Dance in FOTR?

LaurelDP · Dance in FOTR?

How much dancing is there?

We're looking at shows for my high school, and this show fits our talent pool amazingly. But our silly director wants to do a show with some dance in it...

Is there ANY in this show?

what_the_heck013

Yes, there is dancing (I mean, not WSS or ACL dancing) in the wedding scene and also (possibly) in the opening. I wouldn't consider it a dance show, but there is surely dancing in it.

ajkowalkowski

There is MOVEMENT, but probably not what you're looking for.

star2ballie

Aside from the Chava ballet sequence and the bottle dance...there is just simple movement, really.

Although you can do some more 'dancey' stuff in "To Life"...but everywhere else...not really.

And the girls aren't in "To Life", so none of the girls except Chava would really be able to 'dance' that much.

BroadwayBeast

In "To Life" we had a great Idea to have a Jew vs Russian dance off...I was the Jew, and a guy named Bruce was the Russian! It was really kinda modern for the jew(me) and very Kicky?! for the russian!

pish123c

The dancing we had was the usual movement, not exactly dancing though. Some exceptions though were:

1.) All of the wedding dances which included the bottle dance, the mens dance, and the "omg earth shattering" dance where Perchick and Hodel, Tevye and Golde, etc. break tradition and dance together.

2.) There is the Chava ballent sequence, it isn't very intense dancing at all but some basic ballet steps.

3.) In To Life there was more choreography than most of the other numbers, lots of hokey shit like linking arm in arm and going in circles etc. And then at the last minute of rehearsals, me and this other teenage guy in the cast put a few extra steps in the very end.

That's about as intense as it gets. At least for our production.

Mark Walton

Does the "To Life" dance usually include, as in the movie, a Russian colliding with Tevye? When that happened, both the dancing and the orchestra stopped abruptly (imagine the driver of a French TGV train hitting his emergency brakes). A little mutual hand-clapping and foot-stomping between Tevye and the Russian, they tentatively joined hands and started dancing again, accompanied by the orchestra restarting slowly. As Tevye said "Hey, I like it!", other Jew-Russian pairs formed and joined in the dancing, as John Williams (the conductor) rebuilt his tempo back up to what it was before, if not even faster and more furious, to the final pile-up at the bar. As Tevye cried out the final "To life!", the camera froze frame on his face.

ty.gab

our production used all of the Jerome Robbin's choreography.
from the original Broadway production.
so here's a basic outline as far as what i remember...

Tradition: basic musical theater choreography, grapevines, walking in time. the mommas and poppas don't have much beside stepping in time in their segments. The sons and daughters have a bit more, but not much more than box steps, pivots, ball-changes and the like. none of it's complicated but, it can look really sloppy if lines aren't straight, steps aren't in time, circles aren't very circular, etc.

Matchmaker: nothing too complicated, alot of pivots as far as i remember, and pushing mops around to music. ha. only involves the three daughters.

Rich Man: only Tevye, doesn't have to be spectacularly choreographed, just big and hilarious. the "shimmy" tevye does in the movie is in the original choreography as well, fun stuff.

Sabbath Prayer: n/a

To Life: just the men, most dancing in the show. fairly heavy for the russians. coffegrinders.step combinations. the russians and jews weave at one points. the jews hands are linked while they do a grape vine, the russians, almost squatting, weave between the jews. nothing is terrible, but energy, hotting, and hollering are all musts. we got huge applause after this scene, every night.

Miracle of Miracles: our choreographer and motel decided to stray away from the original chor for this song, as it was pretty boring. our motel did alot of running around, stumbling, jumping, a cartwheel, and jumped off a bench at one point.

The Dream: tons of fun. nothing very hard, though. grapevines, running in time. thrusting, lifts. it's one of the most funs songs to be a part of in the show.

Sunrise, Sunset: 4 steps forward, 4 steps back at 2 points in the song. that's it.

Wedding Dance: not hard at all. aside from the bottle dance, which is an amazing feat, please if you do the show, don't use any gimmicks or tricks.

the only osng in the second act that involves much outside of moving in time is chavaleh. which consists of basic ballet steps. nothing that requires previous experience.

