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Beginning Musical Theatre Dance With HKPropel Access introduces students to basic musical theatre dance techniques from a variety of genres, forms, and styles and explains how to put them into practice for performance on stage. It teaches students what they need to know about auditions, rehearsals, performing, and caring for themselves so they can have a successful experience in a musical theatre dance course.
Designed for students enrolled in introductory musical theatre dance courses, the text contains photos and descriptions of basic warm-up exercises, center work, steps from a variety of dance genres used in musical theatre dance, partnering, and lifts. For those new to dance, the text provides an orientation to the structure of a musical theatre dance class and includes information on meeting class expectations, dressing appropriately, preparing mentally and physically, maintaining proper nutrition and hydration, and avoiding injury.
Related online tools delivered via HKPropel offer more than 60 instructional video clips to help students practice and review musical theatre dance forms, techniques, and adaptations. A glossary builds students’ fluency in the vocabulary of musical theatre dance terminology, adaptations of steps, and styles. Plus, each chapter contains learning features to support students’ knowledge, including experiences, e-journal assignments, web links, and interactive quizzes.
To dance on the musical theatre stage, students need to know how the world of musical theatre works; the expectations they must meet; and how to audition, rehearse, perform, and care for themselves. Beginning Musical Theatre Dance will arm them with the practical information as well as the historical background they need for success.
Beginning Musical Theatre Dance is part of Human Kinetics’ Interactive Dance Series. The series incudes resources for ballet, modern, tap, jazz, musical theatre, and hip-hop dance that support introductory dance technique courses taught through dance, physical education, and fine arts departments. Each student-friendly text has related online learning tools including video clips of dance instruction, assignments, and activities. The Interactive Dance Series offers students a collection of guides to learning, performing, and viewing dance.
Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with all new print books.
Chapter 1. Introduction to Musical Theatre Dance
Defining Musical Theatre Dance
Unique Features of Musical Theatre Dance
Types of Musical Theatre
Benefits of Studying Musical Theatre Dance
Basics of Musical Theatre Dance Class
Expectations for Students
Structure of Musical Theatre Dance Class
Summary
Chapter 2. Preparing for Class
Dressing for Class
Shoes for Musical Theatre Dance
Foot Care and Personal Hygiene
Carrying Dance Gear
Preparing Yourself Physically and Mentally
Summary
Chapter 3. Safety and Health
Studio Safety
Personal Safety
Basic Anatomy
Preventing Injuries
Treating Common Dance Injuries
Training Versus Fitness
Nutrition, Hydration, and Rest
Summary
Chapter 4. Learning and Performing Musical Theatre Dance
Language of Musical Theatre Dance
Learning Steps, Phrases, and Dances
Understanding Musicality
Understanding Artistry and Artistic Development
Summary
Chapter 5. Basics of Musical Theatre Dance Technique
Warm-Up Exercises
Foot Positions on the Floor
Port de Bras and Arm Positions
Stationary Exercises
Center Work
Partnering and Lifting
Combinations
Summary
Chapter 6. From the Audition to the Stage
The Audition Process
Theatre Protocols, Etiquette, and Safety
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
Preparing to Take the Stage
Summary
Chapter 7. History of Musical Theatre Dance
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
Dance Director Era
Choreographer Era
Integration Musical Era
Concept Musicals and Director–Choreographers
Tap Musicals, Revivals, and Dance Musicals
Musical Theatre in the 21st Century
Summary
Diana Dart Harris has more than 24 years of experience teaching dance to students of all ages. She is a professor and musical theatre choreographer at the University of New Haven. She is trained in ballet, modern, jazz, and tap dance and has performed in musicals. Harris was artistic director of New Haven Ballet’s Nutcracker and assistant director of a musical theatre organization. She is a board member of the Connecticut Dance Alliance. Harris earned a bachelor of arts degree in dance education from Goucher College and a master of science degree in exercise physiology from Southern Connecticut State University.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
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Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
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Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Social Dance Positions and Steps
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy.
