[Meet] Hiring a Choreographer question?

[GymDad00]

Curious if anyone has hired an optional level choreographer with NO gymnastic choreo experience? My daughter had a dance and ballet instructor that she adored, but has since left dance and joined gymnastics full time. She would like her routine to be filled with contemporary dance and ballet from a coach she's comfortable with and knows her skillset, but unsure if hiring a non-gymnastic floor routine choreographer is wise?

This is for a Level 8 floor routine.

 

[GymCMLA]

As long as she knows from her gym coaches what passes (tumbling and leap) and turn needs are to be included, I think it would be fine. I'd ask dance choreographer person to watch last year's floor routine and listen through the music for the "when to tumble" and "When to leap" before she / he chorees it. (I also have dancers who do optional WAG and use a rhythmic gymnast to choreo to highlight their dance virtues)

 

[HopefulGymnast]

The only thing i'd add is: make sure the dance choreo doesn't accidentally include moves that are gymnastics elements as they could incur deductions. Like, don't add unnecessary leaps and turns as part of choreo.

 

[aisu20]

It should be fine. My mom choreographed all my routines and she had no gymnastics background, just a lot of dance training. You can also tweak the choreo yourselves if your daughter or her coach realizes something isn’t working.

 

[34gymcoach]

Highly suggest you get the gyms blessing before booking outside choreo, and don’t be surprised if you don’t get it. It may seem to make sense to go to a dance person, but someone with experience w gymnastics choreo will make sure all the requirements are met (including composition deductions), the routine is clean and will know how space out the routine in a way not to get deductions (use of floor space, level changes, etc). Choreography for a L8 gymnastics routine takes knowledge that I’m assuming a ballet instructor would not have. Trust your coaches info/recommendations!

 

[aisu20]

It should be fine. My mom choreographed all my routines and she had no gymnastics background, just a lot of dance training. You can also tweak the choreo yourselves if your daughter or her coach realizes something isn’t working.

Should have mentioned, if you do decide to go with the dance instructor, make sure she's watched a few floor routines so she has an idea of what's expected. According to the L8 code of points, your daughter can get docked for insufficient use of floor space, insufficient variation of rhythm and tempo, poor relationship of music and movement, and lack of variety in choreography. Presumably an experienced dancer/dance choreographer would tick all of those boxes regardless, but you can show her current examples of floor routines that your daughter likes (and score well). On the elite level, Brooklyn Moors, Latalia Bevan, Zoe Allaire-Bourgie all had balletic styles in their flour routines.