Repertoire development is a vital, yet undervalued part of every dancers learning process. This becomes easier when you have more, and more complex types of movements to draw from. Committing the moves to memory actually seems to be the easy part, where the difficulties come in, is trying not only to remember but also to remember and use all these moves spontaneously. At times like this, cheating is always an option. Instead of trying to remember each individual move to use spontaneously, train yourself to remember small groups (or phrases) of movements. For our purposes, each phrase in this exercise will be made up of three separate movements that work well together.

On one line, write the name of your favorite traveling movement in the center space. Now write the name of a stationary movement that would transition well into it, in the first space of the same line, and add another stationary movement in the third space of the same line. Try dancing these three movements together with several rhythms. If the combination works well keep it, if not, erase whichever move does not work and experiment with another one in its place. On the next line, reverse the placing, using the second space for the stationary movement. Below are two examples.

3/4 Shimmy	Beledi Hip Release	Chiftitelli Shuffle
Torso Rolls	Sidestep Maya	Spinal Wave

Once you have several lines filled in and have practiced each phrase several times, try adding two or three of the phrases together and practice them a few times. This is a dance paragraph. Once you have added enough phrases together to paragraph the verses, and a few phrases to repeat for the chorus’, you may just have choreographed your first solo routine. Experiment with building different types of phrases, with differing numbers of movements.

Now just add the zills and you’re flyin!!!!!
Speaking of zills, you can use this same phrasing method to build yourself endless patterns to play while you dance.



Some Nuts and Bolts of Stage Choreography

When you come up against your first choreographic challenge, there are so many things to think about. Once you have chosen your song, you have to fill a precise amount of time, and a certain amount of space with a wide variety of dance movements and transitions. The most essential of the two elements, and the first one that we will examine, is space.

Space

The first thing to consider when thinking of how you will use the stage is your entrance. Will you start on stage with the lights down, or come flying onto the stage with lights and sound blaring? The music itself will usually tell you how to start. A song that has a sonic blast right on the first count will be the kind of song where it may be best to try the flying start, whereas a soft melodious beginning would work well with an onstage start and the lights gradually going up with the level or tempo of the music.

If you choose the flying start, you will also have to decide where you will originally travel to on the stage, and the path you will take to get there. If you start onstage with the lights down, you will have to decide what part of the stage you will start on, as each area conveys something different.


Staging The Entrance

Let’s look first at the flying start entrance and ways to stage it.

Most songs used for Bellydance have some sort of intro, whether it is only a quick 8 or 16 counts or a full minute of nearly useless music. It is always a good idea to spend this intro backstage seeing as not one of us, no matter how long we have been dancing, can start exactly on time with the first count of the music. We can, however, count to 16 and then spill out of the wings at a full shimmy with sequins flying.

So, now we have started, but where are we going to go.


Center Stage (Location Location Location)

Historically, the most powerful place for any performer is center stage. It is the most focal point and from it, the performer commands the whole stage. She can get anywhere else onstage in a hurry from there, or stay and be the center of the world. From the audiences’ point of view, it is the most open and inviting place to be. As well, from center stage, most of the audience will bet an excellent view, just by virtue of the way theatres are designed. The one downside to dancing center stage is that everyone does it and because of that, centerstage has lost a lot of it's power.


Downstage

A dancer that starts offstage and quickly travels downstage may subconsciously be seen as confrontational. It would be an excellent entrance destination for a hard driving sword or cane routine. Traveling across the front of the stage from side to side reinforces the dominance of the dancer and her routine.

Playful and flirty choreographies also work well from downstage, as the audience feels involved, as if they have been invided to play along.

Let’s look now at the onstage beginning and a unique way to stage it.

The introduction for a dance that would be best started onstage will be different from that of a flying start. It may have a short taxim at the beginning, or a slow rhythm that would be best suited to stationary movements with a slow graduation of lighting. The most common onstage start is center stage. Here is an unusual way to stage this type of music for maximum impact.

Upstage Corner

This is a compelling place to start, and rarely ever used. Upstage corner seems to be a very introspective place, especially when it is the only area lit. Dancing something slow in this area will give the audience the impression that they are peeking in through a private window, either literal or emotional. The dancer will also be seen as revealing some sort of secrets or mysteries. A slow Masmoudi or shimmy taxim would be well danced here.

“I’m onstage, now what?”

Now that we are onstage we have to do what we can to keep our audience captivated. We can use any number of techniques to make our routine the most breathtaking it can be. These techniques will vary according to the type of music you choose, and the mood you want to convey. By virtue of the song style, the dance will have it’s own built in properties right from the beginning.



