Strategies for Cleaning Choreography with Dance Students

How can I help my dance students perform their best on stage?

 

Helping dance students perform their best on stage can require a lot of hard work from both the dance teacher/choreographer and the students. The dancers must work hard to learn and memorize the choreography, including the movements and phrases, formations and spacing, and timing and musicality. Then, they must also understand how to perform the choreography with the appropriate style and quality to help communicate the message of the piece to the audience. Even after the dancers have learned the choreography, there are bound to be some mistakes and things that aren’t performed quite right. This is where “cleaning” the choreography comes into play. When we clean choreography in the rehearsal process, we are helping dancers get ready to perform their best on stage.

In this blog post, you’ll learn more about cleaning choreography. You’ll learn 5 overarching strategies that can be used when cleaning choreography. For each strategy, you will find a number of practical tools that you can use to apply it your dance classes or rehearsals.

 

What does it mean to clean choreography?

 

When a dance teacher or choreographer cleans choreography in the rehearsal process, they help dancers correct mistakes so that they are performing the dance in the way that the choreographer intended. The dance teacher or choreographer ensures that the dancers are using their best dance technique, meeting the aesthetic requirements of the dance style and choreography, and communicating the right message to the audience. They look at several aspects of the dance, to make sure that the dancers are performing each one to the best of their ability. These include:

• Formations and spacing
• Musicality and timing
• Technique, such as balance, coordination, and proper execution of the steps (read more about dance technique here!)
• Body shape and line
• Use of space, including direction, focus, and pathways of traveling movement
• Relationships, such as how the dancers are interacting with one another and how they are connecting with the audience
• Artistry, performance quality and expression (read more about artistry in dance here!)

Cleaning choreography involves observing individual dancers as well as the entire group. The dance teacher or choreographer must make sure that each dancer is performing their best, and that the entire group is working together to put on the best performance they can. It is not an easy process – but it is worth it to make sure that the audience is seeing the best possible version of the choreography!

Note: Sometimes in the choreography cleaning, the dance teacher or choreographer will also fix issues within the choreography itself. This might include changing the movement, spacing, formations, or sequence so that they better help communicate the choreographer’s intention. This blog post focuses on cleaning the dancers’ performance and fixing issues in technique and artistry. For ideas to help “clean” or fix issues in the actual choreography itself, check out this blog post: 10 Strategies for Editing and Refining Your Choreography.

 

How do you clean choreography?

 

There are many different strategies that can be used to clean choreography. Every dance teacher or choreographer has their own approach to helping the dancers perform their best on stage. No matter what strategies are used, the process of cleaning choreography takes time, dedication, and repetition. There are no short cuts to cleaning choreography. It involves a lot of hard work from both the dance teacher or choreography and the dancers.

The dance teacher or choreographer must have a clear vision of what they want the dance to look like, be able to communicate that vision to the dancers, and know how to help the dancers bring that vision to life through their performance. They must have strong observation skills, watching the intricate details of the dancers’ movement and expression. Finally, they must be good communicators. They must be able to explain what is working and not working within the dancers’ performance, and give insight into how to fix what needs work.

The dancers must be willing to repeat the choreography many times, drilling it until each detail is adjusted correctly. They must be good listeners and quick thinkers, picking up the details in the dance teacher or choreographer’s feedback and applying it to their performance the next time around. They must be willing to learn and grow with each run of the choreography, knowing that the end goal is to enable them to give their very best performance on stage.

 

Strategies for cleaning choreography with dance students

 

There are many different strategies for cleaning choreography with dance students. Dance teachers or choreographers may try a variety of approaches to cleaning choreograph, depending on the age of the students, their learning environment, the performance goals, and the style of the choreography. Below, you’ll find 5 key strategies that I use when cleaning choreography with students, along with many different approaches to each one. I hope that you will find these strategies helpful!

