What Does a Choreographer Do?

 The word choreography comes from Greek and means dance-writing.

In a nutshell, we can say that choreography is about designing movement in time and space. But what does it mean in practice?

Can improvisation also be choreographed? Is choreography just a bunch of dance moves strung together? Is it limited to the movement of the human body?

Let's break it down, step by step.

What Do You Mean by “Choreography?” 

The simplest and most common belief is that the choreographer invents the sequence of steps. 

While there are many dance styles which call on a specific movement vocabulary (for example, ballet moves are used in ballet choreography), it is true that choreographers often “invent” new ways of moving. (And isn’t that the point, afterall? To give purpose to the movement?)

Combining steps together, in the form of longer sequences, is absolutely a part of the role of the choreographer. But choreography is so much more than just creating steps. As Juliano Nunes says in his Dance Masterclass, “Choreography transcends movements…gives them meaning.”

So, simply composing a sequence of movements is not yet choreography. Regardless of the style, this aspect of consciousness and creation is the fundamental difference between dance and choreography.

Choreography may be created with a big company, a small number of dancers or, with one dancer. Some artists decide to both choreograph and perform. Sometimes they work with the same people for years, other times they do short-term projects. So you see, there are many (or even countless) options to consider.

Whether you imagine a solo or a big performance, before you choreograph a dance, you probably see the stage, the lights, the costumes…Then, once it’s been performed, you recall the soundscape and the feelings or thoughts you had after seeing the performance. 

This means that, when choreographing, you need to think about everything - from the initial concept, through the creation of movement, all the way to how it is delivered to an audience. The choreographer is the brains and heart of the whole thing, all of which cannot happen without a deep process which neither begins nor ends in the studio. 

How Do Choreographers Make Dances?

You may find yourself asking, “How do I start choreography?” Your daily life, what you’re most exposed to, THIS is your best jumping off point. Whatever you watch, do and experience may become a part of your art. Choreographic ideas may come from a philosophical background, social experiences, or any other aspect of the human experience. They may also be imposed by a brief, assignment or commission. Either way, preparing a choreographic piece requires deep, broad and interdisciplinary research. 

But the process of creation doesn't necessarily mean inventing movement sequences and teaching dancers to perform them. Choreography may be born in cooperation with the dancers. It’s often that a choreographer inspires their dancers through various improvisation tasks, drawing on their creativity and uniqueness to fuel the choreography.

What’s more, it is possible to create a piece without fixing a single movement. Yes, you read that right. What we’re referring to here is the art of improvisation: a unique skill which, despite popular belief, can actually be learned (Tess Voelker’s class on Improvisation is a must if you’re looking to develop this skill). Improvised performances may be based on a score or structure to clearly indicate the tasks while leaving space for the dancers to make improvised choices. 

Some choreographers work with a particular form of dance and hone their unique style within that framework (for example, ballet choreographers like George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Christopher Wheeldon all build on traditional ballet technique albeit, with innovative approaches) while other famous choreographers develop new methodology or an original movement language,entirely. For instance, Martha Graham, José Limón, Pina Bausch, Alvin Ailey, Akram Khan and Ohad Naharin, to name a few.

Although the choreographer does not appear on stage (unless being both choreographer and performer is a conscious, aesthetic choice), the entire performance is imbued with the way its creator sees the world and understands dance. But quality and style cannot be built in a few weeks. It takes years.

If you want to learn more about movement research and how to deepen your creative process, check out Somatic Movements by Shahar Binyamini.

What Are the Duties of a Choreographer?

 Nowadays being an artist often means doing several jobs at once.

In terms of being a choreographer, there is a huge difference between working as a company choreographer and as an independent choreographer. While both can elaborate on a specific style, the former builds a long term cooperation with their performers.

A company choreographer can spend months - or even years - creating one single piece. What’s more - things like space, performers and technical support are all likely provided for them so that the duties of “putting up a show” are spread out among a few different people (or even departments), depending on the size of the theater or dance company. 

In the case of being an independent choreographer (otherwise known as a freelancer), quite often creativity is limited by a lack of resources. There is so much more to think about and take care of: finding financial support, renting rehearsal/performance space, searching for new projects, writing applications for grants – and much, much more.

Sometimes a choreographer has several additional roles beyond creating their artistic work. This is something to really think about.

So… What is the Difference Between a Dancer and a Choreographer?

First and foremost, not every dancer will become a choreographer and not every choreographer is a former dancer. A transition from dancing to choreographing is indeed very common, but it’s not the only way. Of course, it is important that a choreographer understands how a dancer's body works, but this does not necessarily require them to be a great dancer, themselves. Even more so, a dancer does not need to know how to choreograph in order to dance professionally.

Does Choreography Only Apply to Dance?

While choreography is largely related to dance and stage, it is also present in other disciplines and art forms, too. Consider concerts, live theater, feature films, dance films, video animation and even fashion shows (speaking of fashion, we swoon over this work from Sharon Eyal for Dior). 

Each form of art has its own specificity and requires a different approach. So, if choreography is planned movement, and movement is everywhere, are we not all surrounded by choreography all of the time?

As you can see, choreographic creativity has no limits and our sincere hope is that more and more venues are created to support choreographers of different styles, with different experiences and different perceptions of movement.

If you want to dive deeper into movement research and choreography, check out our library of classes to get inspired.

RESOURCES:
Choreography - definition, meaning & synonyms. Vocabulary.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2022, from https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/choreography