In dance, choreography is the act of designing dance. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. A choreographer is one who designs dances. Dance choreography is sometimes called dance composition.
Contents
Aspects of dance choreography include the compositional use of organic unity, rhythmic or non-rhythmic articulation, theme and variation, and repetition. The choreograhic process may employ improvisation for the purpose of developing innovative movement ideas. In general, choreography is used to design dances that are intended to be performed as concert dance.
The art of choreography involves the specification of human movement and form in terms of space, shape, time and energy, typically within an emotional or non-literal context. Movement language is taken from the dance techniques of ballet, contemporary dance, jazz dance, hip hop dance, folk dance, techno, k pop, religious dance, pedestrian movement, or combinations of these.
Techniques
Dances are designed by applying one or both of these fundamental choreographic methods:
Several underlying techniques are commonly used in choreography for two or more dancers:
Movements may be characterized by dynamics, such as fast, slow, hard, soft, long, and short.