Run the choreography at a speed at which you can easily remember what comes next. Do all of the actions and any acting beats — pauses in movement, but not pauses in intention — in the right order without stopping.
Usually, this is a much slower speed than our egos want us to move at!
However, when you move at this slower pace, each moment is full of intention, and you avoid rehearsing unearned pauses into your fight. This way, your won’t find yourself with memory glitches or dead air in your scene when you move at full performance speed.
To rehearse in this fashion, make sure that each move and/or acting beat flows into the next. Move at a speed that allows you to easily remember what’s coming next, that is “move as fast as you can think”. The only pauses in your movement are those moments that the fight director and director have specifically placed into the scene, and are motivated by the scene, rather than pausing to remember what’s next. Think of it this way, if someone were observing your fight, they would think that you’re in slow motion, as if the film speed has been turned down.
The purpose is to help the body and mind memorize the beats of the fight in right order without any moments where action or acting isn’t happening. By being this clear and by moving with this much flow, you will help yourself avoid having memory lapses and dead air in your fights. The audience can always tell when you’ve dropped out of the scene for a second, and rehearsing in this manner can help you to avoid creating those holes in your scene when you “turn up the film to full speed.”