Women Starting to do Choreography

[flipandtwist]

Hey everybody! I was just wanting to know if anybody had any advice on starting to do choreography for gymnasts. I am toying with the idea to be an independent choreographer.
I am not currently coaching at a gym, nor do I have any real affiliation with a gym. How would I go about finding business? Go talk to the coaches in local gyms? Online advertisements?
I also do not have experience with gymnastics choreography. I know I won't be able to charge much at all, but how would I even get people to trust someone who they've never seen work from before? Do I try to find a gymnast that I'll do a routine for free to start a "portfolio". I was thinking of recording myself doing the routine, but I think it would look unprofessional with me marking passes. I also wouldn't be able to do more childish routines without looking silly.
I know this post is all over the place. I was just hoping for some advice on how to get started with something like this.
If anybody is wondering I was a gymnast for nine years and a dancer for a high school dance team for four years.

 

[Gymsanity]

That's is going to be pretty tough starting from scratch. Your best bet in my opinion is to work at a gym first. From there you can learn from their choreographer and see what is involved in picking and editing music, different requirements for different levels, and slowly start adding your input. Learning all the intricacies of choreography can take some time, but you can shorten the learning curve if you can work with an experienced person first. I have some younger coaches at my gym wanting to learn how to choreograph routines also. They work with the lower levels and give it their best shot. I then take a look and give my opinion on what I like, and what I think needs some improvement. It is a back and forth process, but it has worked really well for the coaches and kids, and so far I'm very pleased with how things are turning out. Good luck to you, and I wish you success.

 

[flipandtwist]

Thank you! I figured it would be pretty difficult without being active in a gym. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me right now.
If anybody else has any advise on how to do this independently, I would love to hear it.
If not, it looks like I will need to wait for a couple years until I can get into a gym to start this dream!