High School Routine Choreography Question

[ilikebigbows]

I'm from Indiana and my school is competing for the first time ever at the State Fair in August. Guess who got stuck with choreographing the entire routine? Yes, me.

I'm primarily an allstar girl so I don't know much about the concept besides what I see on YouTube videos. It's a 2 minute chanting routine, with no music, signs, or props besides your poms.

My question is pretty general. Where do I start?? Do I choreograph the routine first, then write the cheer? Or the other way around? How will I ensure that we don't go over the time limit? How can I prepare my competition-newbie team for a routine like this? My coach shot down the idea of a real choreographer so I guess it's all up to me! All and any advice is welcome! Thank you!

 

[CoachMandiCF]

2 minutes of just chanting? Oh honey - good luck!!

In VA we have 2 1/2 minute routines, but 1 minute has to be no music, only a cheer. The way to make sure they don't go over the time limit is repetition. While they're doing the routine, time them. BUt then have them perform it in front of a mock audience as well. Usually what happens is they speed up instead of slowing down, so you should be fine if you keep the original pace time limit at 2 minutes. Have someone designated to call the speed of your routine chant, that way others can fall into that pace.

I would design the routine around the words. Only because certain words you may want to choreograph to certain motions and then also, you want to not have any words during your jumps (unless your team is really conditioned and can perform it that well).

I choreograph HS routines (not all chanting though) but I can be of help if you need it. PM me if you need any help!

 

[ilikebigbows]

2 minutes of just chanting? Oh honey - good luck!!

In VA we have 2 1/2 minute routines, but 1 minute has to be no music, only a cheer. The way to make sure they don't go over the time limit is repetition. While they're doing the routine, time them. BUt then have them perform it in front of a mock audience as well. Usually what happens is they speed up instead of slowing down, so you should be fine if you keep the original pace time limit at 2 minutes. Have someone designated to call the speed of your routine chant, that way others can fall into that pace.

I would design the routine around the words. Only because certain words you may want to choreograph to certain motions and then also, you want to not have any words during your jumps (unless your team is really conditioned and can perform it that well).

I choreograph HS routines (not all chanting though) but I can be of help if you need it. PM me if you need any help!

Thank you so much!

 

[INeverStopCheering]

I completely agree, words first routine later. Do you stunt/tumble/jump during this performance? Also, does part of it have to be lead the crowd or is it all story. If you need help writing the cheer, let me know, I love to do those

 

[ilikebigbows]

All of the answers are yes ^ and we have to lead the crowd for part of it. If you want to help, our school is Franklin Central. We are the Flashes. We go by FCHS or FC. We're blue and white.

 

[Corsicab]

For me the easiest ways to write long cheers are to write a long list of rhyming words that you would potentially use. "blue/true" "white/night/fight" etc. Not all the words have to rhyme but it gives you a decent starting point and you can usually come up with a few unique words to give your team some originality.

 

[ilikebigbows]

Great idea! Thanks!

 

[SparkleSpankies]

My suggestion is try to see what the teams in your area were like last year, if you see majority style, use that as a base. DO NOT COPY ROUTINES, however, you can use that to say they did a straight crowd leading cheer or they did a complete story cheer w/ x amount of crowd participation.

That will give you an idea of what scores well in your area so you hit the points of the score sheet and can maximize in that area.

I would come up with the words first. Then work from there. Example in a 2 minute just cheer/chant with a mix of story and crowd participation, I would start in the story section and then move into crowd and back to story to finish. Always start w/ a bang and finish strong, so if you have great motions, open w/ synchro and then rippled motions w/ a formation change while cheering. Maybe add your jumps and standing tumbling into that (I don't think anyone prefers running in a cheer but maybe incorp that early too), use stunts for your crowd participation and possibly a little more in the end.

Good Luck!

 

[ilikebigbows]

You guys are life savers! I'm sorry if this is silly, but I've never done competition at school before...what do you mean by a "story" cheer? Is that everything besides the fan inclusion part?

 

[SparkleSpankies]

www.varsity.com

Go to Videos, look at NCA High School Nationals 2012 and NHSCC 2012 (UCA High School Nationals), in the cheer portion alone, the styles are completely different and this may help.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

You guys are life savers! I'm sorry if this is silly, but I've never done competition at school before...what do you mean by a "story" cheer? Is that everything besides the fan inclusion part?

Teams that compete at NCA do more of a "story" cheer. I believe it usually tells a story about stuff like "we're back again, and ready for the win, blah blah blah"

Teams that compete at UCA to more of the traditional cheer. Like "fans on this side yell red, red! Fans on this side yell white, white. Come on crowd put it all together, red, white. Red, white" that kind of thing.

 

[ilikebigbows]

Thanks SparkleSpankies and BuegeSmalls ! This is really helping.

 

[cheerforeverever]

Definitely determine what skills your team currently has, and what skills are needed to max out the score sheets before choreographing. Don't put in anything that you don't already have (as its easier to add difficulty than to take it out), but know what goal you're striving to work towards.

The scoresheet I saw online here (http://www.in.gov/statefair/fair/contests/files/cheer_brochure.pdf) was quite vague:
Overall Execution/Precision of Moves/Timing 10
Formations/Spacing/Use of Floor/Transitions 10
Spirit/Crowd Appeal/Voice 10
Fundamentals/Motion Technique 10
Jumps 10
Tumbling 10
Partner Stunts/Pyramids 10
Degree of Difficulty 10
Perfection of Routine/Solid/Clean/Effective 10

Essentially though, the reigning champs for large varsity had a routine that consisted of:
-2 advanced standing tumbling skills by majority of team (variations of standing tumbling to tuck, standing tuck, or standing tumbling to layout/full)
-3 connected jumps including a double toe and one additional elite jump (front hurdler, pike, or double 9)
-Groups of 4 with an elite stunt skill (full up, tick tock, single based extended stunts)
-full twisting basket skill
-squad running tumbling to tuck
-squad majority for synchronized passes 2 at a time- layout or full
-pyramid with creative transitions, multiple structures
-Sharp motions, loud voices, leading the crowd (Crucial because it's a huge part of the score sheet!)

This is very similar to what maxes out in regular Indiana high school cheer (IASP - ICA Cheer Competition Scoresheets), so it might be worthwhile to take a look at those scoresheets as well to understand what difficulty distinctions the judges may be familiar with.

Basically, use the whole floor, levels, super sharp and clean choreo, and make sure that your team does not have to yell when mid jump or tumbling (since the voice will be less loud). Put in clean skills that have good difficulty, but will be perfectly executed. Finally, play to the crowd and have the words of the cheer match up with the skills you perform.

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[BuegeSmalls]

Oh and make sure that for your cheer it's pretty simple. This is where you should be leading the crowd, not the time to show off your most impressive skills. Save that for the music section
And make your opening of your routine be exciting. When I watch videos on YouTube I tend to watch the first half a minute or whatever as of it doesn't catch my attention I move on.

 

[cheerforeverever]

Oh and make sure that for your cheer it's pretty simple. This is where you should be leading the crowd, not the time to show off your most impressive skills. Save that for the music section
And make your opening of your routine be exciting. When I watch videos on YouTube I tend to watch the first half a minute or whatever as of it doesn't catch my attention I move on.

For the competition she is entering, I don't believe there is a music portion. Just cheering.
This is the competition I believe:
Someone on that video obviously was unhappy with their team placement lol, but it is interesting to see the deductions and such.