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Crabbit
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Posted: Mon Jul 28th, 2008 02:35 pm |
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I am currently working on a script which contains a lot of pathos, monologues directed to the audience and flashbacks but interspersed with scenes of pure dance (modern dance in a kind of 'fight scene' scenario).
The play is coming along ok, but I am not sure how to actually put the choreography for the dance sequences down on paper. Do I just write it down in the vaguest terms and leave this to the director or should I be attempting to detail the sequence in a way that shows exactly how it should be?
I'd prefer the former as I am no dancer and feel that such sections would be best done through workshops with a choreographer and dramaturg during rehearsals, but I feel there is a need to demonstrate the 'spectacle' as I envisage it or the whole play will appear flat on paper and won't get as far as a workshop!
Does anyone have any experience of this? And good plays you can suggest I look at on paper to see how this is handled? Any help appreciated as always.
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DWolfman
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Posted: Mon Jul 28th, 2008 09:08 pm |
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What you're working on sounds a bit like
HOLD ME by Jules Feiffer
Feiffer, a Village Voice cartoonist, put a lot of his cartoon characters, routines, monologues, and situations into an full play. One of the characters was
THE DANCER
A sample of his stage directions from the script as the Dancer discusses loss of innocence is: Dancer rises and dances throughout piece ending with She crosses to corner of bed and sits.
He let the director/choreographer/artist decide how best to interpret the material.
However, in her "I celebrate" he put in certain moves to emphasize the situation: from She leaps in air followed by A gunshot is fired behind UL door. She falls and door swings.
Hope this helps, but trust yourself. It's your work.
-DW-
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in media res
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Posted: Thu Jul 31st, 2008 03:06 pm |
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I would not use the word "vaguest" to describe what to do. If you have specific things you NEED, don't hesitate to mention them, and the actors and director will build around them and fill in the gaps. Otherwise, give a tone of the dance or fight along the lines of the tone of your play and let them figure out specifics. For me at least, I know enough dancers to know they know more about their bodies and what to do with them than I do.
I have seen a play of mine with a fight four different productions and each was different as far as length, but each worked. But it worked because of the dramatic situation and the few specifics I mentioned.
Dances and fights (and songs in musicals) only work well when the dramatic event calls for a dance, fight, or song at that time. A good guideline is, "You must become the gun before you use the gun."
Another thing, a dance or fight must not "end," but must be followed by the perfect moment AFTER the dance, etc. to create the continuum of the dramatic situation.
Really great fight/dance choreographers don't just make a fight. They make it that fight at that moment in the way those specific actors' abilities playing those characters in a specific theatre and then choreograph it as such. Too often I see generic fights that have nothing to do with the characters.
Sounds like an interesting piece you are working on.
best,
in media resLast edited on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 03:15 pm by in media res
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Crabbit
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Posted: Thu Jul 31st, 2008 11:25 pm |
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I am so extremely grateful to both of you for your advice.
"trust yourself. It's your work."
"a dance or fight must not "end," but must be followed by the perfect moment AFTER the dance, etc. to create the continuum of the dramatic situation."
This is such powerfully good advice I will cling to and hope one day to do it justice. Hopefully I will be able to repay you with a success story in the not too distant future, but I am still very much a beginner and not very confident that I will pull it off. I'll never stop trying though.
Thank you again.
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Theatralite2007
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Posted: Wed Aug 13th, 2008 04:30 pm |
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I reckon you've got to put your trust in a choreographer. A good one
will adjust the dance to the skill level of the dancers and rehearse
your cast 'til they get it right. There are, of course, methods for writing
down choreography but the choreographers I've seen just work the
dancers through a routine and expect them to pick it up.
A minor point that writers perhaps forget is that if you're going to
include physicality in your script you've got to be sure that the venue
where the play is to be staged is going to give enough space for
the dancers. It's perhaps one occasion when black box staging comes
into its own over traditional theatres. IMHO
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