 

Give your dancers ownership in the choreography cleaning process

Very often, cleaning choreography feels like a one-way street. The dance teacher or choreographer gives feedback to the dancers, and the dancers (hopefully) listen and apply it. There typically isn’t a lot of dialogue involved in the process. I’m convinced that this is part of what makes cleaning dances feel tedious and, at times, frustrating for all parties. Dancers can easily become overwhelmed by all the notes coming at them. They may not know how exactly to apply the corrections they are being given, and they may not feel empowered to ask for help or even know what kind of help would be most beneficial. The dance teacher or choreographer, in turn, may think the dancer is not trying hard enough as they have to continue to give the same feedback over and over again.This can then create an endless loop of frustration.

One way to break this loop, I have found, is to focus on empowering the dancers throughout the process of cleaning choreography. There is nothing empowering about shouting corrections at the dancers over the music during rehearsal, or giving an endless stream of notes after each run. To empower dancers, we should be actively involving them in the process of determining what needs to be fixed within a dance and guiding them in the process of fixing it. This involves a lot of discussion, self-reflection, and guided discovery. It might feel difficult at first, but I believe that it is worth it! Not only is it good for the dancers’ social-emotional well-being, but it can also make them more invested in the choreography cleaning process and lead to better performances! Here are some ways that you can empower dancers in the process of cleaning choreography:

• Ask the dancers for their input on the feedback process. This is especially important when it comes to cleaning solo dances, but can be useful for small groups and ensemble dances, too! Before you start cleaning the choreography, ask the dancers to let you know what kind of feedback is most helpful for them. For example, they might want help with musicality, lines, transitions, use of space, or performance quality. You can also ask them how they like to receive feedback. Do they like to start and stop the dance to work on things, or run it all the way through and fix things after?
• Encourage self-reflection as part of the choreography cleaning process. Self-reflection can help dance students become more aware of their performance and empower them to take the feedback process more seriously. After the dancers run the piece, ask them for their opinion of their performance before offering feedback. What moments or sections felt great? What moments or sections didn’t feel so good? Why didn’t they feel good? What mistakes did you catch yourself making? What do you think you can do to fix those sections in the next run?
• Invite the dancers to keep a choreography journal. During my first professional contract, I made it a habit to write down all of the choreography I learned and the feedback or corrections given during rehearsal. This definitely helped my position in the company. I recommend it to all of my dance students. It can be incredibly empowering for the dancers, as it helps them take responsibility for their part in the rehearsal process.
• Use technology to help dancers give themselves their own feedback. For all its trappings, technology can also be an amazing tool for dancers. Dance teachers often use video help dancers remember their choreography and practice it between rehearsals. But video can also be a very empowering tool for dancers to use in the choreography cleaning process. Ask the dancers to review videos of themselves from rehearsal. You can also consider using an app that can slow down the video or pause it at different moments to help dancers analyze the choreography. It is helpful to give the dancers a rubric to use to help them observe different aspects of their performance and assign themselves a grade for each section.

 

Use community to clean choreography 

I believe that dance is always a communal activity. Ensemble dances are, of course, always about the collective energy of the group dancing together. But even in a solo, there is a the relationship between the dancer and the audience. Harnessing the power of community in the choreography cleaning process can be both fun and effective! Here are some ideas for using teamwork and community to clean choreography.

• Allow time for peer feedback. Have the dancers perform in two groups. Allow one group to watch the other and give constructive feedback. There are many variations on this activity. You can assigning each observer a specific dancer to watch and give feedback to, or allow them to choose one person to watch. You can ask them to observe them and comment on the entire group’s performance. You can allow them to give open-ended feedback, or tell them to look at certain aspects of the like footwork, arm placement, body lines and shapes, formations, energy, or storytelling  Often, the students will give the same corrections that you have been giving for months, but hearing it from a peer might suddenly make it “click.”
• Tell a story. Have the dancers work together to tell the story of the choreography as they a performing it. This might be the an actual story made up by the choreography and told through the movement, or a story that the dancers make up for an abstract piece. Vocalizing the story can help the dancers understand what they are doing in the choreography and give the movement more meaning. Working together as a team to tell the story will help them realize that each person is an important part of the choreography.
• Ask the dancers to teach you the choreography. Ask the students to teach you the choreography. Pretend as if you had never seen the choreography before so it feels like you are learning from you. Be sure to ask lots of clarifying questions of the dancers to make sure they show you the details of timing, space, quality, and line!
• Ask the dancers to teach the choreography to someone else. Invite someone else to join you for class, such as a fellow teacher, dancers from another level, or even the dancers’ families and caregivers. Ask the dancers to teach your guests the choreography! This can be a fun activity for “Bring a Friend” Dance Classes or Family Observation Weeks! (For more ideas for “Bring a Friend” Dance Classes, check out this blog post!)
• Use the interactive choreography cleaning games below to help the dancers work together in a fun and playful way to get their dances performance ready!