This genre of dance has its roots in early courtship dances. Social dances are partner dances; they reflect our need to be socially connected to others. Ballroom dance is one form of social dance, as are contemporary partner dances like the tango and the Lindy. When used in choreography, the steps will be true to form, but social dances may be altered some because they are used in a performance setting and need to keep the audience involved.
Basic Partner Positions
Six basic partner positions are used in social dances. These basic dance positions determine how you relate to your partner during the dance. The man stands on the left side, and the woman is always on the right side in all these positions.
- Shine position - In this position, the partners face each other without touching (figure 5.26).
- Two-hands joined position - Partners stand facing each other. Both the man and the woman hold their elbows by their sides with their forearms extended (figure 5.27). They can both have their palms facing down, and the man can place his thumb in the woman's palm and wrap his fingers around the top of her hands, or the man can have his palms facing up and place his thumb on top of the woman's fingers and his fingers in her palm.
- One-hand joined position - This position is the same as the two-hands joined position except that each partner uses only one hand (figure 5.28).
- Closed position - The partners face each other in this position. The man's left hand holds the woman's right hand. Palms are touching, and fingers and thumbs are loosely clasped around each other's hands. The man's right hand rests on the woman's back, cradling her left shoulder blade. The woman's left arm rests on top of the man's right arm, and her left hand rests gently on his right shoulder (figure 5.29).
- Semiopen position - In this position, the partners stand beside each other with their bodies turned at a 45-degree angle to each other. The man places his right hand below the woman's left shoulder blade with his elbow slightly bent. The woman's left arm rests gently on the man's right arm, and her left hand is in front of his right shoulder. Both partners extend their outside arms and hold hands (figure 5.30).
- Inside-hands joined position - The partners stand side by side. The man extends his right arm and offers his right hand to his partner, and the woman places her left palm in the man's right hand. Both place their outside hands on their hips (figure 5.31).
Shine position.
Two-hands joined position.
One-hand joined position.
Closed position.
Semiopen position.
Inside-hands joined position.
Basic Steps
In social dance, basic movements are connected in recurring patterns to create the dances. Because social dances are partner dances, someone always leads the movement, typically the male, and someone follows, typically the female. The lead usually begins the steps on the left foot, and the person who is following uses the right foot to begin the patterns. Here are some of the common steps you will need to know.
- Step hop - For a step hop you step from one foot onto the other, shifting your weight, and then hop on that foot.
- Triple step - In this step you take three steps in two counts. You step on the right foot, then step on the ball of the left foot, and conclude with another step on the right foot. This step is counted "1 and 2." A series of triple steps are often done together and in various directions.
- Rock step - In this step you transfer weight from one foot to the other with a rocking motion. You step backward on one foot with a full transfer of weight and complete it by stepping forward on the other foot while again transferring your weight. The rock step can also be done by rocking and stepping forward with the first foot and then stepping back onto the second foot. Each step receives a full count.
- Box step - This six-count step makes a box, or square, pattern on the floor. The lead starts with the left foot stepping forward. A step to the side with the right foot follows, and then the left foot steps in to meet the right foot. The right foot then steps back, the left foot steps side, and the right foot steps in to meet the left. The person following begins with the right foot stepping backward and reverses the pattern.
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Theatre Staff and Hierarchy
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance.
You may now have a good idea about what your job is during rehearsals and performances. Now you need to understand how the entire staff works together to create a performance. Understanding the various jobs within a production and the hierarchy will be important so that you are aware of who is in charge of the elements that come together to create a cohesive and successful production.
The main production staff is made up of a producer, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a technical director, and a wardrobe and makeup director.
Producer
The producer oversees all parts of the production and ensures that everything runs smoothly. The producer acts as the business manager of the production and is therefore in charge of creating and following the budget; fund-raising; setting performance dates, times, and ticket prices; marketing and publicizing the show; creating a timeline for the rehearsal and production period in collaboration with the director; securing rehearsal and performance spaces; and hiring and overseeing the stage manager and house manager.
