Learn Your Tools: Introduction

Ideas to support student understanding and practice of dance components and terminology.

A choreographer’s style may fit neatly within a specific, identified genre of dance. For example, Marius Petipa was a choreographer of classical ballet, and Martha Graham was a pioneer of American Modern Dance and created the Graham technique to support her choreographic works.

However, many contemporary dance works are a fusion of genres and techniques. To more fully understand a choreographer’s perspective and style, it can be helpful to consider specific components of their movement and structural choices- the What, the How and the When of their work. Connections can then be considered as to their choreographic intention: WHY did this choreographer make these choices? This section will explore the What, the How, the When and the Why, with sample tasks and exercises for each.

Fluency in these components also empowers students to make personal artistic choices in their own choreography (as opposed to imitating something they already know). For more ideas on how to encourage students to apply these choreographic tools in their creative process, visit Make It Yours.