Characteristics of a Good Captain/Choreographer

[kinnell]

I'm running auditions/tryouts for my school's Fusion team's choreographers. At my school, captains are choreographers and vice versa and through my organization, people can apply to become choreographers of the raas, bhangra and fusion team either alone or in groups.

What do you think are characteristics of good captains/choreographers? What type of things indicate good leadership and good choreography? In your past experience, how is the choreographer selected and what type of personality traits have they exhibited?

I'm having applicants bring a 2 minute choreographed routine, their game plan for the year and they should be able to answer questions about their leadership experience. What else would be good?

 

[smehta]

2 minutes of choreo seems a lot to me, esp. for those ppl who think they want to try out but really have no idea exactly how to make a routine at all. On our team I think the first day of try outs consists of makin at routine that is about 45 seconds - 1 minute long, and in this time hopefully you can judge whether or not the person has any talent or potential.

 

[kinnell]

2 minutes of choreo seems a lot to me, esp. for those ppl who think they want to try out but really have no idea exactly how to make a routine at all. On our team I think the first day of try outs consists of makin at routine that is about 45 seconds - 1 minute long, and in this time hopefully you can judge whether or not the person has any talent or potential.

Tryouts for Choreographers. Just for clarification - by applicants, I mean applicants that want to become choreography.

I am assuming that if they think they can lead a team to competitions through choreography, they should be able to know how to make a routine.

Raas/Bhangra team choreographers were selected uncontested (no one ran against them) and they had a summer to begin planning and choreographing. I had asked the ppl interested in Fusion choreography to start preparing as if they had been selected so that the team would not be at a disadvantage even if only one of the groups had been selected.

 

[Havish]

We don't have people tryout for choreographers. When it comes to choreo, we usually just get everyone on the team that has good ideas and input together and have a choreo session. Having just one person Choreography seems too one sided for me because getting input from a couple of more people makes the set more balanced.

 

[sulmoney]

We don't have people tryout for choreographers. When it comes to choreo, we usually just get everyone on the team that has good ideas and input together and have a choreo session. Having just one person Choreography seems too one sided for me because getting input from a couple of more people makes the set more balanced.

havish is on the money, group choreo is the way to do it, or else there is too much duty on one person, and is as often the case, choreo can get repetitive (i know i hit choreo blocks). getting multiple inputs leads to a more varied dance

 

[Waleed]

We don't have people tryout for choreographers. When it comes to choreo, we usually just get everyone on the team that has good ideas and input together and have a choreo session. Having just one person Choreography seems too one sided for me because getting input from a couple of more people makes the set more balanced.

havish is on the money, group choreo is the way to do it, or else there is too much duty on one person, and is as often the case, choreo can get repetitive (i know i hit choreo blocks). getting multiple inputs leads to a more varied dance

I'm actually a big believer in having 2-3 people set the main choreo (and not more than that). This way the routine has a uniform flow and the segments connect better. However, team input is still very valuable. Once the main choreographers have set the framework, the team should be encouraged to offer suggestions and their critical opinion. Also with 2-3 main choreographers, one will be stronger at developing choreo while the other might be better at coming up with formations, etc. When you have the whole team pitch in, it has always been fruitless in my experience as it just ends up being 'too many people talking'.

 

[Rohit]

We don't have people tryout for choreographers. When it comes to choreo, we usually just get everyone on the team that has good ideas and input together and have a choreo session. Having just one person Choreography seems too one sided for me because getting input from a couple of more people makes the set more balanced.

havish is on the money, group choreo is the way to do it, or else there is too much duty on one person, and is as often the case, choreo can get repetitive (i know i hit choreo blocks). getting multiple inputs leads to a more varied dance

I'm actually a big believer in having 2-3 people set the main choreo (and not more than that). This way the routine has a uniform flow and the segments connect better. However, team input is still very valuable. Once the main choreographers have set the framework, the team should be encouraged to offer suggestions and their critical opinion. Also with 2-3 main choreographers, one will be stronger at developing choreo while the other might be better at coming up with formations, etc. When you have the whole team pitch in, it has always been fruitless in my experience as it just ends up being 'too many people talking'.

thats usually how it is. You have your main choreographers and then they teach it and it's not always the case that the choreographers are good leaders. These are 2 seperate skills/entities, can't get them both mixed up (I)

 

[Dhesi]

Waleed is Bang-On IMO!

 

[kinnell]

The common conception seems that independent/professional teams will usually have more of a group involvement as well as teams with a lot of experience. College teams with less experience will have members that may not know what bhangra exactly is or may not agree on which style of bhangra is best for the team.

If your team is a group choreo, then you have no problem selecting someone since everyone who wants to do it can.

Waleed, you said 2-3 choreographers is best and I agree. But how do you propose these people be selected? By team election? What if the team isn't selected yet?

 

[[Sher] Imran]

I dont think you can really select choreographers on a team, they kinda select themselves. They standout, and its easy to see that their minds are working on a different gear when it comes to moves. I think you can easily sort out who can do what on your team. You'll have a the dancers that dont say much and just dance. You'll have those who offer input every now and then for a 4 count, and you have a few that are a little more involved, and you have the person/people that are running the dance. You should select a choreographer on merit, in that you see him/her dance and youre watching them mess around and you can see that theyre always trying new things. If its a new team, then choreograph, and wait for those people to pop up. I think it usually is the captain, because the person with the most know-how is the one that is running the ship.

