Dances With Dogs – Choreography Workshop

DWD Club Choreography Workshop with Loretta Rabbitt

– Maree Field

Dances with Dogs was recognised by the ANKC as a titling dog sport from January 2009. Since that time, many competitors have enjoyed the fun and challenge of training their dogs, developing and performing Heelwork to Music and/or Freestyle routines, all of course performed to music. Its’ popularity is growing, with a number of competitors transitioning from Trick Dog to DWD.

However, a DWD routine is not simply an unrelated series of tricks performed one after the other. It can build on behaviours from the Trick Dog sport, or indeed other sports including Agility as well as Obedience and Rally. The difference is that DWD also requires the handler to select a piece of music and develop a sequence which flows and interprets that music. You actually get to choreograph the routine. It also provides the freedom, challenge and enjoyment of selecting music that best suits the handler and their dog, of creating a theme to their music and selecting a costume which complements the theme and their dog.

Choreographing a routine is perhaps the biggest challenge for DWD competitors, and the DWD Club was recently delighted to host Loretta Rabbitt from NSW to conduct a Choreography workshop. Loretta has been a DWD judge since the foundation of the sport, and has achieved Freestyle Championships with 3 of her white Poodles.

Loretta has also made many TV appearances with her dogs; these include appearing on Australia’s Got Talent, and regular segments on the Morning Show on Channel 7 as well as several commercials. They are an amazing and inspirational team.

A key focus of Loretta’s workshop is building handlers’ skills in moving to music in a manner which complements their dog, as well as skills in selecting music and choreographing a routine. She also emphasises skill development, in terms of both the number, the degree of difficulty of moves and seamlessness of cues. The aim is to showcase the dog who, above all, is the star of DWD routines.

This was no theoretical/ lecture presentation. Teams were on their feet throughout the day, exploring and practising different styles of movement. The arena was filled with laughter and it’s fair to say that handlers and dogs went home tired and inspired with lots of new ideas to put into practice as they refine current routines and develop new ones in the future.