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Putting together a new routine
Nothing makes my creative muses clam up faster that sitting down and saying "O.K., let's write a new routine - NOW!" Unfortunately, the Greek patrons never seem to be listening when I need them. Deadlines and bills dictate that I cannot simply sit around and wait for the earth shaking inspiration that will grow into a sellable routine. The biggest trick is to be able to put yourself into a situation where you are able to create and write material.
About this time writers block sets in with me. It is also at this time that I must force myself to keep working and to find something. If you start with an idea, great! go with it as your initial impulse directed. But if you are a blank void, as I often am, and you need to develop material there is still hope...
Here are some things that I have used to write juggling tricks and routines:
1. Work with a new prop. i.e. if a prop manufacturer builds one - don't use it. Write a juggling act around an unusual prop. In a show last year, four of us had a 15 minute routine with two folding chairs. There was some pretty impressive juggling in that show, but many people liked the chair routine best. Obviously we didn't "juggle" the chairs, but we explored all of the things that chairs could be used as (giant scissors, a gun, bull horns, etc.) and we wrote an improv based piece around them. We wrote this piece using "Rounds."
2. Work with an old prop in a new way. Make observations about the prop. As jugglers we are devoted and driven by our props. The prop is usually the focal point leaving the juggler to stand in the background. If this is the structure of the routine, that prop had better be doing something pretty interesting! Otherwise it's snooze-city.
Finding a new way to use a prop can mean many things. You can apply certain restrictions that lead to tricks or choreography. For example, I am working on a new club routine. I have never had very interesting three club tricks. I decided that I wanted a different class of trick that I hadn't seen many people do at festivals. Based on an observation of baton twirling, I set out to come up with three club tricks where the rotation of the club continues in the same direction. With this restriction, I found several combinations that give me a "wheel" affect with three clubs. This look will eventually lead to choreography that should compliment the visual of these wheels.
Another way to find new ways to use old props is to use them as a different prop. Throw out all old preconceptions and manipulate the prop as if it were something else. I wrote a club rolling routine at a workshop a couple of years back. It was a five minute routine that used six juggling clubs. The difference was that none of them ever got thrown. The routine was based on the observation that when you roll a club on the floor, it makes an arc. One can shower clubs in a circle by rolling them. The title of the piece was "Clockwork" and it had various sounds of machines clanking and clanging playing in the background. The routine was well received. Several people commented how it had a hypnotic quality.
3. Alter an old prop. Take an old standard and modify it. How about a three handled club? A four bladed devil stick? A square ring? Or how about eight sided cigar boxes? All of these props would be considered very unusual at the national fest. There not very unusual here in Bloomington. I have all of them in my closet... This is one of my favorite ways to come up with new juggling tricks. If you have seen my diablo routine, you will know why. (That's one idea that I STILL think is really cool!)
4. Just be so *&$*@^%! good that you can do things that others can't. Good luck with this one. This ain't my specialty.
Here are some suggestions for choreography. I must admit that I have only written a couple of juggling routines that I would consider successful choreographicly. This one is still hard for me.
1. Make a wise music choice. Just because YOU like to listen to it in your free time doesn't mean that the audience wants to hear it in a show. Use music that is easy to move to. As far as I am concerned, hard rock and juggling don't mix in performance. When I see acts in competition that use popular rock tunes I usually find the same thing... I like the music better than I like the act. I practice with QUEEN blasting on 250 watt speakers. That is great juggling music. But I would never go on stage with !One Vision.! I could only dream that I would be that good! "%&*$^@ the juggler - TURN UP THE TOONES!!" I like the CARS so much I never remember any of the Mills family act...
2. Practice the blocking without juggling. Video tape your routine without props. Ask yourself if it is interesting without the juggling. If not, the choreography is lame. You don't need to be a dancer, you just need to think like one. (Smoke lots of cigs and diet continually...) Make strong movement choices - and commit to them. If you want to do some trick with one leg in second at a point, then really make that leg straight and with a strong point. Don't be embarrassed about dance - just be bold.
3. Actually write the blocking. Don't simply improvise. This will work in a pinch but you need to know what you are doing and when you are doing it to be really confident with your routines.
These are some blocking suggestions that I would make after seeing so many juggling competitions:
Use the entire stage space. Move all around the stage. Take advantage of different places on stage. Up stage for big tricks, down front for the really good tight combinations. Stay stage right for awhile. You don't have to stick center stage all of the time.
Don't be symmetric. Avoid the center - left - center - right - center stuff. Diagonals are great! Don't just stick with the "T" blocking (stage left, stage right and down center - watch the juniors tape...)
Use different levels. Juggle over head and down low. Sit on stage or lie down. Jump in the air! (For being artists who deal with images of flight, jugglers sure are a grounded bunch! GET THOSE FEET OFF OF THE GROUND!)
These are my pet peeves of juggling choreography. I have been guilty of all of them...
Don't do everything with that feet-shoulder-width-apart-arms-relaxed- knees-slightly-bent posture. It is a great posture for juggling but it is lifeless and ordinary. Vary the poses for each static trick. Use the transitional tricks to move around the stage and the static tricks for the "picture tricks."
Don't always face the audience. Let's see angles and some back. A performers back side can make a very dramatic touch to an otherwise plain trick. Hey, remember "The Kiss!"
For *#&$^%@ sake, choreograph HONEST looking bows. You must expect applause. Don't step on the audience's chance to express their pleasure. Don't be in such a hurry to get on with the show that you ignore the audience. Applause is not a gratuity. It is the performer's time to be attentive and let the audience express something. Stepping on your applause is not only awkward but it is in some respects rude. When you take applause, be truly grateful. Learn to express that feeling. It takes acting but it comes naturally if you let it. Nothing puts me off after a good act as poor bows. Make sure that your bow doesn't become trite and uninspired. When you take your applause, take it as YOU. Don't blow it off with a little head bob and a cocky smirk. Practice bows in front of a mirror. Make them look real, because once you have the rush of performance, they will be motivated and confident.
If you use a prop stand - Please do something interesting when you walk to and from the stand. That is dead time. Don't let it be.
I use these rules as guidelines to help direct my writing process. None of them are very sophisticated, nor do they warrant such blotted titles as "The Process", but they are helpful to me when I get stuck. I hope that they are useful to others.
- Steve