What kind of dance are you stage managing? Like a dance concert, modern piece, ballet?
For ballet, I always call from a score, and put color-coded post its in the score for the various cues. It's just like following along in a script, but you do have to know how to read music. If there is not one available for the piece, I type up a time sheet to call the show from. It will typically have four columns: the first has the time of the warning, standby, or cue. The second is what the cue is (I color code) the third gives me either a musical reference or a choreographic reference for what's going on, and the fourth is blank for notes I write during rehearsals/performances. you call the show exactly the same way -- just that there are often many more cues and many more types of cues in dance than in straight theatre or even musicals -- you've got deck, rail, FX, deck lx, lx. I call it just like I would call any show -- except I often don't give verbal standbys or GOs to the deck or rail if there are cue lights available. There is so much other stuff going on and I am doing so much talking anyway that they're better off just watching the light rather than trying to listen for their cue in a long sequence.
If calling from a score I make sure to write down timings throughout - whether its every thirty seconds or at significant points in the music. This makes rehearsals SO much easier for everybody, rather than letting the director sit there with a remote trying to find the right spot where they left off, you can skip to it quickly. I often find myself counting off the "5, 6, 7, 8" for my dancers because i know exactly when in the music it will happen (since im either reading the score or keeping track of the times as we do it.
When stage managing dance I think it is absolutely essential to have a basic knowledge of dance terminology - so when the director or choreographer says "let's pick it up from the girls jete battu" you know what he's referring to and can easily find the part in the music where this happens.
what else are you looking to find out?
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