repertoire or repetitive?

[RioDancerCO]

I wanted some feed back on choreographed dancing. I have danced with two groups now and the first one believed that you should never go back to old work which limits how long you can dance for. The troupe I dance with now occasionally choreographs something new but the vast majority of their dances (15-20) have been around for at least 7-8 years if not more! I love the dances but I feel like the reputation of the troupe suffers because it seems to be stagnating. I'm not the troupe leader so there's a limit to what I can do. I'm definitely willing to voice my opinion and offer my help in correcting the situation though.
Rio

 

[TiaSerena]

Rio,

My teacher and her troupe repeat their routines quite a lot. There is one dance that I completely love because I am amazed at their movements as I am learning them. I don't mind seeing it again and again for that reason. However, I will tell you what some audience members have said after seeing a few student workshops where her troupe has performed some reruns.

The majority have said that the dance is good but she must be running out of ideas or why doesn't she come up with something new we've seen that before. They say why doesn't she let someone else choreograph so we can see something different, we don't mind the older stuff, but we want to see something else.

I guess it's like there are oldie yet goodie choreographed dances that can be revisted because it's a crowd favorite, but from what I have heard from the audience people like to see something new.

Take care,

Tia-Serena

 

[Aisha Azar]

Dance, etc.

Dear Rio,
I agree that it is time for your company to come up with some new material. I choreography new group dances/skits/etc. for my dance company (Barharat!!) twice a year. We also use stuff in other shows during the year that we have used before, but in these two shows, everything is new. Occasionally I will get out dances that I choregraphed 20 years ago, dust them off and refurbish them and use them in current shows, but to use the same dances for 8 years in a row would be mucho boring!!
Regards,
A'isha

 

[teela]

Having started dancing in colorado where most levels had set routines you performed at the student shows, I'm in favor of having new routines on a regular basis, especially if your troupe performs in public frequently. Having a large number of routines to choose from is fine but you don't want to do the same ones over and over again. The public can be a bit fickle and turned off if they see the same thing over and over. Good luck

 

[da Sage]

I wanted some feed back on choreographed dancing. I have danced with two groups now and the first one believed that you should never go back to old work which limits how long you can dance for. The troupe I dance with now occasionally choreographs something new but the vast majority of their dances (15-20) have been around for at least 7-8 years if not more! I love the dances but I feel like the reputation of the troupe suffers because it seems to be stagnating. I'm not the troupe leader so there's a limit to what I can do. I'm definitely willing to voice my opinion and offer my help in correcting the situation though.
Rio

If your troupe is keeping 15-20 group numbers performance-ready, I am very impressed with their work ethic! But I have to wonder if it wouldn't be just as efficient to keep fewer dances in rotation, but make more of them "new". Is the music the same too?

Maybe the troupe could resolve to increase the number of new dances that they do every year.

 

[Maria_Aya]

Oh boy boring lol
When I have to repeat for various reasons a choreo I try to do these:

a) to check if its a total different event/audience, in this case and if we are running out of time, yes we do.

b) if its the same kind of audience, I change the number of participants, maybe I will turn a group choreo to a duet, change the entrance, the finale, and the directions of the choreo, also the costuming, and it appears as a total different thing.

c) and a question, someone asked if for the same choreo is used the same music. Well if its not, the person that made the choreo, teach it etc, doesnt have a clue of orientaldance.

maria aya

 

[Amulya]

Yes it is boring, but I guess it must be hard to keep up with so many dancers. However they can do like Maria Aya said; change some things. I guess change of costumes helps too.

 

[RioDancerCO]

Thanks for the feedback guys... Some of you mention costuming and that's a whole 'nother pet peeve of mine I'm sure some of you have noticed that I'm sort of a costume nut. To answer some of the questions: Yes, it is the same dance to the same music. The number of dancers and what they choose to wear varies (and it's not coordinated, generally). I don't know that I'd say we keep all 15-20 pieces of choreography in tip-top performance condition, but we choose the ones that will be used in an upcoming performance and knock the dust off them. Our troupe doesn't have great strength in creating new choreography. I personally think that part of the problem is that most of the girls in it have only danced with this company. They've taken the occasional workshop, but never danced with other groups. This is great for keeping movement names straight, but not so great when trying to put together a new routine. I have been trying to get everyone fired up about workshops and videos in the hopes that we can all bring some fabulous new move home to incorporate in a new dance. *sigh* If I were a genius at creating new dances, I'd do all the work myself...

 

[belly_dancer]

what I do sometimes for my troupe.... is pick the music
* have them break off in groups of 2 or 3,
*play the song continuously for 15-20 minutes & have them "make up" a quickie duet/trio to it... (usually not to the WHOLE song!!!!!)
*then they "perform it for the rest of us

what I do is walk around, observing ... seeing the different movements, etc. the girls like, taking notes.... trying to get new ideas for that song that won't so much look like "me" (my pet peeve is when you can tell WHO choreographed a piece... cause even if new/different they tend to all look the same!!!)
then I am able to put together a chohesive new choreography that reflects not just me, but the whole... & the troupe is more into it cause it is THEIR dance!

 

[gisela]

ooh that sounds like so much fun! I wish I had a kind of group where we could do that. I definetely will remember this exercise til I have an oppurtunity to try it.

 

[sparklyraven]

Bellydancer, I like that exercise! that sounds great!
Riodancer, my troupe is the same way. It gets really boring to the point where I don't really dance in troupe numbers anymore. But 1 nice thing about the troupe I am in is that we can go off on our own time and make solos, duets, other small group dances, so I get much of my satisfaction that way. I'm not a fantastic choreographer, but with some help I've been lucky enough to be involved in a few group pieces that were fun to do and we change them a little each show we use them. The troupe stuff stays the same and the choreographer is resistant to any update. So I got to the point a while back where I figured not to dance in any piece that is no longer fun. With the class I taught last year, we had them make up a dance and they really got into it and it was fun and everyone who danced in it came up with something and if it gets done by those gals again, no doubt it will be updated accordingly. I wonder if you could say something with the support of your fellow dance sisters to your troupe director about helping to update a dance, OR you could just take a dance and insurrect it. Just get a few of you together and say "hey we're doing this dance for the upcoming show" and update it yourselves. I have been involved in such capers and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But its worth a try. Sometimes, If you just present all done and cleaned up, you have a better chance of success. You may not be invited to teach the update to the rest of the troupe, but your director might be likely to let your group perform it. Its worth a try anyways. Or your could just take a new song and a few of you make up something for your dancing pleasure and try to get it in a show.