Will dance and choreography be the same?

Recently, some Bollywood filmmakers opened their offices with 10% staff as per government guidelines. Besides, shoots for a few TV serials have also commenced. Considering these changes and entertainment industry slowly opening its doors to the ‘new normal’, we spoke to choreographers to understand what the future will be for them and their teams. We spoke Remo D’Souza, Bosco-Caesar and Ashley Lobo to know more about rehearsals, mega dance crews, and more. 

Remo D’Souza

I think songs will be the last to be touched as of now. For songs, you need dancers and that too a big group so that would be against the social distancing norms now. Duets and situation-based songs I think would be the preference. As far as rehearsals are concerned, if it all it would happen, it would be with the core team of the choreographer and the assistants. And once it is set, only then would it be taught to the dancers in small groups. Dance sequences are the heart of a film. But to be honest, I don’t see anything happening soon. At least, till the year end. 

Bosco Leslie Martis

Right now, the most important thing is the government guidelines. We need to implement and follow these guidelines wherever we will be shooting. It is going to be a task to achieve and we will have to rationally think about it. I don’t think rehearsals will be in the same scale. It will probably be more of video conferencing. May be that is how it is going to be. I don’t think mega crews behind an actor will happen anytime soon. We won’t have the same luxury of shooting like the way we used to.  

Caesar Gonsalves

I don’t know what the “new normal” is going to be. It has never been tested before. It is still unclear how the choreography would be if the shoots begin. If there are other dancers involved, then we will have to divide them into a group of five or 10 and follow all the guidelines laid by the government. As far as mega dance numbers are concerned, it is usually done with a big star. And big stars won’t be comfortable having so many people around them until we don’t have a vaccination for this virus and it is normal to think like that.  

Ashley Lobo

A Hindi film cannot be made without music and songs, but the treatment and choreography will undergo a big change in the foreseeable future. For starters, big group dances will take a backseat for some time. The focus would largely be on the actors in the song. We would have to evolve rehearsals, which are either done virtually or with social distancing norms in place. Another possible solution could be using the blocking process — shoot the song in parts and then edit it together.