WAG Floor Routines

[berrisweetness]

Why so people Charge $350 and up for floor routines and the routines are all the same accept for a few dance moves here and there or maybe a different beginning and a different ending. Other than that they all look the same. Example you have someone doing floor ones for approximately 8 level 7's. Why so much?

 

[berrisweetness]

Sorry for the misspelled words or bad use of sentence structure LOL.

 

[BarCoach]

Then they are ripping you off. A good choreographer should charge $350 for a unique routine.
I volunteered to choreograph level 6 routines for my group only this year. I have 6 done out of 9 and there are definitely parts in each that are similar. Not identical, but similar. But I have barely any experience and only charged $200.

 

[Muddlethru]

Our inexperienced beam coach, with two years of gymnastics 'coaching' experience, never was a gymnast, charges $525, with us supplying the music. Last year she charged $350. This year I guess a year's experience and hearing other choreographers charging a lot more than $350, plus travel expenses made her feel she deserved more. Sad thing is her floor routines are horrible, her leap combinations are pretty bizzare. She tries too hard to make the routine complicated to make her look 'experienced' at the expense of the gymnast. I happen to see the tail end of a new routine she did yesterday. She had a little L7 girl do a double pirouette to an arabesque. The girl stumbled out of her turn almost falling on her face on the scale. Now the gymnast will get at least a .2 deduction on that combination she did not even need. Just do the double pirouette.

As far as why they charge too much, I don't know. But I think $350 is reasonable for in house but someone with more experienced and is flown in, I have no problem paying more. Teaching a floor routine can take several hours. So it appears they charge by the hour?

 

[raenndrops]

Our choreography is free. The girls help with their own routines (so they can truly be their OWN). HC, one of our former Optionals who now coaches part time, another coach, the other Optional girls and I help fill in the blanks. If they are stuck for some fluff, their music is played and everyone freestyles what they feel while the gymnast watches and takes it all in.

YG's routine is ready... choreographed by OG, YG, and myself in one day. Now we just have to take it to a space bigger than 12 ft x 8 ft... a spring floor would be nice, lol - someplace that she can actually DO her tumbling passes

Last season, we did 16 routines this way and it worked well. All it takes is knowing the requirements and putting them into a routine where they fit the music... not worth anywhere NEAR $350 - Unless the choreographer is supplying a completely original piece of music AND a GUARANTEED winning routine - meaning the gymnast can execute EVERYTHING perfectly!

 

[RisingGymnast]

Holy cow!!! 500 dollars for a floor routines is crazy! I think my gym asked for $250 last year for floor and maybe $100-$150 for beam? I was the only xcel and one of my coaches (not the head coach) choreographed mine for $100. We were very close and she knew that xcel was supposed to be a less expensive program. I made up my own beam routine, using the format of the one from the year before. Not sure how the new gym goes about choreography.

 

[tegan_tegan]

At my gym it is $20 for floor including
- music, with editing
- choreography
- practise time out side of training times

It is free for beam

 

[emilykatherine]

At my gym floor routines are $70. We have a coach who used to be in dance and she does them. There really good routines too. Almost all the OPTIONALS needed new floor routines so she's busy this year. Beam were on our own

 

[profmom]

We paid a bit under $300 for original choreography. The routine is unique and suits my daughter very well. I've now watched two years' worth of optional floor routines, and having a very well choreographed routine makes a difference, especially for girls who aren't going to blow the judges away with power tumbling. (And on the flip side, I've seen a few power tumblers doing routines that didn't work very well for them.)

 

[Muddlethru]

It is interesting (and sad for those paying a lot) that there is such a HUGE range of charges for floor choreography. And like OP said, the "dance" part is so small. They are maybe choreographing 30 seconds! I too don't get it. I was just told our sister gym flies in a choreographer that charges $750 per routine, PLUS room and board that is split among the gymnast. It runs each gymnast close to $1,000 each. So, we have $20 floor routines to $1,000 floor routines. I'll have to search youtube and watch their routines more closely. Insane!

 

[Seeker]

Omg...$1,000?

I would have to say no to that. She'd retire and find a new sport if that was the cost for a non-elite routine. That is crazy.

