Despite the glitz and glamour which defines the superficial visage of beauty pageants, there is a lot of hard work that goes behind it. The outcome of which, would not be possible without proper planning and its immaculate execution. All of this demand creative focus, practical insights and strict discipline. Wise words from one of the most sought-after Choreographer and Beauty Coach in Nagaland- Toshizen Longkumer.
A keen observer of beauty and aesthetics, Toshizen holds a Masters Degree in Economics from St.Josephs College, Bangalore. His sense of humour is legendary, not only to his friends but people who’ve worked with him. “I can be loud and funny, unfortunately, most times, both at the same time,” he confirms.
He has no training in choreographing shows. But like most of us, Toshizen didn’t enjoy the way local pageants were held. “To be honest, I had absolutely no clue what choreographing was all about. All I knew was that, I didn’t like how the contestants entered the stage, how they walked and posed and how they exited in the local shows that I happened to catch on local channels. It was just too chaotic and lacked finesse,” he says.
He found the right opportunity when he was approached by EGON to choreograph Miss Dimapur 2009. “I took it as a challenge upon myself to see how I could bring more order and fine tune it. And that’s how it all started. I spent sleepless nights working out routines in my mind like those drill exercises we used to do as kids. I was looking for symmetry and how to coordinate and make the whole show seamless,” he shares.
Giving us a glimpse into his work, he says that there are only certain things one can come up with in terms of choreographing as beauty pageants have a specific format. However, in an endeavor to infuse new ideas and concepts, he incorporated live singers and dancers, with a local touch, into the choreography, to bring about a more entertaining picture.
Toshizen describes fashion choreographing as “shouts and cheers at the same time”. He explains that choreographing entails a lot of planning and immaculate executions so that every contestant gets equal amount of stage time and they look confident doing so. But apart from all those technicalities, a choreographer is part Coach and cheerleader. One needs to make the contestants calm and make them believe that they can do it.
Ask him how much money he makes per show and he replies with his trademark humour, “I don’t know about others, my fee ranges from 50”. Beauty pageants are hectic, stressful and nerve-wracking. So it is no wonder the choreographer admits that the best part is the sigh of relief after the show. This experienced choreographer shares that one needs lots of patience. Apart from that, one needs to be thorough with the cue sheets, the overall mood of the show and should be able to visualize what the show director wants and deliver it of course.
He laments that one of the biggest challenges he faces in every pageant is the lack of space for practice. He states, “We get access to the final stage only a day prior to the show, before which we can only imagine the stage size, design and space. With a vague layout of the stage there are number of things which can go wrong, but thankfully, so far, I have not had a situation when things were beyond my control.”
As an experienced choreographer, he points out that any major event requires the successful coordination between many units. “What I have realized over the years is that it requires a team to put up a successful show. And the show is only as good as the least performing member. A choreographer is just another cog in the wheel. So, apart from choreographing the routines for the contestants, I also sit down with the all the other departments and run through the cue sheet all over again. And if required, I do sit down with the performing artists and discuss ways how to better their performance, be it, how to enter and exit or styling their look to how to use the stage more efficiently,” he says.
