Some dance thing I just want to clear up

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 12:47pm

I'm also trying to be a choreographer, and if there are any female dancers here right now, I would just like to know something. In some shows (mostly period, fantasy or classic), when the girls dance, they wear full circle skirts. And there's sometimes a couple of parts in the choreography when they swish them around to the beat (aka "skirt work"). I like when they do that, and I want to use that in a production like that if I choreograph. Some of the shows in which they do that are (correct me if I'm wrong or think of some other stuff, because that's all I have):

OKLAHOMA (a lot of that, because it's mostly Western-style)
WEST SIDE STORY (probably the best example, particularly in "America" and the "Dance at the Gym". Thanks to Peter Gennaro!)
THE MUSIC MAN (just a couple of times, mostly in "Shipoopi")
THE SECRET GARDEN (saw a couple of photos of a production that used this in one of the dance numbers)
SWING TIME (does Ginger use this all the time?)
MY FAIR LADY (about a couple of times they used this)
probably MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
SWEET CHARITY ("There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This")

Some people who do it sometimes:
Chita Rivera
Kristin Chenoweth
Ginger Rogers
Janine LaManna
Sarah Jessica Parker
I'm not sure who else, give me some ideas

[peach]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 1:13pm

Rita Moreno in the West Side Story movie nails the swish! She's a good swisher.

Debbie Allen also nails the WSS swish in the 1980 revival of WSS. If Broadway's Lost Treasure (I think it was #3) airs on PBS soon, check it out.

All the ones you mention are good...

As a female dancer, I've swished a lot. Some of the swishes I remember more than others are:

WSS - America, Gym, but to a degree I Feel Pretty as well
Carousel - June is Bustin'...
Damn Yankees - Depending on choregraphy and costumes, Lola does some potential swishing in "Whatever Lola Wants."

Since my experience is more ballet, here are some others (all ballet), but worth noting for the swish factor:
Rodeo
Can Can selections
Nutcracker - Spanish and Russian dances, and the Minuet in the Party Scene

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 2:17pm

I know some male dancers who "swish" also,
but that is another topic.
Good Luck Josh!

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 2:21pm

as in Nutcracker, you're thinking NYCB, right? Or maybe you're not, because I didn't get it in the Russian dance. Were you thinking the minuet just before the party ended? Pretty obvious, because very slow 6/8 rhythm, and the "Star" formation.

Lola didn't do that in any production of Damn Yankees I did (I did two). However, in one, just a couple of the female dancers did some swishes

Carousel is a good one, too. Looks good in that number, too. Anything from movies count too, like there is some swishing I found in "Ferris Bueller" and a LOT in "Dirty Dancing" (both were choreographed by Kenny Ortega). Reese Witherspoon does what LOOKS like it on a song in "Walk the Line" (Jukebox Blues), Sarah Jessica Parker and a couple of female dancers do some elegant swing steps with the occasional swish cherry in the "Dudley Do-Right" dance scene, and there's also a bit in animated movies as well, like "Snow White," "Cinderella" (but she doesn't do much, she just holds it out), and "Sleeping Beauty" (The Disney artists used dancers as models for their animation; for Snow White, they used Gower Champion's wife, Marge).

Whoops, more just came up
KISS ME KATE '99 version
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (mostly at the end of "Be Our Guest", from the can-can on)
Quite a bit in GREASE
Just a tiny bit in ALL SHOOK UP
A couple of times in WICKED
A couple of times in THE PRODUCERS
LITTLE WOMEN and SOUND OF MUSIC (both choreographed by Michael Lichtefeld, must be his thing)
Some in CRAZY FOR YOU
A little in MOST HAPPY FELLA
I think I remember something in SHOWBOAT (Queenie's Ballyhoo)
Some in SPAMALOT (partly men, partly women)
Some in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (partly men, partly women)
A little in a production of OF THEE I SING
A bit in ON THE TOWN

[justagirl2]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 2:32pm

I recall doing a lot of swishing in Annie Get Your Gun during "I've Got the Sun in the Morning," and also, of course, during the Italian and Can-Can scenes. Actually, there was some in "I'll Share It All," too...good swishing show.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 2:44pm

The Unsinkable Molly Brown - swish from beginning to end

Can-Can - French swish

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 2:46pm

THANKS GOTHAMPC! I totally forgot about Molly Brown!

