Thread: Group exercises for troupe audition?

I am holding an audition for my company soon and one of the things I would like to check is people's ability to work with others and in a team.

Does anyone have any good exercises for group work?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by SamanthaFortunata

I am holding an audition for my company soon and one of the things I would like to check is people's ability to work with others and in a team.

Does anyone have any good exercises for group work?

Thanks!

Give them a 30-second bit of music, break them into groups of 3 or 4, and ask them to work together as a team to create a choreography to that bit. Give them 30 minutes to do it, then make them perform the choreography segment for you. They will probably assume that the performing of the choreography is the "test" for audition purposes, but the real purpose of the exercise is to watch how they interact with each other as they create it.

That's a great idea Shira. Thanks.
I'll definitely use that idea.

Group dynamics are so important I really want to a sense of people beyond simply their dance technique.

Originally Posted by SamanthaFortunata

That's a great idea Shira. Thanks.
I'll definitely use that idea.

Group dynamics are so important I really want to a sense of people beyond simply their dance technique.

Good for you for exploring this to find exercises to "measure" group dynamics!! A dance group needs different skill sets than being a "good dancer". Though we know this, we wonder just how to go about measuring those skills.
An exercise such as Shira suggests is a great way to have a somewhat objective measure.
And, trust your intuition! Someone that you feel would not make a good troupe member, despite h/er/is dance skills: your gut reaction is usually correct. I wished I had listened to mine more during my many yrs of being both a troupe member & troupe director!

We held an audtition recently where knowledge of a choreography as well as group dynamics were assessed. The students were divided into small groups and had just a few minutes to stage a choreography they already knew, the blocking had already been established, they just had to adapt it to suit the people they had in the group . Once each group had had a run through the groups were then changed around again and the exercsie repeated in order to see the slightly different dynamics. With 12 students this was achieved quite easily within 1 hour.