When watching The Witches, I came across some scenes and certain characters which could be easily turned into routines. When looking at these scenes and the characters involved in them, I thought about the movement, music and genre of dance which would suit the scene/character best. I also looked at what types of actions they did, they way they acted and what the mood is like. In this blog post, I will talk about the individual characters, how we could portray them in the show and what type of dance style I feel would suit them best.
The Witches:
One of the main parts in The Witches are the Witches themselves as they have a key role to play throughout the show. Many of the movements/actions they tend to do in the scenes can easily be translated into dance moves. For example, the Witches have disguises which they wear. These disguises they remove quickly and in a certain order (e.g. fake skin, wigs, fake teeth, shoes, gloves etc). This can easily be incorporated into a dance routine as its quick and simple to do. Another main focus of witches are their hand movements and their facial expressions. This is because their fingers are extremely long which means that when they move their hands, your eyes are automatically drawn to them. This means that when we choreograph routines for the Witches, they should involve lots of movement with ours hands. They also move their hands and arms in unusual and peculiar ways. This means that we should also have a focus on their arm movements and try to incorporate them into it. Also, they use their faces a lot to scare and intimidate people. As well as this, I have found that the Witches tend to stare at people. This could be shown in a dance by staring at other people in the routine or at the audience. This will also give the audience the impression that we're meant to be portraying Witches (even though we will be in costume). I feel that any routines which involve Witches should be a Jazz routine. This is because the actions they do are more like jazz rather then contemporary. Also, they move very quickly (e.g. running, hand movement etc), which is just like Jazz.
The Grandma:
A key character in the film is the Grandma. This is because she introduces us to the Witches before we meet them and also tells Luke about the Witches. However, unlike the Witches, there are not as many moves that we can take and place in our routines. This is because she does not do things which make her stand out or can easily be put into routines. Even though it may be difficult, we can include the fact that she only has 4 fingers. We can emphasise this by using movements with one hand fully and hiding the other one. In the film, she is very family orientated and will protect Luke with her life. This could be shown in the scenes when she does certain actions. (e.g. hugging, surrounding Luke etc). We can incorporate this into our dance by making sure that the moves the Grandma does are like the actions she does to make us think she is family orientated. As well as both of these points, I have found that the Grandma's moves are slow and to a certain degree, graceful. This is because she is old and so we do not see her running or anything too active. Also, she is ill for the majority of the film which means she's even less active then she may usually be. This means that our moves should be very slow and controlled, like hers. Because of all the things I have discussed, I have come to the conclusion that if we were to do a routine based on the Grandma, it should be Contemporary based. This is because she is slow and controlled and we never see her do any fast paced or sudden movements. Luke:
The main character of The Witches (other then the Witches themselves) is Luke. Many of the movements that Luke does are child-like and not unusual. This means that the majority of his moves can be easily taken from scenes and placed into dances. For example, during one of the main scenes, you see Luke running away from the Witches. This can easily be placed in a routine with the witches at some point in our show. Also, Luke tries to get the least amount of attention possible. For example, he will stay quiet when necessary and is very introvert. This means that are dances should not completely focus on Luke, unless needed. Finally, Luke is very family orientated and cares a lot about his Grandma. For example, when she is ill, he cares for her and looks after her even though its his birthday. This means that we should do actions and moves which show he is close to his Grandma (e.g. hugging, caring for her etc). Also it means that we should make sure that at some points, the Grandma and Luke should have moments on stage where its just them two alone. So after looking and discussing all the possible moves we could do for Luke, I have come to the conclusion that both Jazz routines and Contemporary routines would suit Luke. This is because in some scenes he moves quietly and slowly (for example, when he is hiding while the Witches meeting is happening) and sometimes his moves are quick and high energy (for example, when he is running away from the Witches or when he turns into a mouse).Mice:
In The Witches, the mice are meant to be the two characters Bruno and Luke, who have been turned into mice by the Witches. However, in though the mice are meant to be the two characters, their personality and movements are completely different to how they're in their human form. For example, Bruno is very confident when he is a human, however when he turns into a mouse, he becomes very shy and introvert, like Luke used to be. Where as, Luke goes from being very shy and quiet to the one who comes up with all the plans and becomes more confident. We could show this in movement by Luke being in front of Bruno. We could also use different levels to show how Luke is more confident then Bruno and that he has taken charge. For example, we could have Luke and Bruno doing the same movements, except Bruno is on the floor doing the same movements as Luke and Luke is doing them all standing up. Another thing I have found is that Luke is more adventurous. I know this because when they went to put the potion in the soup, Luke climbed up the shelfs in the kitchens. We could incorporate this in our dances by getting Luke (now a mouse) climbing on the set at the back of the stage and getting up on top of it in unusual and different ways. The final thing I know about the mice is that there moves are going to be much smaller and intricate then anyone who is playing a normal human. We could do this also with levels or just by using only certain body parts (e.g. hands, feet etc). Overall, I think that the mice could do either the Jazz or Contemporary style of dance. This is because even though their moves will be slow because they're mice, they will have to move quick to get away from certain things (e.g. members of staff, Witches, Liebschen - the cat, kitchen staff etc).Bruno:
Another character thats featured a bit in The Witches is Bruno. For the majority of the film he is a mouse, however when we first meet him he is a young boy. When we meet Bruno as a boy, he is a very loud, over confident boy who tends to like to be the centre of attention. This can be shown in moves in routines by certain moves he may do (e.g. possibly moving people out of his way, the way he stands, certain poses etc). It could also be shown in his facial expressions and the way he looks at the audience/other members of the cast. As well as this, he also only likes certain types of food. For example, in one of the scenes you see him asking the waitress what type of food it was because he didn't like the ones from the day before. This could be shown in a dance also with certain actions. For instance, you could have him eating food while dancing, or putting food in his pocket. You could also have him holding food while trying to dance at the same time. However, even though in most scenes he is very confident, in one scene when he walking through the Witches meeting, he looks very worried and slightly intimidated. This could be shown in a dance by certain facial expressions he makes and also his body language (e.g. very small and closed). Personally, I think that the style of which would best suit Bruno would be Jazz. This is because its speed is quick compared to contemporary. Also in some respects the music is quite loud, which is a bit like his personality.
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