Choreography and Composition
The art and craft of making dances, including the methods, structures, and documentation of choreographic creation.
Definition
The study of how dances are composed, structured, generated, documented, and conceptually shaped.
Scope
This area covers the practice and theory of dance composition: the craft principles of designing movement in time and space, the use of improvisation as a generative tool, the systems used to notate and document choreography, and the dramaturgical thinking that shapes a work's structure and meaning. It treats choreography as both creative practice and an object of analysis.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- What craft principles govern the composition of movement in time and space?
- How does improvisation function as a tool for generating choreography?
- How can choreography be notated, recorded, and preserved?
- What role does dramaturgy play in shaping a dance work?
Key concepts
- composition
- phrasing
- motif and development
- improvisation
- notation
- dramaturgy
Key theories
- Craft principles of dance composition
- The codified compositional guidance, drawn from modern dance practice, that treats dance making as a craft governed by principles of design, dynamics, and structure.
- Choreography as the structuring of kinesthetic experience
- The view that choreography organizes not only visible movement but the kinesthetic and empathetic engagement of performers and spectators.
History
Reflection on dance making was systematized in the twentieth century by modern dance practitioners who articulated compositional craft for teaching. Later scholarship expanded the field to encompass improvisation, notation, dramaturgy, and theoretical accounts of choreography as a structuring of perception and meaning.
Debates
- Choreography as fixed work versus open process
- Practitioners and theorists disagree about whether a dance is a fixed, repeatable work or an open, improvisatory process, with consequences for authorship, notation, and preservation.
Key figures
- Doris Humphrey
- Susan Leigh Foster
- Lynne Anne Blom
- Rudolf Laban
Related topics
Seminal works
- humphrey1959
- foster2010
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between choreography and improvisation?
- Choreography typically refers to composed, repeatable movement designed in advance, whereas improvisation generates movement spontaneously in the moment; many works combine the two.