was all of the considerations that were taken in to make the ladies= costumes work: black light (costume must glow), floor work, lifts, quick spins, and the theme. All of these had to tie into the costume. Several costumes were attempted, until one was made that worked with all of the necessary details. The ladies wore a black pant with a neon orange wrap around the waist, a neon orange tie dyed shirt, and an orange scarf. The material was made of lycra so that it fit tightly. This helped to keep the costumes down while the ladies were lifted and had fast movements. The neon lycra material reflected under black light as well. The pants allowed the ladies to do movements on the floor without the problem of being risque as a skirt would have been.

This project was quite a bit more difficult than expected. I hypothesized that the music would be the most challenging part. However, the choreographic transitions and the costuming were the most difficult. If I were to re-do this project, I would use only three couples instead of four to make the spacing on the stage easier. Otherwise, I was satisfied with the overall production. This experience was invaluable to me. It has opened my eyes towards choreographing and given me new insight in creative processes.

References

1. Edgington, Marci H. and B. Lee Wakefield. American Social Dance. Brigham Young University, 1995.
2. Francis, Sydney, Doris Lavelle, Doris Nichols, Dimitri Petrides, Elizabeth Romain, and Peggy Spencer. The Revised Technique of Latin-American Dancing. London: Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, 1983.