There is no better time to try your hand at choreography. Choreographing material takes longer than one would think, and with more time on your hands due to social distancing, this is a skill Intermediate and Advanced performers can really be honing.

So here are some tips to choreographing! Choose one of your favorite musical theatre songs, and listen to it A LOT. Like, on repeat until the rest of your household feels like they’re going crazy. Pay attention to as many details in the song as possible: rises and falls, instrumentation, rhythmic patterns.

Then we suggest improvising. Let the music tell your body what it should do. Spend a few rounds listening and improvising. As you define more movement, start jotting it down on this Count Sheet:

The count sheet is also a useful place to highlight accents or changes in the music. Use this sheet as your roadmap to a completed musical theatre piece! Now, continue this process until you have a finished work.

Once you have your piece finished, film it and send it to us at stagelightathome@gmail.com. You never know, Ms. Lindsey might ask you to teach your choreography when we return from this closure! And while you’re at it, post a picture of yourself during your choreographic process and tag us @stagelightarts so we can see you all hard at work!

Bring some your favorite characters to life in today’s Home Activity! Choose a favorite storybook, but make sure it’s one that includes lots of action or characters with different emotions. Fun options include: The Day the Crayons Quit, Wemberly Worried, The Very Impatient Caterpillar, any Elephant and Piggie books, or fairytale stories.

Read the story together, and point out all the ways the characters are feeling or acting.

Now, assign roles. Involve siblings and parents, and really get into character. For an even greater challenge, add props, costume pieces, entrances and exits. Don’t forget to pay attention to where the “audience” is so they can see all your action and hear all your lines. We would love to see lots of action, emotion and “playing” to your audience.

Send us a picture or video of your Storytelling scene at stagelightathome@gmail.com or tag us on social media @stagelightarts. Have fun with this!

Today’s activity is more challenging than it appears, IF you really work creatively. Shape each letter in your name as creatively as possible and with your whole body. Practice moving from letter to letter smoothly until you have your “dance” memorized.

Play with the transition from letter to letter to make your dance as interesting and creative as possible. For example, will you move sharply from one letter to another, or smoothly? Will you move fast or slow to each letter? For an added challenge, use different transitions between each letter, sometimes turning, jumping, or rolling.

Choose a song that you want to perform your dance to and practice it ten times. Make sure you hold that end pose! Then, have someone film your dance and send it to us at stagelightathome@gmail.com or post it on social media and tag us @stagelightarts.

Once you get the hang of this activity, try spelling out other words or maybe work with a sibling to create letters! Other words you might try are lucky, love, dance, or perform!