The Many Properties Of Choreography


Quality of Dance

The qualities of a dance are the subtleties not really seen by the audience, but that are subliminally recognized instead. It is the quality of the energy put forth by the dancer. This does not mean the amount of sweat thrown at the audience during a spin, or the amazing side to side sway of every Maya. It is far more ethereal than that. The dancer may seem ‘predatory’ or ‘yearning’, ‘serene’ or ‘aloof’. A lot of this is born in the soul of the dancer and the music just brings the quality out through the subconscious nature of the movements. It almost sounds spiritual, and in a sense, is just that. A dancer cannot fake that part of her dance, it either is there, or it isn’t. That is what brings about the believability of a performance, and separates the good dancers from the truly inspirational ones.

There are many things you can control regarding the 'quality' of your dance. These are learned over the course of your first few stage solo's. Choose to use only movements that you are very comfortable with. If you don't really like a move the audience will see it in your face at the very least. The movements you like the most will find their way into the best parts of your dance, almost naturally. Just remember that you do not need to fill up every second of the song with every move you have learned. Using the strategy at the top of this article, you can build a whole routine. Pay special attention to the transitions between each movement and also between each movement phrase. If the transitions aren't flawless, the whole dance will look clunky.


Levels

There are three levels in each dance… low, middle, and high. Examples of a low level focus would be floorwork, done during a Chiftitelli section, or maybe something as simple as dragging your veil behind you as you leave the stage. A mid level focus would be something like shimmies during a drum solo, or playing your zills with your arms lowered or at chest level. A high level focus could be balancing a sword on your head, high veilwork, swinging a cane, or dramatically raised arms. You can also suggest level changes just by where you look, or where your hands point to. Direct parts of your dance to the audience in the first few rows, part of it to the folks at the back, and another part to the center of the auditorium.

More complex choreographies will use all three levels to their best advantage. Going from a high focus directly to a low focus would be absolutely stunning. An example of this could be playing you zills with your arms raised and then suddenly going into a Turkish Drop.

* NOTE * - The Turkish drop is a dangerous move that is rarely done, and never without weeks or more of practice with couch cushions, pillows, kneepads, bike helmets, ankle braces, and safety goggles!


Traveling

No dancer can happily stay in one place and do her thing. Something about this kind of music makes us want to roam all over the stage. Some of us however, are too shy to try, or just haven’t a clue where to go and how to get there. You have to train yourself from the beginning to think “I DESERVE THE WHOLE STAGE”, and then you have to go out and conquer it! If you start in an upstage corner, you can travel down to the downstage corner opposite. This is a potent path, as it gives the impression of infinate time and space, as it covers more stage and time than any other path of travel. You can travel centerstage back and forth, in sort of a ‘call and answer’ mode, depending on the music. There is also the ever popular ‘circle’ method of getting around. All dancers who have been doing this form of dance for a while use the circle as a path, it has been popular since the large dinner theatres in Egypt gave their dancers generous round floor level stages to dance on in the middle of the 20th. century.


Focus

Another wonderful technique in our arsenal of dramatic tricks is a change of focus or facing. Pick a small section of the music, maybe during the drum solo, and dance it facing the back of the stage. It would also be exceptional to try this if you are starting in a dark upstage corner during a taxim. If the first sight the audience had of you is in a dimly (but beautifully) lit corner facing the back of the stage, it would only enhance the mystery and anticipation for the audience.

During parts of the song, your movements can follow the melody and during other parts your movements can focus on the rythm. Change the patterns of your dance along with the patterns in the music. Use the Kanoun, fast drums, and Guitar for shimmies and stucatto hip movements. Violins and Accordians are great for the more serpantine movements.

Another way to change the focus of the dance, is to play with the timing signatures during different parts of the song.



Time

Time is the second of the two most essential elements if a stage performance. It has it's own sub-elements.

Timing Signatures

Within Middle Eastern Dance, there are a great number of timing signatures that can be used. Sometimes, several are used within a single performance, as the better dancers can go from one timing signature to another without missing a beat. Others of us will stick to the easier to dance 4/4 rhythms. These are also easier for the western ear to listen to. We can do many things within our dance to make even the most monotonous 4/4 seem exciting. We can change our own timing in many ways and manipulate the time by manipulating our space in unexpected ways. Try not to get lost in the predictable boob boom of a regular 4/4.


Half Time

A great way to play with the time is to have the lower body dance at a separate speed than the top. If you are shimmying at full time try doing chest drops at half time. Another interesting option is to step at half time to the music while doing full time shoulder shimmies.

These methods can be further varied by dancing sections at half time and then others at full time, even though the count in the music remains constant.


