Free Choreography #4

This is the fourth in a series of Blog posts on choreography. For our purposes, I use the terms choreography and lesson plan interchangeably. Being able to use a variety of choreography styles will make your classes more interesting for yourself and your participants.  Writing down your lesson plans ahead of time will mean that you come to your class fully prepared, plus you will be able to use your choreography again later on.

Previous Blog posts featured samples of linear choreography, pyramid choreography and add-on choreography. This Blog post is about the layer technique. To use the layer technique, you begin with a set of basic exercises, then you repeat all of the exercises except for one. Substitute a different exercise for that one. For the next set, repeat all of the exercises including the new one, but now replace another exercise with a new exercise. You will keep changing one exercise in the set as you progress.

The following example will use the same 6 basic exercises as the previous choreography samples. The 6 exercises transition easily from one to the next. The exercises are:

1. Knee-high jog
2. Run tires (like running through tires at football practice)
3. Jumping jacks
4. Cross-country ski
5. Kick forward
6. Heel jog

• (A set)
• Knee-high jog with pumping arms
• Run tires with shoulder blade squeeze
• Jumping jacks clap hands
• Cross-country ski
• Kick forward with triceps extension
• Heel jog with rotator cuff sweep

• (B set)
• Knee-high jog with pumping arms
• Run tires with shoulder blade squeeze
• Jumping jacks clap hands
• Cross-country ski
• Kick forward with triceps extension
• Hopscotch doubles

• (C set)
• Knee-high jog with pumping arms
• Run tires with shoulder blade squeeze
• Jumping jacks clap hands
• Cross-country ski
• High kick 3X, skate kick 1X
• Hopscotch doubles

• (D set)
• Knee-high jog with pumping arms
• Run tires with shoulder blade squeeze
• Jumping jacks clap hands
• Cross-country ski & tuck ski alternate
• High kick 3X, skate kick 1X
• Hopscotch doubles

• (E set)
• Knee-high jog with pumping arms
• Run tires with shoulder blade squeeze
• Jumping jacks, clap hands & lat pull-down alternate
• Cross-country ski & tuck ski alternate
• High kick 3X, skate kick 1X
• Hopscotch doubles

• (F set)
• Knee-high jog with pumping arms
• Frog jump with double-arm press-down
• Jumping jacks, clap hands & lat pull-down alternate
• Cross-country ski & tuck ski alternate
• High kick 3X, skate kick 1X
• Hopscotch doubles

• (G set)
• Tuck jump
• Frog jump with double-arm press-down
• Jumping jacks, clap hands & lat pull-down alternate
• Cross-country ski & tuck ski alternate
• High kick 3X, skate kick 1X
• Hopscotch doubles

You can now peel back the layers by working your way backward from F set to end up with your original A set. Add a warm-up and 5 minutes of stretching at the end and your choreography is ready to go.

Next Blog post: Block Choreography.

See you in the pool!