I was lucky to have my very first choreography class with Eddie Jansson of the original Rhythm Hotshots. The class wasn’t just about learning choreography–it was about learning to write and memorize choreography. The method that he taught was excellent and I still use it to this day.
The first thing to do is to pick your music. Once you have the music, it’s time to chart it.
Sit down with a piece of lined paper and a pen and listen. Every time the music completes 8 counts, make a vertical mark along the lined paper. Leave some space before the next mark. When it’s the end of a phrase and a new phrase is beginning, move to the next line down.
Listen to the song twice to ensure that you’ve made the marks in the appropriate places.
Use the marks that you’ve made to create a chart. Each horizontal line should represent a phrase of the music.
A standard 32 beat phrase of music, which is made of four 8-counts, will have four rectangles on each line. A standard chorus would look like this:
After you’ve charted an entire standard song, if it had 4 chorus’ it might look like this:
Once you have your empty chart, it’s nice to listen again and make a little mark in places in the song where something interesting is taking place musically, such as a very punchy break, or an instrumental section.Now that you know the song and you have a nice visual representation of it, Then you can get started with your actual choreography.
Now that you know the song and you have a nice visual representation of it, you can get started with your actual choreography. It might make sense to start writing at the beginning, or it might make sense to create your most exciting sequences first, to match the highlights in the music.
Here are some examples of choreography that’s been charted.
This is what the first chorus of the Shim Sham would look like:
| Right Shim Sham | Left Shim Sham | Right Shim Sham | Shim Sham Break |
| Push, Push, Crossover Right | Push, Push, Crossover Left | Push, Push, Crossover Right | Double Cross Over |
| Tack Annie | Tack Annie | Tack Annie | Shim Sham Break |
| Half Break | Shim Sham Break | Half Break | Shim Sham Break |
Then for Chorus #2 – freezes in place of the Shim Sham breaks
| Right Shim Sham | Left Shim Sham | Right Shim Sham | FREEZE |
| Push, Push, Crossover Right | Push, Push, Crossover Left | Push, Push, Crossover Right | Double Cross Over |
| Tack Annie | Tack Annie | Tack Annie | FREEZE |
| Half Break | FREEZE | Half Break | FREEZE |
| Boogie Forward | Boogie Back | Boogie Forward | Boogie Back |
| Shorty George | Jump Boogie Back | Shorty George | Jump Boogie Back |
When you’re writing choreography that isn’t just made up of 8-counts (which is much more dynamic and interesting) you might make a chorus of the music look something like this:
In this example, I’ve broken up each phrase in smaller fractions to represent the 6-count moves vs. the 8-count moves.
When Eddie first taught us to use this method, he had us chart out the first chorus of the song Leap Frog. This is a great, exciting song to use for your first stab at choreography. Then we worked in groups to choreograph that first chorus of music and performed for one another.
This is an example of a much more complicated, irregular choreography that I wrote many years ago. I still remember it because the song was so irregular and the visual stayed in my mind. This is for the song Hallelujah I Just Love Her So which is based on a blues structure but there are a mix of full 12-bar phrases and 8-bar phrases. This old choreography chart also shows how helpful it is to get a visual of the entire song so that you can know where you are within the larger piece of music.
Here’s our classic “Frankie Choreo” danced to Duke Ellington’s, Let’s Get Together:
And here it is in action!
Writing choreography doesn’t have to be difficult, and you have to start somewhere. Try this method to ensure that you’re basing the choreography on the music as the first priority. It’s a great learning experience. Oh, and as Eddie taught us, don’t forget to always take a bow at the end of your performance to thank the audience for gracing you with their attention! Good luck.