Forums > Help! > Choreographing

Posted: 20th Dec 2009
Umm, is there a beginner way? XD I was thinking about writing down a list of moves or descriptions of what I'm doing and how many cycles I do it and keep building and when I do it, just do it to the beat of the song, which what I planned it to be is "Shake It" by Gaudi because it would be easy.such as somewhere in there something like:
...
Extended Windmill x5
Vertical whirl in circle x3
...
That was a couple of things I thought on, would that work for something not really complicated?

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 20th Dec 2009
Sometimes I can dance naturally, but sometimes I find it near impossible, like a little while ago, i was in my basement rocking to a song I've never heard and I zoned out and forgot about the headheight ceiling and hit my hand on the tiles.

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 20th Dec 2009
I was actually thinking about making it for a certain person, and from what I've noticed is that you don't need to do anything special at all to impress people when you use fire. But as I get more comfortable with fire, my style will start to shine through. It seems at times to be something along different mixes of, Nick Woolsey, Poiboy (yes I saw some of your vids), Sage, and my old exchange student. And other times none of it and just me prancin around being me. It's usually pretty different every time I get to the point where I zone out and just go with the music. I guess it depends on what I'm listening to.

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 21st Dec 2009
SoD, I find it pretty cool being mentioned in the same breath as Nick when it regards body movement and style

anyhow, if you can't be bothered to count beats, get music with a few high points, and spin to the general feel of the song, and do big moves whenever there's a big beat.

If you look at my routine here:


It's mostly unchoreographed except for the first 40 seconds or so, but I still try to "hit" all the big beats with big moves. I pay attention to things that stand out in the song, and use whatever I think goes with that point in the song. Once I have a move planned, I add footwork and body movement to it, also according to the song. Even this way of writing takes a lot more time than what I used to do- random moves in order, with barely paying attention to the song.

Another good example is Nick here:


Since his music has a faster beat, and a lot of big beats, he doesn't always do big moves when ever there's a big beat, instead, whenever he does do anything, like stalls or direction changes with the arms, it's always on the beat. I'm not sure whether or not it's choreographed, but he clearly has listened to the song a lot before performing with it.

Yet another good example is Thomas here:


He's great at doing things to music, his moves are perfectly synchronised with the music, and this one's choreographed and awesome.

Last one, G:


This one's perfectly choreographed, G actually makes it seem the music was built around his routine, as he uses every beat and every part of the music to full extent. His footwork is also great here, despite being a floating torso.

I hope these give you some inspiration on routine-writing, good luck

Posted: 21st Dec 2009
If you are just trying to get a routine sans music, then just write down some moves and get all of your transitions clean and so on.

I tend to do semi-choreographed stuff: I will have certain points that I want to hit with moves built around them and between will just do what I like for 20 seconds.

eg: 20 seconds to get from here to point x, spinning in split-time opposites. Do set-piece. Then I have 10 seconds to get to point y in same-time.

It might be a worthwhile way to do things.

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Posted: 21st Dec 2009
The *easiest* way to go about it to pick a few key sections in the song and do a significant transition when the music *changes*.

This will give you a starting framework which you can tighten up and make more complicated as develop your routine. The key (IMHO) is to not make it too complicated from the get go.

Good Luck

Posted: 21st Dec 2009
I like aston's idea the best And I've seen all those video's except for G's, I decided I don't like his style in the least bit. And as for Poiboy, some of your style seems to come out when I practice. I still am cleaning up my stalls, but I'm finally getting the hang of them and can finally do the horizontal coming from the bottom, it doesn't look too pretty, but I can do it

The only luck is bad luck.

Shut up before I stall my poi up your ass

Posted: 21st Dec 2009
I pick the points using Stout's suggestion, but go a few seconds on either side.

As you get more practice I guess you can start cutting down the free time between each one point and end up with a complete routine. Have not bothered myself.

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Posted: 22nd Dec 2009
Some extremely general tips I got from a member of the group I'm auditioning with may help in addition to what others have noted. The position of your poi, your posture, your position on stage, and the speed of your motions are some of the primary things you can vary with the music. He also said a common choreography trick is to block out "phrases" of movements that flow well and recycle them by repeating them at different angles; it varies their appearance and lets you drag out a short combination into a slightly longer action.

I hope this is good advice, 'cause it's a big part of what I'm basing my approach on.

p|.q|r:|::s|.s|s:|:.s|q.|:p|s.|.p|s

Posted: 22nd Dec 2009
Omfg, G's video has some of the most amazing stall work I've ever seen. Drool.

p|.q|r:|::s|.s|s:|:.s|q.|:p|s.|.p|s

Posted: 4th Jan 2010
a good way to find the beat and timing to music is to look at the sheet music/tab, it shows you pattern breakdown, the beat count, lets you knw if it is upbeat or downbeat focused (raggae music for example is based on the upbeat - in a four beat 1and2and3and4and, the notes are played on the and.)

if you time your poi movements to the beat as well, when your poi head is down its a down beat, up is an upbeat then you will stay in time for the whole song, transition when the song changes chord progression,

you can double the speed of the poi so your head is down on the down and the up beat (8x)

try to avoid 3beat songs for now. You dont have to be able to read sheet music for this either.

if what I have written doesnt make much sence, then another way of putting it is if you are counting the seconds till the next change in the song like people have suggested, then a look at the tab will give you the exact seconds that these things happen.

sticks and stones my break my bones, but ski patrol will save me.

Posted: 27th Mar 2010
wouldnt this get in the way of flow? choreographing that is

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able, and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" - Epicurus

Posted: 27th Mar 2010
On the contrary, flow requires some kind of structure, some framework that provides challenges and a way of evaluating how one's response measures up to those challenges. Choreography may not be everyone's route, but it has all the marks of being conducive to flow.

p|.q|r:|::s|.s|s:|:.s|q.|:p|s.|.p|s