LaurelDP	Dance in FOTR? How much dancing is there? We're looking at shows for my high school, and this show fits our talent pool amazingly. But our silly director wants to do a show with some dance in it... Is there ANY in this show?
what_the_heck013	Yes, there is dancing (I mean, not WSS or ACL dancing) in the wedding scene and also (possibly) in the opening. I wouldn't consider it a dance show, but there is surely dancing in it.
ajkowalkowski	There is MOVEMENT, but probably not what you're looking for.
star2ballie	Aside from the Chava ballet sequence and the bottle dance...there is just simple movement, really. Although you can do some more 'dancey' stuff in "To Life"...but everywhere else...not really. And the girls aren't in "To Life", so none of the girls except Chava would really be able to 'dance' that much.
BroadwayBeast	In "To Life" we had a great Idea to have a Jew vs Russian dance off...I was the Jew, and a guy named Bruce was the Russian! It was really kinda modern for the jew(me) and very Kicky?! for the russian!
pish123c	The dancing we had was the usual movement, not exactly dancing though. Some exceptions though were: 1.) All of the wedding dances which included the bottle dance, the mens dance, and the "omg earth shattering" dance where Perchick and Hodel, Tevye and Golde, etc. break tradition and dance together. 2.) There is the Chava ballent sequence, it isn't very intense dancing at all but some basic ballet steps. 3.) In To Life there was more choreography than most of the other numbers, lots of hokey shit like linking arm in arm and going in circles etc. And then at the last minute of rehearsals, me and this other teenage guy in the cast put a few extra steps in the very end. That's about as intense as it gets. At least for our production.
Mark Walton	Does the "To Life" dance usually include, as in the movie, a Russian colliding with Tevye? When that happened, both the dancing and the orchestra stopped abruptly (imagine the driver of a French TGV train hitting his emergency brakes). A little mutual hand-clapping and foot-stomping between Tevye and the Russian, they tentatively joined hands and started dancing again, accompanied by the orchestra restarting slowly. As Tevye said "Hey, I like it!", other Jew-Russian pairs formed and joined in the dancing, as John Williams (the conductor) rebuilt his tempo back up to what it was before, if not even faster and more furious, to the final pile-up at the bar. As Tevye cried out the final "To life!", the camera froze frame on his face.
ty.gab	our production used all of the Jerome Robbin's choreography. from the original Broadway production. so here's a basic outline as far as what i remember... Tradition: basic musical theater choreography, grapevines, walking in time. the mommas and poppas don't have much beside stepping in time in their segments. The sons and daughters have a bit more, but not much more than box steps, pivots, ball-changes and the like. none of it's complicated but, it can look really sloppy if lines aren't straight, steps aren't in time, circles aren't very circular, etc. Matchmaker: nothing too complicated, alot of pivots as far as i remember, and pushing mops around to music. ha. only involves the three daughters. Rich Man: only Tevye, doesn't have to be spectacularly choreographed, just big and hilarious. the "shimmy" tevye does in the movie is in the original choreography as well, fun stuff. Sabbath Prayer: n/a To Life: just the men, most dancing in the show. fairly heavy for the russians. coffegrinders.step combinations. the russians and jews weave at one points. the jews hands are linked while they do a grape vine, the russians, almost squatting, weave between the jews. nothing is terrible, but energy, hotting, and hollering are all musts. we got huge applause after this scene, every night. Miracle of Miracles: our choreographer and motel decided to stray away from the original chor for this song, as it was pretty boring. our motel did alot of running around, stumbling, jumping, a cartwheel, and jumped off a bench at one point. The Dream: tons of fun. nothing very hard, though. grapevines, running in time. thrusting, lifts. it's one of the most funs songs to be a part of in the show. Sunrise, Sunset: 4 steps forward, 4 steps back at 2 points in the song. that's it. Wedding Dance: not hard at all. aside from the bottle dance, which is an amazing feat, please if you do the show, don't use any gimmicks or tricks. the only osng in the second act that involves much outside of moving in time is chavaleh. which consists of basic ballet steps. nothing that requires previous experience.

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Dance in FOTR?