 

[Waleed]

Waleed, you said 2-3 choreographers is best and I agree. But how do you propose these people be selected? By team election? What if the team isn't selected yet?

The team captains from the year before can select the new captains - pass the torch on to those who stood out, like Imran said. The old team captains know the dynamic of the team and the competitive circuit better than any new dancer joining the team.

Also, make sure that atleast one of the captains is good at managing logistical duties (registration,practice,scheduling,travel,etc). Most of the time that person is also the choreographer but make sure you don't just select captains purely based on their level of dance skill. They also need to be a good leader and know how to run a team. Good luck!

 

[Havish]

but make sure you don't just select captains purely based on their level of dance skill. They also need to be a good leader and know how to run a team. Good luck!

Very Important point Waleed makes, team captains don't have to be the best dancers on the team, they must be leaders. People who can lead their team and lead practices. Yes they must be able to dance fairly well but not necessarily the best dancer.

 

[kinnell]

but make sure you don't just select captains purely based on their level of dance skill. They also need to be a good leader and know how to run a team. Good luck!

Very Important point Waleed makes, team captains don't have to be the best dancers on the team, they must be leaders. People who can lead their team and lead practices. Yes they must be able to dance fairly well but not necessarily the best dancer.

Thats true. I agree though that they must dance well. Good leaders lead by example. No matter how amazing a leader a person is, if they cannot perform well, the team cannot learn from their example.

Handing off the torch seems a good way, but seems that if their was drama, the captain may not make the most objective choice. Though, there probably isnt any way to do it without the chance of drama.

 

[Rohit]

but make sure you don't just select captains purely based on their level of dance skill. They also need to be a good leader and know how to run a team. Good luck!

Very Important point Waleed makes, team captains don't have to be the best dancers on the team, they must be leaders. People who can lead their team and lead practices. Yes they must be able to dance fairly well but not necessarily the best dancer.

Thats true. I agree though that they must dance well. Good leaders lead by example. No matter how amazing a leader a person is, if they cannot perform well, the team cannot learn from their example.

Handing off the torch seems a good way, but seems that if their was drama, the captain may not make the most objective choice. Though, there probably isnt any way to do it without the chance of drama.

I dunno I disagree with that a little. The captain can provide very useful information and may not be a dancer and just act as a coach instead. By definition a captain is just a team member who has an increased amount of roles to play (eg: like ppl mentioned; awareness of the circuit and construction of the routine) but doesn't necessarily have to perform in the sense of stage performance. If you have a guy who's the eldest on a team, sux at dancing but everyone listens to and looks up to b/c they have knowledge on how somethin should look you would make him/her the captain i assume (I)

 

[kinnell]

I honestly have no concept of a separation of duties of choreographer and captain. I run practices and I choreograph and teach. Just one person for everything.

Rohit, does the choreographer teach the choreography and captain simply have them practice? What are the individual duties of each position? Just curious.

 

[Rohit]

Well the choreographer(s) would essentially make and teach the routine will the captain maintains the composure, the timeliness and all that on the team essentially making sure the team comes together at the end.

 

[Arjun Barua]

Absolutely right, Rohit. A captain is a person with good leadership, organizational, and motivational skills, who unites the team in pursuing a common goal. Good dancing ability is not a requirement, but a drive and commitment to keep getting better is necessary because that shows good leadership.

 

[HarmanSingh]

The most important thing for a Captain is the respect of his teammates. If everyone looks to the person for advice and guidance on how to operate the team, he could be the worst dancer ever but it doesn't matter. It is similar to a basketball team where the captain might be a veteran bench player who might not be an all-star, but knows the game well and can lead his team off the court and from the bench.

A Choreographer is simply the person with the most creativity, the best feel for bhangra and more often than not the best dancer.

The two "titles" can be separate or they can be the same, depends on your team personnel. But I think most independent teams I know have around 2-3 main choreographers, and then the rest of the team offers their input. And most often the Captain is the oldest, most experienced person on the team who everyone respects for their knowledge and maturity.

 

[zagreus]

As far as my own experience goes, I used to believe that a captain needed to be able to make the majority of the choreography...as time went on, i've opened up that world view and realize now that it is best for the captain to pass those duties onto another creative person to make the choreography. this split has served well for my team in that i can focus more on running practices, organizing gigs, and getting outfits and any other gear the team needs.

i would add that i agree that the captain does not need to be the best dancer on a team, but that captain must possess knowledge about the innerworkings of teams and should be fairly knowledgeable about bhangra. The captain should also be well aware of what choreography is being done so that he/she can offer pointers to the choreographer and the captain should also learn the choreo first before the team is taught the choreo (it makes for an easier practice).

currently, as a captain, i deal with the gear (outfits and props), help finalize the mixes, and maintain a presence at practice to help coordinate information and make sure practices are run smoothly. choreography isn't the first thing on my mind when i work nowadays, making sure practices go well is my priority. and this is for the college team i'm part of.

 

[amriksahni]

Jasmeet, you sound incredibly experienced! Your team must be incredible!

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