Stage Manager
The stage manager is in charge of scheduling, giving cues, taking notes, and communicating with the cast and designers during the rehearsal period. During the show, the stage manager is responsible for overseeing each performance. She or he is in charge of every scene change and is expected to be sure that all actors are where they need to be at all times. The stage manager is always listened to and respected because she or he is in charge after performances begin.
House Manager
Although the stage manager is in charge of everything that happens backstage, the house manager oversees everything that happens on the other side of the curtain. The house manager is responsible for the box office, everything that happens in the lobby, everything that happens in the audience, and the custodians. He or she must hire and oversee the people who run the box office, act as ushers, and sell souvenirs or serve refreshments in the lobby. Any time a problem arises in the audience such as a dispute over a seat or a loud, disruptive audience member, the house manager is called on to resolve the issue.
Director
The director controls all the artistic elements of the show. She or he is responsible for running the audition; casting the show; blocking, or staging, all the scenes; coaching the actors on line delivery; and helping with character development. The director is responsible for developing the concept behind the play and being able to explain it to the other members of the artistic staff and the cast. She or he must collaborate with the staff and be able to integrate all the acting, singing, and dancing in a seamless manner.
Music Director
The music director is responsible for working with both the cast and the musicians who will be playing in the orchestra for the show. He or she interprets the music and helps guide the director and choreographer by suggesting changes in the music or places where the music should be lengthened or cut shorter. The music director's jobs include securing rehearsal accompanists; hiring the pit orchestra, the group of musicians who will play the music during the actual performance; and rehearsing the music with the cast and the orchestra.
Choreographer
The choreographer is the movement expert. She or he is responsible for reading through the script, listening to the show's music, and developing movements and gestures that combine to create the show's dances. The choreographer is generally responsible for creating dance sequences, teaching them to the cast, and rehearsing them. She or he is also often responsible for adding gestural movement to other scenes and helping to block crowd scenes. The choreographer must make sure that acting can be conveyed through the selected movements and that the cast members are able to sing while dancing. Therefore, she or he must work closely with both the director and the music director.
Besides reading through the script and listening to the music, the choreographer must research the historical era of the show to be sure that the dances are appropriate for the setting of the musical. Many shows are set in a specific period, and the choreographer's movements should reflect the setting. For example, The Boyfriend is set in the 1920s when the Charleston was a popular dance. Using a dance from another era would not make sense or seem authentic.
A cast member is usually assigned the title of dance captain. The dance captain works under the choreographer and acts as her or his assistant. The dance captain is responsible for learning all of the choreography and helping other cast members learn it. He or she is required to teach choreography to replacement cast members and may be required to call and run additional rehearsals to practice choreography and give notes to cast members.
Technical Director
The technical director oversees all the technical aspects of the production. She or he works closely with the director to help create the mood of the production and be sure that the actors will be safe, seen, and heard. She or he is responsible for hiring a scenic designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer. The scenic designer is responsible for creating a set that will work well in the performance space and help create the director's vision. He or she must work closely with the lighting designer, whose job it is to use lighting to ensure that all areas of the stage and the performers are visible at the right times, to set the mood, to direct the audience's attention, and to indicate the time of day during scenes. The sound designer is responsible for being certain that performers and musicians can be heard, that the sound is balanced in the theatre, and that all necessary sound effects are in place.
Although the director, music director, and choreographer all begin their work at the beginning of the production, most of the technical staff do not begin their work in the theatre until a few weeks before opening night. The people creating the set begin designing and building it early in the rehearsal process, but the lighting and sound crews will first enter the theatre during load-in, when lights are hung and wires for lighting and sound are run throughout the theatre.
Lighting effects can help direct the audience's attention and create a mood for the dance.
Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor
The wardrobe and makeup supervisor oversees the areas of both costume and makeup design. Responsibilities include researching the musical, meeting with the director and choreographer and working with the costume designer to ensure that the costumes will work well in all the scenes and still match the vision, determining what type of makeup will be used, measuring the actors and being certain that costumes fit well, and being certain that the costumes are laundered, ironed, and ready for each dress rehearsal and performance. Additionally, she or he is responsible for the storage of costumes and the physical transportation of them to and from the theatre.
Did You Know?
A swing is a member of the cast who is required to understudy many roles in the production so that he or she may immediately assume responsibility for a role should a fellow actor be unable to perform.
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Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
Origins of Musical Theatre Dance
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element.
The first dramas that included music and dance were presented by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE. Those dramas served as models for the Romans, who expanded the dance element. During the Middle Ages, groups of traveling actors used dance to tell stories, and during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church staged dramas that included music and dance to reinforce morality lessons and bring Biblical stories to life. As the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began, Greek dramas were resurrected. Some of these dramas, like Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), which was performed at the Gonzaga court, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689), which was performed in England, featured dance and movement sequences. Pantomime performances were also popular and included singing, acrobatics, clown acts, and dialogue as well as dance. The dancing included in these pantomimes was considered show dance and could be anything from classic hornpipe dances to tightrope dancing. Additionally, dance was used between acts of Shakespearian plays and was used to entertain audiences between the acts of John Gray's The Beggar's Opera in 1728. These dances usually featured an individual dancing alone or leading a group of dancers who performed some type of Scottish folk dance.
A recreation of a Greek games dance.
Did You Know?
The Romans created the first tap shoes by nailing bits of metal to the soles of their sandals so that the dance steps could be heard.
Musical Theatre Dance in Colonial America
Across the ocean in colonial America, theatre was kept alive by British acting troupes. The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in Europe in the 1720s, was New York's first documented musical performance in 1750. In 1767 the Theatre on John Street opened and became a main performance space in New York for the remainder of the 18th century. The comic opera The Archers, performed there in 1796, is considered the first American-born musical (Kenrick, 2011). During the Revolutionary period in America (1764 - 1789), some members of the Continental Congress voiced their opposition to theatres and play-going because those pastimes were considered scandalous and distasteful (Kenrick, 2011). This opposition led to several of the 13 colonies banning public performances, but try as people might, keeping others from dancing is difficult, and even legislation could not stop it. Between 1750 and 1843, white men in black face traveled around the country, performing songs and dances in circuses and as entertainment during play intermissions (Kenrick, 2011). These intermission performances eventually developed into full-length minstrel performances in the mid-1800s.
Minstrelsy and Vaudeville
Minstrel shows were black song and dance parodies born when traveling blackface performers named themselves the Virginia Minstrels and presented a full-length show in 1843. But those minstrel shows were not allowed on Broadway, which was considered New York's cultural center and was meant for the elite citizens who enjoyed operas and plays. The minstrel shows were performed at the Bowery, which was where the lower class gathered. During the minstrel era, which lasted into the early 1900s, dance steps were officially given names that were written down.
In 1866 a production called The Black Crook was scheduled to be performed in New York at Niblo's Garden. Meanwhile, a Parisian ballet company had been booked to perform at the Academy of Music. A fire at the Academy of Music led to a merger of the ballet performance with the production of The Black Crook. The result was a 5 1/2-hour play with added songs and dances. The songs and dances had no relationship to the plot, making the production a circus-like spectacle that showcased individual dancers wearing only tight-fitting bodices and tights. The Black Crook was the first production in the United States to run longer than a year, and it marked the birth of musical theatre in the United States.
The final scene from The Black Crook.
The Black Crook paved the way for the burlesque and vaudeville shows of the late 1800s. The burlesque shows of this decade featured women who wore costumes that showed the shapes of their bodies. Their performances entertained the middle and lower classes and used music and dance to mock operas, plays, and the upper-class socialites. Vaudeville shows were a series of unrelated acts as part of an evening's entertainment that ignited interest in all kinds of dance, including Irish dance, clogging, tap, comic dancing, acrobatics, fancy dancing, skirt dancing, and toe dancing. Vaudeville was the training ground for people who would go on to perform in and create the Broadway musicals of the 20th century.