I do very vividly remember seeing the trailer to that movie, and she's dancing up a storm.

Updated On: 2/17/06 at 02:46 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 3:13pm

It really depends on the costumes.
As a designer I love working with choreographers who know what they want and need.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/17/06 at 10:10pm

Was there any in NINE?
Because I saw some of them in the original 1982 Tony Award performance swishing like crazy ad lib.

Speaking of which, I also saw a clip of "Me and My Girl" and their "Lambeth Walk". Everybody was swishing it up vigorously. That should count, right?

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/18/06 at 11:45am

bump-bump-a-dump

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/18/06 at 11:45am

Bizzump

[algy]

Posted: 2/18/06 at 12:27pm

I saw the UK regional tour of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and there was a LOT of skirt swishing going on. Kinda if if doubt, swish your skirt...

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/18/06 at 4:29pm

Pretty obvious, since it was a Western-themed show with country-style square dancing.

Some of the others I mentioned count too, like OKLAHOMA! (best example), ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, some square-dancing numbers in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and CAROUSEL, should count.

Some in can-can numbers as well...

not too many generic uses in terms of jazzy "SHOW" stuff (except for the movie version of "ON THE TOWN" to my knowledge)

Somebody start a FLAMENCO-style musical!

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/18/06 at 8:55pm

I bet that's it... but in case anybody's got anything else... another bumpadoo

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/19/06 at 10:48pm

Whoops! I got another one.

I saw a clip of a regional production of WHERE'S CHARLEY. A bit of swishing during "New Ashmolean Marching Society and Student's Conservatory Band". And I saw a picture of the show, apparently Nili Bassman is swishing. I mean, that's how it was in the '40s-60s.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 1:31am

When I did Into the Woods, the Stepsisters and Stepmother had a lil dance portion and they did the swish. - don't know if that counts.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 10:01am

If somebody did it in your production, especially if it wasn't in the original, that still counts.

And yes, for the record, that WAS in the original. Danielle Ferland as Little Red Riding Hood did this little hop-skip-and-jump move with some swishing. I have it on DVD. And I do remember her doing it in the Act One finale of the revival.

There's also a dance in which one of the girls holds her skirt out to the side in FIDDLER. The time I remember it most is at the beginning of the dream ballet.

Yes, just holding the skirt out to the side in lieu of swishing it counts as well.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 2:50pm

I didn't see the actual number, but on the Internet I came across a choreographic chart for a number from STRIKE UP THE BAND by George Gershwin, called "Oh This Is Such a Lovely War!" that had swishing in it. Has all the steps and formations, if anyone knows the song.

And I just remembered some swishing in some of the RAGTIME numbers, like "Gettin' Ready Rag".

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 8:40pm

bump

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 8:51pm

LOTS of swishing going on in any of the dance numbers from Big River.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:21pm

I only saw the deaf version so I understand why it wasn't in the one I saw...

Only dance number I remember to my knowledge was "The Royal Nonesuch."
Is that the only one?

was it your production?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/20/06 at 9:28pm

There's skirt work in "Shenandoah" in the song "Freedom".

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 9:49am

BIG RIVER and SHENANDOAH:
Those are pretty obvious because they both have fun numbers and they're both period shows. I bet there's some in PARADE, in the song "Pretty Music". I can't be too sure, though. I saw a clip of "TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA" at the Delacorte, and that had a lot of swishing.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 6:31pm

bump

[algy]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 7:15pm

I saw an Am-Dram Witches of Eastwick last week, and they had every stereotypical musical dance move in there - from singing with legs apart whilst raising and lowering arms through walking in circles - I think there may have been some swishage in Dirty Laundry.