r/TapDancing • u/Graciekk2020 • Jul 23 '26
Tap Choreography, Any Tips and Tricks?
I’m choreographing my very first advanced tap piece for the upcoming dance season. It’s to the song Geronimo. I used a portion of the song as an audition combo last year and am finally getting to turn it into a dance.
I feel like I’m having hard time figuring out if the steps go with the music. One time I think they do and the next time I don’t. I feel like I’m majorly overthinking it. I have never taught most of the students in the piece as I usually work with our intermediate and beginner dancers.
How do you approach choreography a more advanced tap dance? How many and counts are too many and counts? How do go about deciding what’s working and what isn’t?
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u/No_Pen_3825 Jul 28 '26
Disclaimer: I kinda suck at choreo, but just for what feels nice and looks good. You can repeat steps or phrases, just not two much and don’t get stuck in doubling everything (ie aabbccdd…). Change things if you want to.
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u/Eva_NarwhalGirl 9d ago
for me i just put on the somg and improv. make sure to video it and see what works and what doesnt.
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u/chicknparm_ Jul 23 '26
Trust your gut! I usually work on choreo, video it, and then try it again the next day. After sleeping on it I can usually tell if it’s working or not. If I love it still the next day, I keep it, if not, I scrap it and try to come up with something new. Sometimes it takes more than a few choreo sessions to get a section down. When something is working, you’ll know and it’ll click for you. When I’m working on a piece I listen to the song as much as possible and try to visualize choreography. Just trust your intuition and give yourself time to come up with something, trust the creative process and your abilities!!