Choreography Chat With Michelle Zeitlin

Recently Michelle Zeitlin, CEO of More Zap Productions and Choreography Central, took time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about Choreography, judging dance routines, and Cheerleading. The following is a portion of the transcript from our chat.

cheerleadingADM - Hi Michelle, thank you for being our special guest this evening. Can you tell us a little about your company? How many are on your staff?
MichelleZ -More Zap has been in business for over 12 years now, and our new wing, Choreography Central! is brand new! We began as a dance special events company and grew into a corporate events and film/TV company, and now we do all kinds of projects. We have three partners. Then we have the choreographers who we hire out.

cheerleadingADM - you have some professional cheerleaders on your staff?
MichelleZ - Yes, we have a NFL cheerleader, a coach, and a Laker Girl.
MichelleZ - We have two kinds of choreographers..PRO and NEW BREED. We can explain. The pros are working choreographers from film, TV and Broadway, with established resumes. The New Breed, our own name, are younger choreographers that we are grooming who have pro experience in the cheer and dance team circuits.

cheerleadingADM - You do work all over the world?
MichelleZ - Yes! We've staged events in Paris, Rome, London, Tokyo and Jerusalem. And all over Canada and the US.

cheerleadingADM - You do music videos too?
MichelleZ - Yes. I directed, produced and choreographed a series of videos for Japan and Korea. Then I also choreographed for top recording artists for MTV and VHI videos. We have one for Pat Benatar, and other newer artists like Cyder.

cheerleadingADM - Michelle, what would you recommend a young girl to do, if she is interested in trying out for a NBA dance team?
MichelleZ - First of all, I find in my coaching, that many cheerleaders don't have adequate dance training and technique, especially. I would recommend taking BALLET!!!! No one ever wants to do that, they want to do all the funkier hip hop stuff and skip the strengthening moves.
MichelleZ - I would also recommend seeing many different kinds of dance and dance teams before auditioning for one, and setting their heart on one team. Most teams only hire a couple girls each year, and each team member usually has to reaudition to keep their position.

Rudy - Ballet is a good general foundation for a dancer?
MichelleZ - Absolutely! Ballet actually molds the muscles and gives you a language for dance. Most dance moves start from the basics.
MichelleZ - Jumps, especially come from the strength of ballet. That's how the men get their amazing lift.

Rudy - besides ballet, would you recommend any gymnastics?
MichelleZ - Yes, Rudy, gymnastics gives you "lack of fear" which is so important to doing stunts and high lifts.

cheerleadingADM - I have a question one of our users, a coach, asked in the forum Michelle, perhaps you can answer it ..she wanted to know the best way to teach her squad facials ..she said when she tried to get them ..all she got was smiles.
MichelleZ - Teaching real emotion is not easy. Many dancers from locally based studios adopt a certain look , either a "Disney" smile or pageant smiles or scowls, even. When I judge competitions I see so many dancers and you can pick what studio they come from. I try and get the dancers to connect to a real emotion that gets them excited and alive . So the face they express is not a "learned" face, but a real response to the movement and audience and music. Many times a cheerleader is so determined to be "sexy" that they end up looking coy instead of fresh and upbeat.

cheerleadingADM - What else do you look for when you're judging?
MichelleZ - I look for attack of movement, musicality and a true love for the performance. I've judged amateurs, pros, kids and adults...it all comes down to LOVING it.

cheerleadingADM - Do you get to see most of the NFL Cheerleading teams and NBA Dance teams..is one your favorite?
MichelleZ - I do not have a favorite. But to Paula Abdul's credit, she really changed the face of cheer and dance teams. She brought a style and finesse and insisted on training. I have known and worked with Paula and have respect for the work she did with the LA Laker Girls. Now my friend, Tony and others work with them regularly, and they keep it fresh. To be fair too, I think it's easier to choreograph for gym floors than for football field surfaces. I am always afraid of turned ankles and knees on the turf.

Rudy - When you choreograph a dance routine for a professional production, does planning that, have any similarity to setting up a routine for a Cheerleading squad?
MichelleZ - what works, what doesn't. I am always hearing the "latest" music for choices of mixing and seeing the best and cutting edge movement styles by the best movers. I have been a ballerina, jazz dancer, worked on Broadway with the creator of A CHORUS LINE, Michael Bennett and been featured on the Academy Awards. This body of work and knowledge does definitely come into play when I decide what moves work for a particular squad.

cheerleadingADM - Don't forget to visit Michelle's sites: ChoreographyCentral.com and MoreZap.com. Michelle, thank you so much for coming!
MichelleZ - I appreciate the invite to chat, and maybe we'll do one with our New Breed another time.

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