Character solo ideas??

[Pointe-less]

Hi everyone just looking to pic your brains on an idea for a character solo, it is for a 14yo girl and only for small local festivals but wanted something a bit different as everyone seems to do 1) The little match girl 2) Mary Poppins 3) Possesed/scary girl in a nightdress. Looking for any good ideas whether a happy, scary or sad dance but just something that may not have been seen 100 times over already lol

[Fiz]

Young Cosette?

[Emilie]

BBC audio radio resources for schools have some good music clips from Shakespeare plays: Lady Macbeth, Witches, Miranda from The Tempest, Juliet all spring to mind for a 14 year old.

[Pointe-less]

Sounds good Emilie I will have a google and see if I can find them!

Fix, sorry but who is Cosette ?

[Lema]

Some good ideas here!!

[Lema]

Cosette from Les Miserables

[Pointe-less]

Cosette from Les Miserables

Thank you, I haven't seen or read that I'm afraid! May have to watch it now though lol

[Fiz]

Young Cosette is the little girl rescued by Jean Valjean is Les Miserables.

[Pixiewoo]

Juliet is a nice one. Also seen Air hostess, shop assistant/model/fashion designer (... can't remember exactly, but it seemed a bit of a mix of those 3! ) also Wolf from 3 pigs

[Pointe-less]

Yes I've seen a few air hostesses and waitresses, it's quite hard to think of something original!!

[bangorballetboy]

Joan of Arc

Juliet's Nurse

Mary Magdalene

[joyofdance]

While you have your creative brains buzzing, can I ask for suggestions for a song and dance. Something upbeat, maybe Jazzy for a 13 yr old with a strong singing voice. I will have a think about character dances pointe less and see if I can think of anything.

[Bluebird22]

The catch me if you can musical is very upbeat and jazzy! My seniors love it

[joyofdance]

Thanks bluebird I will have a look at that.

[ArucariaBallerina]

How about a fairytale character? Rapunzel? The little mermaid?

[Pups_mum]

Joyofdance, my DD used to do Show Off from The Drowsy Chaperone as a song and dance and it was one of my favourite festival dances ever. Plenty of possibilities for the dance section too. If you look on YouTube you will find videos of Sutton Foster doing it. My DD wasn't quite as good as her....

[Pixiewoo]

_{song & dance ... I recently saw a girl doing 'bend and snap' from legally blond  and another doing , 'mama I'm a big girl now' from Hairspray. I've seen a few people doing different songs from A chorus line.}

 

_{I love 'colour my world' which is in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I 'think' Petula Clark sang it originally!  I'd love DD to have this for a song & dance one day, but she doesn't like it!}  

 

_{character - I've just remembered seeing an amazing 'maleficent' from sleeping beauty recently.}

 

_{(hope I haven't just made this text huge ... it seemed really small when typing, and then when posted! )}

Edited March 24, 2017 by Pixiewoo

[joyofdance]

Thank you all, gives me a few to look at x

[BlueLou]

My favourite ever character was The Grinch, which was done brilliantly by a girl of about 13/14. Also seen Cat in the Hat done very well. Tricky make-up efforts for you though! Personally, I don’t like characters that take too much explaining - you know the ones with a title like ‘girl arrives at a train statin on a stormy day only to find …… blah blah blah’. 

[Pixiewoo]

My favourite ever character was The Grinch, which was done brilliantly by a girl of about 13/14. Also seen Cat in the Hat done very well. Tricky make-up efforts for you though! Personally, I don’t like characters that take too much explaining - you know the ones with a title like ‘girl arrives at a train statin on a stormy day only to find …… blah blah blah’.

Lol ... that is dds current character ... far too much of an explanation needed!

 

Talking of makeup ... I've seen 'avatar' and the genie from aladdin...both covered in blue face and body paint!

[BlueLou]

Lol ... that is dds current character ... far too much of an explanation needed!

 

Talking of makeup ... I've seen 'avatar' and the genie from aladdin...both covered in blue face and body paint!

 

Haha - unless there are two in our area, the Avatar you saw would have been my dd! Who wouldn’t want to paint their daughter blue at 8am on a Sunday morning?? It’s a nightmare when they have another section an hour later though! She’s changed it now to Marilyn Monroe. 

[Pixiewoo]

Haha - unless there are two in our area, the Avatar you saw would have been my dd! Who wouldn’t want to paint their daughter blue at 8am on a Sunday morning?? It’s a nightmare when they have another section an hour later though! She’s changed it now to Marilyn Monroe. 

 

   HAHA! when I saw you'd replied, I thought ... I bet it is BlueLou's DD who was Avatar!  Marilyn Monroe is a much easier costume!

 

I don't what is worse - nightmare costume or face paint!

[BumbleBallerina]

Hermonie from Harry Potter could be an interesting one...

[taxi4ballet]

Hermonie from Harry Potter could be an interesting one...

Bellatrix Lestrange could be an even more interesting one !!

[junedancer]

I saw a lovely dancer doing The Grinch last year - green make-up and hair!  Not sure if she had a dance after that - not sure I would have recognised her out of character - it was very good!

[Huddsballetmum]

My dd did spirit of the titanic at that age - basically a young woman who doesn't realise she is dead until she see's herself in a mirror half way through the dance.  Lovely dress, slightly scary makeup and only prop was a bit of fishing netting and a mirror which I made from cardboard & tinfoil ( low prop requirements are always a bonus).  She did rather well with it and always got placed.  Never seen anyone do it in any other festival.

[Pointe-less]

Thank you everyone, some fab ideas!! We have a dc that does Avatar with the blue face paint too, I don't envy her one bit having to do all that at festivals

[ScottishDancerMum]

Bumping this for an additional question...

Do character solos for comps/festivals need to be performed in ballet, or are they a mix of different dance genres?  

My daughter wants to do a vampire themed one, and I'm a bit unsure if this is a strong enough theme, or does it need to be more specific?

[Fiz]

I remember going to a one off adult ballet class and a lady that I knew who was not a natural dancer ended in a very spiky and unattractive pose. Our teacher asked her what it was meant to be and she said it was a vampire just about to feast! ? Philippa was not impressed.

[Bluebird22]

I've just finished a vampire group ballet piece for a show, I'm using "The Vampire Masquerade" by Peter Gundry for music. 

[Fiz]

Sorry, SDM. That isn't very helpful. I was just reminiscing. I can't remember how old your dd is. LAMDA which my dds did is very keen on pieces being age appropriate and perhaps dance festivals are the same?

[ScottishDancerMum]

We were planning on using Toccata and Fugue by Vanessa Mae... I always thought it had a particular vampire-ish style to it.  

I was just wondering for character solos, does it have to be a named character, or is something vampire-themed enough?

 

[sarahw]

SDM -  character has to be ballet. You can have a specific character or a more general one as you suggest.

 

The really important thing is to have a clear storyline as the characterisation is judged as well as the technique. Personally I think therefore that a specific vampire scene may be easier to do than a general vampire.

 

They tend to be keen on 'age appropriateness' as well. I remember your dd is under 10? If so vampire maybe a bit old??

 

Maybe things like - fairytale character, evacuee,  Roald Dahl character, comedy (worst witch, naughty child at party) Beatrix Potter character may be easier for her to get a clear storyline?

 

Just my opinion. ..