How to choreograph a cheer routine

An all-star routine is about 2 minutes 30 seconds and mixes tumbling, stunts, pyramids, dance and a short cheer. Lower levels can be shorter: Cheer Canada, for example, caps novice routines at 1:30 and prep at 2:00. Check your event's rulebook for the time limit, the skills allowed at your level, and whether a cheer section is required.

Cheer mixes are usually fast, often around 145 to 150 BPM. At 148 BPM, one 8-count lasts about 3.2 seconds, so a 2:30 routine has about 46 eight-counts to fill. The 8-count calculator gives the number for your tempo and length.

Give each section a count range before you set a single move. Put your strongest skills where the judges and the crowd will see them clearly, and leave time for the transitions between them. Here is one common order, as an example:

Each skill needs a set number of counts: how long a stunt group needs to load, how many counts a tumbling pass takes, when a pyramid connects. Count them with your athletes at practice, not on paper, and write the number down. A stunt that needs 6 counts to build cannot start on count 5 of the section.

Put the big moments on strong counts: builds, hits and landings on 1, and tumbling passes and jumps on 1, 3, 5 or 7.

While one group tumbles, give everyone else sharp motions on the counts. Plan every transition: who walks where, in how many counts, so the next section starts clean on 1. A transition that runs 2 counts long throws off everything after it.

Your music producer builds the mix to fit the routine. Send them a sheet with every 8-count, what happens on it, and where you want hits, sound effects and voiceovers. See how to fill out a cheer 8-count sheet, or print a free blank 8-count sheet. Music for competition has to be licensed: read songs for cheer routines for what that means.

Teach section by section, counting out loud. Practise to a slowed-down mix (the practice player plays it at 75% without changing the pitch), then at full speed. Once the mix arrives, check that every hit you asked for lands on its count.

Cleaning is where scores are won. Fix one thing at a time across the whole team: timing of motions, arm and leg positions, spacing in formations, and the transitions. Film full outs and watch them against the count sheet, 8-count by 8-count.

• Choreographing before the mix is planned, then finding the hits in the wrong places.
• Too few counts for transitions, so sections start late.
• Skills that are not legal at your level. Check the current rulebook every season.
• A dance section that does not match the music the producer delivers.

More words used here, like base, flyer and voiceover, are in the dance and cheer terms glossary.