The annual choreography competition at Liberty was held Thursday, Nov. 13, in the auditorium. Students from all grades and dance levels shared personal choreography pieces, along with teaser pieces from this year’s Winter Dance Concert.
Photo courtesy of the Liberty Dance Instagram.
The Structure of Choreo Comp
Every year, Liberty Dance hosts a choreography competition, called “Choreo Comp,” in the winter months, giving students and members of Elite Dance time to show off their skills. While students can enter as competitors, they can also perform for feedback, eliminating comparison with other students.
The event is known to be an informal showcase. Two students are chosen to entertain the audience between performances, performers are allowed to join the audience when they aren’t on-stage, and noise is not only allowed, but encouraged.
This somewhat casual structure takes a significant amount of stress from the event and allows students to feel more comfortable. One competitor, Maddie Orr, said, “It’s really stressful, putting yourself out there. So, making it a really fun environment, having the MC’s telling jokes, and having it be welcoming and open, is really nice. You don’t have to stay backstage, so you get to watch everyone else and cheer everyone else on. It’s not a serious, rigid thing, like our dance concerts. So, having it be a more fun environment kind of takes the stress out of it.”
Building For the Future
Many students use Choreo Comp as a steppingstone for their futures, taking advantage of the low-stress and high reward to build experience. Emma Hill, who started participating in Choreo Comp last year, expressed that, “[Choreo Comp] helped me realize that I love to choreograph dance, and has pushed me to want to minor in it when I go to college.”
Orr also plans on minoring in Dance during college, said, “[Dance is] a great way to express myself, and it puts words that I can’t say out loud. It’s therapeutic, so I think it has really helped my mental health.”
An MC for the event, Claire Koch, expressed her personal struggle with wanting to continue dancing. She explained that “… because I’ve been a dancer for so long, it’s such an integral part of my life. So, I really want to keep dancing in college; and, though I know that it’s probably not a viable career path, I want it to be a part of my life forever.”
“Too” Informal?
Having a casual structure to Choreo Comp comes with some challenges. In many ways, Choreo Comp did mirror Liberty’s more formal dance concerts, but the lack of technical rehearsal made some performers feel rushed in getting their music set up.
Orr expressed her personal stress about the event, and mentioned that, “I think [Choreo Comp] is set up in a decent way, but maybe being able to have time to practice on-stage would be nice. A lot of people don’t really get the chance to practice on-stage. It’s a completely different space and environment, even compared to the Studio, because we don’t do it on stage. So, I’d like to maybe have time to rehearse it —maybe the day before—to work out the kinks and make sure the audio works.”
Regardless, performers regarded Choreo Comp as a fun experience, and many audience members cheered and laughed throughout the show. A few audience members also stated that this event made them even more excited for the Winter Dance Concert.
