Choreographing Your Own Routines?

[my4buffaloes]

So dd will likely be competing level 7 next year (she had better, so that she never has to do another handstand dismount on beam again! LOL) She is having fun playing around and making up her own routines. She is currently wanting to just do it herself. Has anyone else done that? How hard is it to match it to music? There is a girl on her team that all the girls joke about having her make up their dance parts because she is always dancing around and coming up with great stuff. Is that unusual to have a teammate help with your routine?

 

[gym law mom]

I would advise against having a girl new to optionals choreograph her own routine for several reasons. Its always advisable to have that experienced 2nd pair of eyes to look at the routine as a whole and put in/take out moves. You also need someone who knows the USAG code and can make sure she has enough skills to meet the level requirements. What may feel like a fun dance move or seem to be something "cool" to put in a routine may in fact not really work.
Have someone who does this for a living help her with music selection and the choreo. Many choreographers/coaches will let the girls give input on some desired moves so have her keep a list of things she would like in the routine.

 

[bogwoppit]

Ours were allowed to make up their own beam routines, to be approved and tweaked by the HC. But never floor routines, so many more things go into a routine than just the obvious skills.

Much better to get a routine done properly. Ours always were able to add little bits of their own stuff in, providing it wasn't going to be judged poorly.

 

[gymgurl]

Well in Australia it is optionals from level four and because of this coaches in the gym often choreograph the routine (we have one or two that mainly do it). I have a friend who is very good at choreographing dances and what she did was work with the choreographer and showed her what she wanted in it and then the choreographer would try to incorporate it. Other option is for her to find out what skills are in her routine and then come up with a routine and run it by the coach. I am sure she could do something like that

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

This is probably a bad idea, especially since your DD is probably not that old. She can let a coach/choreographer know if she wants a certain dance move in, and the coach can decide if it works or not. The moves not only have to look good, they must fit the music and be in time with the music's rhythm. That's pretty complicated for someone without quite a bit of dance or music training to figure out. Of course, it's always fun to make up a "routine" just for kicks.

I only know one girl who did quite a bit of her own floor choreography, and she was an 18-year-old level 9 who'd been competing for more than 10 years and had been a very talented ballerina and acrobat before switching to gym full-time. She now choreographs professionally at my gym. Beam routines, however, may be more up to the gymnast. At my gym, the beam coach lets the older/more experienced girls do quite a bit of their own beam routines.

 

[emilee572]

At our gym, we pick the music, but the coaches make the routine. Plus, if your DD is young, it's probably not the best idea They know required skills and the choregraphy will usually be better. Good Luck

 

[All Chalked Up]

We choreograph our own beam routines, then our coach tweaks them to her liking.

With floor routines, we pick out a piece of music together and then both the gymnast and coach picks dance parts out.

 

[bookworm]

There's no way a coach should be letting a first year level 7 choreograph her own floor routine...even if you have to pay extra, it will be worth it.

 

[gymgal]

dd is in platinum in prep-op and she picked the music and choreographed about half of her routine this year. She had made up the entire routine but then the coach tweaked it with requirements that had been missing and jumps/leaps that looked better. I am happy that the coach allowed this because it really made the routine dd's and the moves really fit her.

I would never recommend a gymnast do this without direct input from the coach but I don't see any reason why the gymnast can't play around with moves and the music to get a feel for what flows.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Thanks for everyone's input! Dd was just asking yesterday if she could and I didn't know so figured I would ask. Hopefully when it comes time to choreograph the routine whoever we choose will let her have input, because she has lots of ideas LOL. The syncing it up with the music sounded really hard and we don't know what skills are required (although we could find out). Oh well, it was just a thought, dd loves making up routines so hopefully in a few months when they start really working on them we can find someone open to her ideas.

 

[cher062]

Our coach is also a dance teacher so that works out really great for our girls. Having a pair of eyes on a routine that has seen hundreds if not thousands of good and bad routines is well worth any money you pay.

A 1st year L7 doesn't have the experience necessary to know what makes a good routine. One that the judges in the area they compete will like and one they won't like. At our gym the coach makes the routines for all levels but the girls have input when they are first learing the routines as to what tumble passes happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, which direction they go in and if they have favorite dance moves that they like to do it can be added. In my DD's routine this year there was a part that felt awkard to her so she asked the coach if she could do something else and they came up with something.


The Beam the girls are supposed to make up the dance fluff themselves but it has to have the feel of the floor routine. the coach will look at what the girls are making up and will approve or not approve the routine as it develops. She will also make suggestions if the girls get stuck. If they just can't come up with something she will get them started but want them to make part of it up so if they ever get stuck and forget something on floor or beam they can improvise so it doesn't look like they forgot their routine - and yes even at optional levels girls do forget their routines especially when they are new.

 

[luckygymnast27]

Personally for the first year of level 7 i would get a hand me down routine or get it choreographed by a professional.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

Ours were allowed to make up their own beam routines, to be approved and tweaked by the HC. But never floor routines, so many more things go into a routine than just the obvious skills.

Much better to get a routine done properly. Ours always were able to add little bits of their own stuff in, providing it wasn't going to be judged poorly.

same here. DD has made her beam routine & HC will tweak as needed. not floor though.