Walpole High School’s Dance Company has been dancing on stage for the past six years with new, original dances every year. This would be more difficult to do without the student choreographers: seniors Casey Ricci, Mary Caddick, and Devyn Blume; junior Caitlin Conlon; and sophomore Mary McAvoy. Out of these girls, only Devyn Blume and Mary McAvoy are new to student choreography this year and they each put their own unique spin on the moves they came up with which will be seen on Thursday, March 29 and Friday, March 30 at 7:30pm in the WHS Auditorium.
Mr. Kim holds tryouts for girls who have been on the company before that want to be a choreographer, and he chooses from them who he thinks would be best at the job. During the tryout, Mr. Kim gives the dancers music and it is their job to come up with choreography that goes with the music. This year, Mr. Kim did not end up making cuts so he kept everyone who tried out.
The Choreographers go to every practice and they each choreograph different bits and pieces of certain dances along with Mr. Kim’s choreography. Blume said, “I choreograph random parts of dances throughout the show — mostly the ones I am in but a few I am not in too.”
The steps to choreographing a dance are usually the same for every choreographer but some steps may vary. McAvoy said, “First we stage the dance which means we decide which people go to certain spots on the stage for however many counts. Then we fill all of the different groups in with choreography so usually there is one or two choreographers for each group.” This helps put variety into the dances, making them all unique and interesting. It also shows all of the different interpretations there can be to the same music.
The choreographers all have their own style of music that they enjoy using while deciding which moves they should use. McAvoy said, “I like to come up with choreography that matches the music well. The style of it really depends on the style of the dance or what it is about.”
When choreographing a dance, the choreographers have to be aware of both the lyrics and the beat of the music. They will be able to match up the choreography to the music so they work as one. The techniques that choreographers use could take a very long time to get right, so patience is important as well. They will first have to decide which type of dance they want to use, which could be contemporary or modern. Once they think about the counts in the music they can decide the speed that they would like to make the choreography move.
How easily choreographers come up with moves is all based on their individual feel for the music. Some of them may find it difficult to come up with unique moves all the time, but it could come easily to others. The music inspires the choreographer in her moves — what they have to do is listen and let their bodies flow with the music. McAvoy said, “Choreography comes pretty easily to me, I usually have some idea on what to do and it doesn’t take me very long.”
Choreography is a necesity when it comes to a dance performance, but if every step in a dance is the same then the audience will become bored and leave. This is why having original choreography is important to the company. Without Ricci, Caddick, Blume, Conlon, and McAvoy, the variety of choreography in the music would be difficult to achieve.
