Choreography: The Basics

This book provides a comprehensive and concise overview of choreography both as a creative skill and as a field of study, introducing readers to the essential theory and context of choreographic practice. Providing invaluable practical considerations for creating choreography as well as leading international examples from a range of geographical and cultural contexts, this resource will enhance students’ knowledge of how to create dance. This clear guide outlines both historical and recent developments within the field, including how choreographers are influenced by technology and intercultural exchange, whilst also demonstrating the potential to address social, political and philosophical themes. It further explores how students can devise and analyse their own work in a range of styles, how choreography can be used in range of contexts – including site-specific work and digital technologies – and engages with communities of performers to give helpful, expert suggestions for developing choreographic projects. This bookis ahighly valuable resource for anyone studying dancemaking, dance studies or contemporary choreographic practice and those in the early stages of dance training who wish to pursue a career as a choreographer or in a related profession.

Introduction, 1. The Journey Begins, 2. Choreographic Notebook, 3. Broader Skills a Choreographer Needs, 4. Choreographic (Re)evolution, Documentation and Preservation, 5. A Choreographic Voice, 6. Choreography for Sites, Screens and Community Practice, Conclusion: Next Steps on Your Choreographic Journey

Jenny Roche (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Having worked as a dancer for many years, she continues to collaborate on interdisciplinary arts projects as a performer, maker and arts practice researcher. Her book Multiplicity, Embodiment and The Contemporary Dancer: Moving Identities was published in 2015. Stephanie Burridge (PhD) lectures at LASALLE College of the Arts and Singapore Management University and is a choreographer, performer and dance writer. She is Series Editor for the Routledge collections Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific, and Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change.