 

Use play to help clean the choreography

I am a huge fan of play as a learning tool in the dance studio. Of course dance is hard work, but research suggests that using dance games, silliness, challenges, and creative activities can be transformative in the learning experience. Play can engage dance students in the learning process, stimulate the brain to receive new material, and strengthen intellectual, physical, and social-emotional abilities, especially in young students. The more you can make the learning and rehearsal process fun and exciting for students, the more engaged they will be in the process of learning and cleaning the choreography. A few games that can help you rehearse and clean choreography with students include:

• Freeze Dance – Have one student at a time sit out and be the “DJ.” While the dancers are running the piece, the DJ stops the music and the dancers freeze. The DJ then evaluates the students – Are they making the correct shape? Are they all together? Are their lines and formations appropriate? After giving their notes, the DJ turns the music on again and the dancers resume. Allow the DJ to stop several times throughout the piece.
• Tag in – Divide the class into at least 3 groups. One group sits out and watches the other two or more groups as they perform the dance. After they have been dancing for a short time, stop the music. The group that was watching will “tag in” – taking the place of one of the other groups. The group that is “tagged out” will become the observing group. They must pick up wherever the other dancers left off. Continue the pattern of stopping the music, having one group tag in, and another group observe until the dance is finished. (Note: this game works best for larger group dances where there is a lot of unison movement.)
• Face Off – Have two dancers face one another and perform a selection from the dance mirroring one another. This means that one dancer will be performing the movement on the opposite side. The learning here is two fold. First, when the dancers are looking at one another, they will be more aware of their lines, shapes, transitions, and quality of movement. Secondly, the process of inverting the movement and performing it on the other side will force the dancer to analyze what they are doing more thoroughly, allowing for deeper and more lasting learning.
• Clap A Correction – Have some of the dancers sit out and observe the rest of the group performing their choreography. The observing group will clap every time they see something that needs cleaned in the day – such as a formation that is not spaced correctly, timing that is off, or technique issues like sickled feet. Keep a tally of how many claps the dancing group received. At the end of the dance, ask the observers to explain the reasons behind their claps. Then, switch groups. The group with the fewest number of claps is the winner!
• The Worst Dance You Can Do – This is especially fun with little ones! Allow the dancers to do one run of the dance as poorly as they can, making all the mistakes with technique, timing, and performance quality that they can think of. (Just make sure they are being safe and not putting anyone else in danger with their choices!). After the run, ask each dancer to name one thing that they did wrong, and how they should fix it for the next run.
• The Holistic Dance Teacher Choreography Cleaning Bingo – Grab your free copy of this done-for-you, fun and effective game to help you drill and clean choreography here!

 

Engage multiple senses to clean choreography

Often, teaching choreography becomes a game of “follow the leader,” and the process of cleaning the choreography makes teachers feel like they are yelling at a brick wall. Some dancers are very capable of watching the instructor and copying their movement, or picking up verbal cues in the choreography cleaning process. Many others, however, need more support to fully remember the dance and the feedback they receive when cleaning. It can be helpful to engage multiple senses when teaching and cleaning the choreography. Here are some ideas:

