I had the pleasure of teaching the WHD dance to a group of Tokyo-based hoop teachers (train the trainer!) last weekend and we brainstormed some of the tricky bits. Our practice video shows what we ended up with:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vki2wAPam_I]
- The pivot turns work well if you count them out as slow – slow – slow- fast-fast. That means the first three are 2 counts and the last two are one count each. Visually great, too.
- The big circles end on the lyric “everybody look at your hands.”
- For the solo sections, we will get everyone moving in a circle, dancing by the camera. We expect to have a rather large group dancing for the video, so proper solos are a challenge.
- At the end, it is helpful to have someone or something for everyone to gather in towards for the pose. Shouting a prompt helps get everyone moving in the right direction, too.
- On the day we film, we’ll assign partners and groups by handing out stickers – heart and star, maybe. Depending on the number of people dancing, I’ll figure out the starting arrangement Grid? Concentric circles? We’ll see. For our six-person dance, two lines worked nicely.
- The camera has to be pretty far away from the action to ensure everyone doesn’t grapevine off screen. We will use two cameras, just in case.
- To help raise money for the WHD charity, I will donate my fees from classes where I teach the dance. It’s only two classes scheduled at this point, but that might total $100. Fingers crossed.
How are you rehearsals and practices going? Have you figured out any great tips you can share?
