The other day I wrote a post about tapless choreography.  When I thought about what I had written I realized that my true point was not clear.  It's not that I am for or against tapless or self reversing choreography.   I am against choreography progressions as a whole.  I really think the whole discussion just kind of misses the point.  We are teaching fitness classes, not dance classes.

I spent a lot of time on YouTube the other day looking for videos to recommend for my Step Resources section.  I was really excited to see all of the choreography available on YouTube.  Until I really started watching the videos.  Almost every video was of an instructor teaching the final product of 45 minutes worth of progression.  They had that class jumping over, spinning around, doing all kinds of stuff.  In most cases about 80% of the class was following along, the rest are left standing there, amazed that anyone is able to perform the sequence.

Let me give you the best example of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9QtRRj1J_w

Granted, this guy is presenting to a group of instructors, so I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he has kicked it up a notch.  And I am NOT knocking him - God bless anyone who can move around a step like that.  It sure is pretty to watch.

Still - is this an ideal?  Is this what we hope to teach our classes on a perfect day?  I have to say, I don't believe this is what they came to do.

There are ways to teach a fun, exciting step class that achieves the objective (45 minutes of cardio) without doing all this dancing. 

I teach a lot of routines to regular songs I download from Napster, Itunes, etc.  I make up a simple 16 count  sequence to the verse, and another to the chorus.  Sometimes the song has a 3rd component like a bridge (change in the music right before or after the chorus), and I may make up a sequence to go in that spot.  And at the end I may sometimes combine all of the sequences for a 'grand finale', but that's it.  Once that song is over, we are moving on to something else.  No progression of that choreography.  Yes, there is a small break between songs.  It is not long enough for anyone to get cooled down so it works out just fine.

It works well because I can use simple things like added arm movement or syncopation to take it up a notch while still including those who need to keep it simple.  I don't have to use dangerous jumps and spins to make the workout more intense.  I can simply replace an alternating knee with a syncopated alternating knee.  Plus, if someone in the class really hates what we are doing or can't catch on it's fine - we will be moving on to something new in about 4 minutes.

I have a lot of information on using this method on the site.  See the Step to Radio Play workshop download or the Step Outline (sign in, then click 'Step Outline' at the bottom of the Step section).