Frozen Time

A great way to snap the audience to attention is to suddenly freeze in mid movement. Of course, it has to be done at a vital moment in the music, and not just done anywhere. If a sudden freeze is done at the wrong time, the audience may think you have forgotten your steps, and that is not the effect that we are looking for. A freeze would be good right at a large cymbal crash or sudden stop altogether in the music, and looks good when followed by a controlled shimmy or Turkish Drop. It also looks stunning at the end of a multirotational spin.


Double Time

If your music has a slower section that you wish wasn’t so slow, you may be able to make it seem like a faster section by dancing it double time, using shimmies, walking 3/4 shimmies, or fast hip accents. To balance the effect, have the double time movements set in the lower half of your body and dance the upper half of your body in time to the music, with shoulder or torso movements.


Mixed Time

All of these timing methods can be combined to great effect within the same song, given that the song has a number of variations in it. These methods would not mix well in some types of music however. The Zar rhythm is one that it would be best danced only to it’s own rhythm.



Group Versus Solo

If you are taking on a group choreography instead of a solo, a lot of the material discussed above will take on a whole other life. Some of it will become defunct. Each minute detail of your choreography multiplies and changes, precision within each movement becomes emanently more vital, and it seems the only thing that remains constant is the length of the song chosen. Everything else becomes wonderfully fluid.

The only drawback to doing a group choreography is that you as the choreographer, have to suddenly learn to think with a pack mentality. You cannot just make up a dance that would look good with only you onstage and then teach it to 10 other dancers. The dynamics of a group dance are just too different. This is one of the first lessons learned by beginning teachers.


Entrances – all at once or staggered in place or time

Try to avoid having all the dancers march onstage like sparkly little soldiers, it's predictable, everyone does it, and it's just not all that attractive. You can have little groups come in from each side and have some others start onstage. Another underused method to try is to have some of the dancers enter the stage partway through the number. As well, try the first method, and have the group that starts onstage dance with the melody while the dancers starting offstage come in dancing to the rhythm.

Canon – row-row-row your boat

Do you remember singing that song with your friends as a child? If you have a song that has a fairly straightforward tempo without a lot of timing changes, you can use that same singing technique in your dance, although this time, dance it instead of singing it. Try having sections of dancers do the same things, but have each section start 4 or 8 bars after the last.

Facing and placement

Circles in a group formation are powerful, especially with someone inside the circle acting as a central focus and dancing at a slower speed than the rest of the group.

A wedge will give the impression of a much larger group, especially if the wedge point and dancers face forward while the wedge moves from backstage to the front, or moves towards the back of the stage with the point forward and everyone facing the back.

Levels

Just as a single dancer can use a variety of levels, so can a group. How, you may ask? Here is just one idea to get you started. This technique works with three rows.

Have the front row start first and use veils with low level movements. The middle row can start several bars later with mid level movements and for an added touch, have them dance without veils. The back row can start last and use veils with high level movements.

Unexpected entrances and exits – constantly changing numbers of dancers

This is one of the most dramatic techniques a choreographer can use to keep the audience rivited. You can have some of the dancers start onstage while others are coming on. Have them dance for a while, and then suddenly bring other dancers out from the wings. Later on, some of the first group can leave the stage. A word of caution though. The timing of the entrances and exits has to be exactly right. They should be at points in the music where changes are noticable even to the untrained ear, otherwise the whole dance could appear scattered.

Time different groups at different tempos

This is another little device that can either be pleasing or jarring. As with the entrances and exits, timing is crucial. The differences should be noticable to everyone in the audience. Keep in mind that the folks in the back may have a hard time seeing small movement changes.




In Conclusion

Every single one of us wants to become a better dancer. The most important thing to do is practice lots. You don't neccessarily have to spend hours a day at it. The little momentary sessions help just as much as the full out dance practices. A minute here and a minute there will do wonders. On the off~chance you don't think you have any spare minutes to practice ~ while doing dishes, shimmy... while folding laundry, shimmy. While lying in bed, practice your belly-rolls. You can even get in some bellydance practice while walking a jogging track at the gym. Try walking with the right foot on the downbeat, then the left. Then concentrate on walking on the upbeat. Walk while playing zill patterns with your naked fingers. Whatever you do though... don't practice glute squeezes while driving... if you're anything like me, you may find yourself loosing track of your speedometer.

The most important bit of wisdom I can give you is this....

Never stop learning!!! When that day happens, it's time to hang up your zills. That doesn't mean you should take classes forever. You will eventually outgrow your teachers, and when that happens it just means they have done their job. Continue to learn by all the other methods you can. Gather groups of students together and go to workshops, scour the internet for videos and DVD's. The performance videos are just as educational as the teaching ones. Look around your city for drum lessons or find a Middle Eastern musician and put together a set of lessons. Whatever you do, enjoy it, share it, and remember it always.