 

[LizzieLac]

Floor routine cost $150, but the woman only wanted to charge $100!! Our HC would not allow us to give her so little, as she worked with the girls for over 2 hours. Music our HC handles and it comes out of the parents association funds.

For beam the girls work with the beam coach and come up with poses and choreography that are similar to their floor routines so the memorization is a little easier. No charge.

 

[Natasha]

It is ridiculous to pay that much money especially at L6 and L7 where there are no composition deductions. At those levels the judges aren't evaluating much other than the required tumbling and dance.

 

[vagymmomma]

It is ridiculous to pay that much money especially at L6 and L7 where there are no composition deductions. At those levels the judges aren't evaluating much other than the required tumbling and dance.

I generally agree for L6 and L7, but I think a good floor routine is way more than just the VPs and pretty dance. It's knowing what's enough and when/what to cut. For example, do you really need 3 tumbling passes or are you just adding unnecessary deductions? And at our gym the girls use routines for 2 years. So if you're getting a routine for L7, it should transition well to L8. I would want whoever is choreographing the routines for L7 up to really understand the rules -- especially for L8 and above with the composition deductions. This sport, especially floor, has some subjectivity. A good routine can really make a strong impression and I would have to think that influences scoring in even L7.

 

[kayjaybe]

Do we have the only gym that recycles music and routines? We don't pay for music or routines. My dd hasn't gotten her routine yet, but it will likely be one that a girl had for the past 2 years in L7 & 8, and someone had before that, and someone had before that, etc. That girl is now moving on to 9, where she will get a "new" routine that was used by someone else.

I think last year the team did have a couple of new routines added (we had a big group of L7s, so they may not have had enough old ones to go around), but the girls that got those didn't have to pay for them.

 

[profmom]

FWIW, DD's choreography session was three hours, and included her, the choreographer, and the head floor coach. We will not have to pay any additional fees for beam choreography, which will draw from the floor routine. She'll have this routine for two years.

 

[Gymsanity]

Here is how I look at it. A good choreographer is like an artist, so you are paying for their experience, artistry, creativity, and expertise in their craft. Would you look at a Rembrandt or Picasso and say 'hey, how much could a piece of canvas and a little paint cost?' If so, you should be able to pick one up for around $20.00, but pretty sure that isn't going to happen! I had a nationally recognized choreographer work for me for years, and I can tell you that a good routine choreographed to good music makes all the difference in the world!

 

[Muddlethru]

I generally agree for L6 and L7, but I think a good floor routine is way more than just the VPs and pretty dance. It's knowing what's enough and when/what to cut. For example, do you really need 3 tumbling passes or are you just adding unnecessary deductions? And at our gym the girls use routines for 2 years. So if you're getting a routine for L7, it should transition well to L8. I would want whoever is choreographing the routines for L7 up to really understand the rules -- especially for L8 and above with the composition deductions. This sport, especially floor, has some subjectivity. A good routine can really make a strong impression and I would have to think that influences scoring in even L7.

Agree with everything above. I too believe very much with the highlighted portion. A good choreographer highlights the gymnast/dancers strenghts. Often times a choreographer (such as the one we have at our gym) makes it all about them. If they make the routine difficult or complicated, they feel they will be perceived as an experienced choreographer and it becomes the gymnast's fault if they cannot do it. And of course one would hope knowledge of the rules, deductions, a good vocabulary of leaps and skills combinations would be required. Sorry. Sore topic for me right now.

 

[Muddlethru]

I agree with gymsanity as well. And I will pay for a good routine. But I still think anything over $500 is too much for 30 seconds of choregraphy. I think $350 is fair.

I will say however while "artistry" certainly plays into a good routine, many choreographers have a distinctive style. When they choreograph over 10 routines at a time, the routines start looking alike. Even great dance choreographers who have a larger pool of steps, skills, leaps to pull from, they have their preferences of skills and steps that they use more often. Hence, I don't think they start from scratch with every gymnast. I am certain they use a lot of similar moves, leaps, turns they feel have worked in the past. So there really isn't a lot of creativity happening all the time. IMO

 

[Seeker]

FWIW, DD's choreography session was three hours, and included her, the choreographer, and the head floor coach. We will not have to pay any additional fees for beam choreography, which will draw from the floor routine. She'll have this routine for two years.

That sounds totally reasonable....a far cry from $1,000!