Bridging the Gap
Your Next Steps After Mastering Contemporary Dance Fundamentals
You’ve built the foundation. You understand the weight shifts, the contract-release, the lyrical flow, and the raw emotion. Now, the real journey begins. Where do you go from here?
The plateau after mastering fundamentals is a sacred, if frustrating, space. It’s the bridge between technical proficiency and artistic voice. This isn't about learning more steps; it's about becoming the choreographer of your own dance journey. Here’s your map for crossing that bridge.
1. Deconstruct to Reconstruct
Stop dancing in full phrases for a moment. Isolate the very elements you've learned. Take a simple contraction. How many ways can you initiate it? From the pinky toe? From the crown of the head? At what speed, with what texture—sharp glass or melting honey?
This is your laboratory. Play with extremes. Exaggerate until it breaks, then minimize until it's a secret whispered to your own bones. The goal is to move from executing a technique to owning its potential.
Find Your Physical Question
Don't just take class. Go in with a query: "What happens if my spine leads every turn today?" or "How does emotion alter my floor work?" This turns passive learning into active research.
Cross-Pollinate Your Movement
Infuse your contemporary with a capoeira roda's swing, the precision of ballet's épaulement, or the groundedness of butoh. Your unique style lives at the intersection of disciplines.
Choreograph Your Life
Choreography isn't just for the stage. Arrange the movement of carrying groceries, waking up, or waiting for the bus. Find the dance in the mundane. This builds a relentless creative muscle.
2. Cultivate Your Artistic Voice
Technique is your vocabulary, but what story do you want to tell? Your voice is the unique filter through which all movement passes.
- Create a Movement Journal: Not just written, but drawn, painted, or voiced. Note what themes, images, and emotions keep resurfacing in your improvisations.
- Build a Sensory Library: Collect textures (rough stone, smooth silk), sounds (city traffic, forest quiet), and images. Let them directly inform your movement quality.
- Find Your "Why": Are you drawn to dance as catharsis, as social commentary, as pure geometric exploration? Naming your core motivation gives your practice direction.
The gap between fundamentals and artistry isn't empty. It's filled with questions, experiments, and beautiful failures. It's where you trade the safety of the known for the thrill of discovery.
3. Embrace the Collaborative Spirit
Contemporary dance thrives in dialogue. Step out of the solo bubble.
- Initiate a Movement Lab: Gather dancers, a musician, and a visual artist. Give yourselves a prompt (e.g., "constraint and freedom") and create something in an afternoon.
- Take an "Opposite" Class: If you're a lyrical flow dancer, dive into Gaga or hip-hop. If you're powerful and sharp, try Butoh or authentic movement. Be a beginner again.
- Seek Mentorship & Feedback: Find a teacher or choreographer who challenges your aesthetic. Ask for specific, constructive criticism on your movement quality, not just technique.
4. Look Beyond the Studio
Your next breakthrough might not happen at the barre. It might happen in a sculpture gallery, during a hike, or while writing poetry. Your body is an archive of all your experiences. Feed it.
Watch dance films, yes, but also watch nature documentaries, silent films, and theater. Read. Listen to music far outside your comfort zone. A richer life makes for richer movement.
Your Movement Manifesto
The bridge awaits. It's built not with fear, but with curiosity. Your fundamentals are the solid ground behind you. The unknown ahead is not an abyss, but a space of infinite possibility. Don't just cross the bridge. Dance across it.
Start this week. Pick one step from this guide—just one—and commit to it for the next seven days. See where it leads you.
Define Your Next Step
