An interview with the choreographers from Engeki Haikyuu!! (x)
Featuring Sasao Tsutomu from HIDALI (the one with glasses) and the assistant choreographer ZUKE!
Some highlights from this interview include:
The first bit of choreography they ever did for Haikyuu was the 3-on-3 match, and they actually started working on it before they had any music for it. Even the director (Kinoshita Worry) would have fun trying it out.
When doing research on volleyball games, Sasao Tsutomu would go to watch actual games and always watched from right along the net. Eventually he caught onto a rhythm for the flow of a match, and that’s used for the choreography in Haikyuu.
Spikes/attacks are frequently on the first and fifth beats, and quicks tend to fall on the off-beat of the music.
Actual volleyball rules (like player rotation) gave them a bit of trouble when working on the choreography since the players couldn’t always be at the part of the stage they wanted them to be at any specific time.
Fitting the dialogue into the choreography was difficult because it’s not a musical. The delivery of the lines from the actors tends to change with every show, and while they’re speaking, it’s difficult to continue counting out the rhythm of the choreography in their heads.
Their work with Engeki Haikyuu demands they be more involved throughout rehearsals whereas typically, their work as choreographers involves them being given music, coming up with a routine, teaching the routine to the actors, then being done.
