Bridges of Madison County

Choreography Style / Approach

Minimalist and fluid. The focus was on naturalistic movement, smooth transitions, and emotionally driven staging. Movement was used to support the storytelling rather than take center stage, with seamless scene changes and actor transitions functioning almost like choreography themselves. Duets featured a subtle, intimate physical connection rather than formal dance.

Choreographed Numbers

• To Build a Home
• Temporarily Lost
• Falling Into You
• Another Life
• State Road 21
• Before and After You” / “One Second and a Million Miles"
• When I’m Gone
• (All scene transitions)
  

Challenges / Innovations / Notable Moments

• Transition-as-Choreography: With limited space and a cinematic score, the ensemble became the vehicle for visual storytelling, shifting furniture, framing scenes, and embodying memory through motion.
• Emotional Subtlety: Unlike traditional musicals, movement needed to feel lived-in and honest. Even small gestures had weight, and silence was often as powerful as choreography.
  Spatial Flow: The staging had to maintain momentum across multiple small locations without breaking the emotional thread, so each movement sequence doubled as a scene shift.
  

• Partnering for Story, Not Spectacle: In duets, physical connection reflected emotional states, restrained, then open, with natural pacing rather than showy lifts or turns.
• Bridges and Fences: The set pieces were moved to represent multiple structures by the actors themselves as part of their choreography. 
  

Video Highlights

Show Gallery

Photos by Sarah Stephens