All the right moves: creating choreography that looks great on your student.

When Valerie Harman, co-owner of the Art of Dance studio in Chester. New Jersey, began preparing the piece her 10 and 11-year-old tappers performed at the New York City Dance Alliance competition this summer, she tried something new. "I closed my eyes and started to choreograph," she says The piece, in which her students skillfully and sensitively portrayed blind tap dancers, tied for "Critic's Choice" at the NYCDA junior gala (mini's category) in July.

Harman's dance wasn't brightly costumed or full of flashy technical tricks. The dancers couldn't sell the choreography with eye contact and Facial expressions since they were supposed to be blind. But the dance's innovation set it apart

Studios whose teams consistently place or win at competitions say that when preparing, they consider uniqueness in choreography almost as much strong technique. It's not only that they're trying to catch the eyes of jaded judges. Innovative competition pieces, when carefully crafted, stretch students and help them become strong, enthusiastic dancers.

Helping students grow is the first priority.

"Each year, the first thing I think about is what will help my kids in the long run," says Sue Sampson-Dalena, owner of The Dance Studio of Fresno in California. "We've done African dance, modern pieces--this year one to gospel music. We don't always win, but each year I try to expand the dancers' movement vocabulary and they become better performers."

To help expose her kids to choreographic styles other than her own, Sampson-Dalena commissions competition works. But she always tells the visiting choreographers what her students need. "I'll say, 'you've got ten girls to work with. They are really strong in this area but need to be stretched here.' And if the piece they danced last year was jazzy and quick, I'll ask for something softer and lyrical."

Harman did her own choreography for the winning Art of Dance piece. But the concept came from another artist--her costume designer Jeffrey Johnson Doherty. Doherty, who has designed attire for Broadway shows, envisioned the dancers in tattered but once fashionably grand street clothes, and outfitted each with sunglasses and a cane. Harman was intrigued with his idea but had trouble starting to choreograph a dance to match it. "I usually begin with the music," she says, "and get inspired by lyrics. But I felt the music for this should be instrumental."

The project stretched her as a choreographer--and challenged her students as performers. The students played people who were once wealthy but now down on their luck. Harman had each dancer write an essay about their character. "They put a lot of thought into it," says Harman. "Some even decided to pair up and play married couples."

Next, they learned to dance without sight. "Once they knew the dance, I had them close their eyes and do it," says Harman. "They were paralyzed at first but slowly they did it. Eventually, I could tell when someone was dancing with their eyes open because they would start visually interacting with the audience. As blind people, they couldn't do that." Without sight, says Harman, her tap dancers felt the music with their whole bodies, not just their feet, and they moved more. They also learned to tune in more deeply to each other since they had to hear or physically feel all the cues.

Sometimes it just doesn't work.

Unfamiliar choreographic ideas may expand horizons, but it's also key to recognize when a particular concept is not right for your dancers--or for you. Sandra Young, owner of the Young Dance Academy in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, remembers getting drawn into a choreographic trend that didn't fit. "A few years back, everyone was doing these angry, evil, Michael Jackson's Blood On the Dunce Floor type pieces," she says. "I decided to try it but was really unhappy with the result. It just wasn't us. I learned that we have to be who we are and I have to do what I do best."

Teachers must also know their dancers' limits. When Sampson-Dalena chooses choreographers, she makes sure they'll allow her to tweak the choreography if necessary. "If we've rehearsed something over and over and it just isn't working, I change it," she says. "I always get permission from the choreographer and promise to stay as close to their moves as possible. But I will not make a dancer look foolish by asking her to do something that's too hard."

It's a balance, says Harman. You want to challenge your dancers, but you also want them to feel confident and show what they can do rather than what they can't. "If a piece has a big leap and five dancers are getting it and five aren't, I might modify it so the five who can, go up and the five who can't, go down making the ones in the air look even higher," she says.

Age appropriate considerations.

Knowing what's right For your students also means taking their age into account. "For the older kids, I'll use slower music and have them doing more intricate tap," says Harman. "The younger ones have energetic, be-boppy music and simpler steps. For jazz it's the same idea. The older dancers will do something stylized so they can bring out more of themselves. The little ones will do something bright so they can just smile."

She always considers her dancers' youth when choosing costumes and music, too. "I once worked with someone From the show biz world who sketched a costume with thigh-highs for an 11-year-old's solo," she remembers. "I pointed out why it wouldn't work and he said, 'Oh my god! I Forgot how little she is!'"

"You have to be so careful," adds Harman. "The music I use can't be too sexy or passionate when describing love and romance. If you expose kids to something, they think it is appropriate."

Sampson-Dalena remembers one competition piece she really struggled over. It was called Women's Work and was choreographed by Famed stage and screen dance maker Mia Michaels. "She made this beautiful piece For my oldest kids that had some women in the audience crying, some dads booing," says Sampson-Dalena. "Some judges loved it, some hated it. It ended with the dancers in conservative, [utilitarian] underwear." Though controversial, Sampson-Dalena felt the costumes fit the intention and integrity of the piece. "They weren't too revealing and weren't used For the wrong reason so we went ahead--after getting parental permission," she says.

Staying focused means setting a reasonable pace.

Keeping students excited and committed can be a challenge after months of running the same pieces over and over To combat rehearsal Fatigue, Young rehearses different dances each week. "It helps them stay Focused," she says. "If they know they won't get to run something For a while they're less likely to think, 'Oh, I'll just work on that next time.'" She also has "on your own" sessions, where dancers work independently on individual corrections then pair up with a partner to get Feedback. "It builds teamwork. Working things out by themselves helps them look like individuals rather than robots," says Young.

Both Harman and Sampson-Dalena hold rehearsals only on weekends and devote the rest of the week to technique classes. That way they develop strong, artistic dancers and avoid burn-out. "The hardest time to keep up the pace is after the spring recital," says Harman. "School is out. Kids are staying up late. They've rehearsed the same dances for months. But nationals are coming up and they've got to stay inspired." Harman gives lots of pep talks and stresses teamwork. "I remind them we're all in this together and each one of them, whether in the back line or the front, is important" she says. Sometimes she'll show them videos of winning dances from various competitions. "It inspires them and reminds them what really good dancing is," she says.

Sampson-Dalena also shows videos--but usually of their own rehearsals so they can see for themselves what they have to work on. "If they give a big effort," she says, "and look really good on their first run through, I'll say, 'That was beautiful. We're done for the day.' Sometimes the best thing you can do is reward them with a break."

Young invigorated her students by taking off a complete season. "We didn't compete at all last year," she says, "because I felt we needed to focus on being artists and people rather than a competitive drill team. I had some disappointed kids and parents. But it was a great move." Her students returned to competition this year with new enthusiasm. "The most important thing is to have fun dancing onstage--to be an entertainer," she says. "The trick is to foster a championship attitude without getting the dancers so focused on winning that they miss the fun of it."

Janet Weeks is a freelance writer in Brooklyn.