• Describe the choreography verbally as you clean it. Say the names of the steps or description of the choreography out as well as the feedback you are giving out loud. First, ask the dance students to stand still and listen, then repeat what you say. Then, repeat the same verbal descriptions while dancing the choreography, and ask the students to observe you. Finally, ask the students to repeat the description as they are performing the movement.
• Ask the dance students to stand still and watch you do the choreography, without moving. This allows them to fully observe the details of the movement and transitions.
• Give rhythmic inflection as you show the choreography. Make a little song that indicates the movement and tempo using a variety of different sounds and noises. This might feel silly, but many dance students will connect with that silliness and remember!
• Use visualization by having the dance students lie on their backs, close their eyes, and imagine the choreography in their head as they listen to the music.
• Use tactile input, if age appropriate and with consent. If dancers consent to being touched, you can give them tactile prompts for the choreography. They could also do this in partners, giving one another the tactile input. For example, brush the arm to indicate the initiation of a port de bras, guide the foot to brush a grand battement, give a little push to start a traveling section. This is best done in two or more groups, without music, and with the understanding that the “dancing” students are not working to perfectly execute the movement, but to use the tactile information from their partner to help create little sensory prompts that will help them remember the choreography.

 

 

Make choreography cleaning more interesting

Rehearsing and cleaning choreography, especially with young children, can be a challenging process. Dance students get easily bored repeating the dance over and over again, yet they need that repetition in order to be read to perform on-stage. It can be helpful to find new ways to challenge the dancers and keep them on their toes as they drill the choreography. Some ways that you can keep rehearsals interesting for dance  students as you clean the choreography include:

• Change the music. Try slowing the music down or speeding it up, and having the dancers adjust to the new speed as they dance. Slowing the music down will help you see details that may not be present at tempo. Speeding the music up will keep the dancers thinking several steps ahead, challenging their memories. You can also try having the dancers perform the choreography to an alternate recording of the music, such as an instrumental or cover version that is similar, but not quite the same.
• Change the facing. I find that having the dancers perform the choreography while facing a new direction  is one of the most effective ways to prepare them to perform on-stage. If you always dance facing the mirror, turn away from it. If you always orient yourself along the front or back wall of the space, try facing one of the sides. Facing a new direction, especially if they are used to looking in a mirror, can feel overwhelming for some students. But with time and support from you, it can be a highly effective rehearsal tool.
• Change the quality. Give the dancers some unique prompts to help them explore different movement qualities in their performance. They might imagine that they are dancing on the moon, or on a hot sand desert, or underwater. Although they will not perform the choreography with these qualities on stage, it will help the students to explore new dynamics that they can incorporate into the choreography as appropriate.
• Start at the end. Start cleaning the choreography from the end of the dance. Work backwards in chunks, working section by section. Dancers often lose stamina toward the end of the piece, so starting there can help ensure that section is performed well.
• Clean from the inside out. Choose a random section of the dance to start cleaning. From there, work either forward or backward until you get to the beginning or end of the dance. Then, go back to that same place and work until the end. Choose a different starting point in each rehearsal. This can be a helpful approach because dancers are often most focused at the beginning of the rehearsal. Starting somewhere new each time can ensure that each section gets worked on when the dancers are most fresh.
• Clean by counts. Run the dance without music, just counts. Clean the dance one 8 count at time, ensuring that the dancers know exactly what they are doing on each count. This is helpful for dances that rely on precision, unison movement, and exact timing.
• Clean by lyric. If your music has lyrics, read them aloud or have the dancers recite them as they run the dance without the music playing. Clean the choreography by the lyric, making sure that the dancers know exactly what they are doing on each word. This is helpful for dances that rely on emotional expression, story telling, and performance quality.
• Clean one body part at a time. Focus on just one part of the body at time, such as just the feet, or just the arms. You can do this by having the dancers perform the choreography with just that body part. For example, the dancers could sit on the floor and perform the arm movement for the entire piece, without using their lower bodies. Or, you can choose to observe just that part of the dancers’ performance, even while they run the dance normally.
• Take the dance outside. If you are able, allow the dancers to perform their choreography outside. This could be in a parking lot or a nearby park or field. There is something amazing about dancing in the sunlight and fresh air. The sensory input of the outdoors can help the dancers become more aware of their movement and performance, shaking them out of their habitual movement pattern and help them apply the corrections they are given!

 

What are your favorite strategies for cleaning choreography? Please share in the comments – I love to learn from you!

Don’t forget to grab your free copy of The Holistic Dance Teacher Choreography Cleaning Bingo Game today! Plus, ignite your creativity and strengthen your choreographic skills with The Holistic Dance Teacher Choreography Bundle, with 7 great resources that will encourage and inspire you – all for under $30. 

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