Did You Know?
The toe dancing done in vaudeville shows was very different from classical ballet dancing en pointe. It involved the dancers doing tricks, like jumping rope, while dancing on their toes. Some dancers even attached metal to the tips of their shoes to tap out rhythms while dancing.
Ballroom, Ragtime, and Chorus Girls
In the early 1900s, ragtime music, which combined European folk songs with West African drum rhythms, found its way onto the theatrical stage. The dance portions of performances began to expand. Dance directors gained recognition and focused on how the stage could be used and how the dances looked from an audience perspective. Additionally, dance instructors spent a lot of time training dancers to perform in specific ways. When Vernon Castle (1887 - 1918) and Irene Castle (1893 - 1969) refined and polished the dances that the black population had been doing to ragtime music, ballroom dancing was born. The Castles were responsible for making ballroom dance popular and altering those social dances to make them interesting for an audience to watch.
In the early 1900s, John Tiller (1854 - 1925) founded a school in London, England, that offered dance training to women, who became known as London's Tiller Girls. They were trained to perform in unison, to march in military formations with military precision. Tiller provided dancers for London's revues and musical comedies and brought girls to the United States to dance in vaudeville shows and musical plays like The Man in the Moon (1899) and The Casino Girl (1901). As time passed, he added can-can kicks and vaudeville-type steps to their training. Similar schools soon opened in the United States.
Ned Wayburn (1874 - 1942) founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 in Manhattan and created kick lines. Although he believed that all dancers needed to be trained, his first priority was appearance. Dancers were chosen for shows because of their beauty, and he was the first dance director to demand that all the dancers in his chorus line be the same height.
His dances contained intricate, fast steps, and he demanded musicality and smiles. Wayburn effectively used tableaus, or groups of posed, still dancers, to depict scenes on the stage. He was probably the most influential, successful, and best-known dance director of his time, acting as dance director for the Ziegfeld Follies, an annual show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (1867 - 1932) from 1916 through 1919 and again from 1922 through 1923. He is credited with developing the Ziegfeld walk, which required the dancers to walk down stairs balancing enormous headpieces by simultaneously thrusting one hip forward and pushing the opposite shoulder forward.
A Ziegfeld Follies performer from 1925.
Also known for their work on the Ziegfeld Follies were dance directors Julian Mitchell (1854 - 1926) and Albertina Rausch (1891 - 1967). Mitchell expanded on Tiller's idea of the chorus girl and developed the concept of a grand production number. Mitchell was responsible for the dancing in both The Wizard of Oz in 1902 and Babes in Toyland in 1903.
Albertina Rausch was the third dance director of the Ziegfeld Follies. She brought elements of her classical ballet training to Broadway by combining ballet arm movements, or port de bras, similar to those used in classical ballet, with less stylized movements and by combining the eccentric vaudeville toe dancing with Tiller precision. She set this dancing to modern music and called it American ballet (Kislan, 1987).
Meanwhile, in Harlem, black musical theatre was also flourishing. Opening in 1911, The Darktown Follies was an all-black musical featuring a circle dance that involved everyone snaking around the stage with his or her hands on the hips of the next person in line. This circle dance was purchased by Florenz Ziegfeld to be used in his Follies. In 1923 the show Runnin ' Wild reached back to the Ashanti dancers of Africa and featured one of their dances on stage, called the Charleston.
Lines between black and white musical theatre began to blur as the whites began to borrow more black dances and perform them on white stages.
During this period, dance went from being an accompaniment for stage plays to earning a featured place on the stage. Thanks to The Black Crook and notable dancers like the Castles, Ned Wayburn, Julian Mitchell, Albertina Rausch, John Tiller, and Florenz Ziegfeld, dance began to earn a more prominent place in performances.
Save
Learn more about Beginning Musical Theatre Dance.
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