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A:
Great
question and I will answer them in 2 ways. First, "spiritually"
and secondly practically.
For
me, choreography is the creative part of our job. When I put choreography
together, I think of creating a work of art (I used to be an art
student, as you can see). For me, it is a self expression. For
that reason, just like people who are writers, painters etc.,
there are times when the ideas really flow (that is so fantastic
when that happens)...and dry periods... Over time, I have come
to accept that there are times where I am out of ideas...so I
have a few tricks when the dry periods come...
First,
I am constantly working on creating new choreography. I walk around
with a little note book where I jot down new ideas for combos
all the time. Sometimes, I am waiting for a bus and that is when
I get a great idea, I write it down...and later, I try it out.
I change something in my class almost every 2-3 weeks, either
music or warm-up or a block, so as you can imagine that is really
demanding on me. However, I will rarely change the whole choreography
at once (too stressful for me and participants). This keeps my
class fresh and at the same time allows me to have choreography
in reserve. Usually once or twice a session, I will work on a
new choreography 4 to 5 blocks that work well together and throughout
the session, introduce moves and blocks little by little. To create
new choreography, I sit down and write the moves or combination
of moves that I like from the old choreography and brainstorm
new ones I want to use for the next one. This is the time that
I take those ideas that I have in my little book and see what
I can use there too. To beat the dry periods, I always buy new
music that I love...this almost always inspires me... Also, to
get new ideas, I regularly attend workshops, conventions and even
occasionally get inspired by going to other people's classes.
Step has evolved tremendously and there are a lot of interesting
stuff out there including cross-phrased choreography and of course
tap free choreography, 3 count moves just to name a few... SO,
inspiration, on a spiritual level, comes from emptying the mind
and being open to trying new things and taking risks. The creative
spirit is about who we are as beings. It can be nurtured and you
will get better at the process. For cycle, I am presently not
teaching Cycle. To get new ideas, my best source of inspiration
has always been music. If I find a song that I think would work
really well, I choreograph the song...i.e. Do something with the
refrain or visualize a circuit etc. With cycle, I remain very
intuitive and change my music or order of music almost every class
(I work w. minidisks). I would decide what type of class I wanted
that week: options include interval classes, aerobic class, interval
with anaerobic sprints, muscular just to name a few then work
the music around it... I hope all of this helps.
Thanks
so much and good luck! Diana
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