Contemporary dance occupies a unique space in the performance world—rooted in technique yet fiercely individual, disciplined yet improvisational. Unlike ballet's verticality or jazz's rhythmic punctuation, contemporary dance embraces gravity, breath, and pedestrian movement as legitimate artistic tools. It draws from modern dance pioneers like Graham and Horton, postmodern experimentalists, and current interdisciplinary practices.
If you're ready to move beyond learning others' choreography and create work that genuinely reflects your artistic voice, this guide will walk you through the essential steps. No prior choreographic experience required—just curiosity and willingness to explore.
Understanding Contemporary Dance: Core Principles
Before building your routine, understand what distinguishes contemporary dance from other forms:
| Principle | Description | Practical Application |
|---|---|---|
| Groundedness | Working with gravity rather than against it | Movements initiated from the floor, weighted transitions, use of plié and release |
| Parallel position | Legs and feet in natural alignment, not turned out | Creates organic, humanistic quality distinct from balletic aesthetic |
| Breath as impulse | Movement originating from breath patterns | Sharp exhales for percussive actions; sustained inhales for expansive gestures |
| Pedestrian movement | Everyday actions elevated to artistic status | Walking, reaching, falling—performed with intention and awareness |
| Initiation points | Movement beginning from specific body centers | Shoulder-driven gestures vs. hip-driven vs. fingertip-led sequences |
Contemporary dance also values improvisation as composition—many celebrated works began as improvised explorations later set into repeatable choreography.
Step 1: Choose a Theme or Concept
Your concept is the through-line that gives your routine coherence beyond "a series of pretty moves." Effective contemporary dance communicates something—whether abstract emotion, narrative fragment, or physical investigation.
Brainstorming Strategies
- Personal archaeology: What memory keeps resurfacing? What physical sensation accompanies it?
- Social lens: Which current issue activates your body when you read about it?
- Cross-disciplinary theft: A poem's rhythm, a painting's negative space, a scientific process
Refining Your Concept
Write a single sentence that captures your intention. Not "my dance is about sadness" but "my dance investigates how grief lives in the shoulders, gradually spreading to the hands before finding release." Specificity generates movement.
Step 2: Select or Create Your Sound Score
Note: Contemporary dance reorders the traditional "music first" approach. Your sound choice shapes your choreographic possibilities, so establish it before developing movement.
Contemporary dance uses sound broadly:
| Sound Type | Best For | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythmic music | Structured, energetic sequences | Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson, original scores |
| Atmospheric/ambient | Emotional, image-driven work | Brian Eno, film soundscapes, nature recordings |
| Spoken word/text | Narrative or conceptual pieces | Poetry readings, interviews, found audio |
| Silence | Movement as pure physical statement | Breath, footfalls, body percussion |
| Mixed media | Complex, layered concepts | Combinations of above |
Practical Editing
Most dancers use edited tracks. Learn basic audio editing (Audacity is free) to:
- Create tempo shifts matching your structure
- Extend sections for longer movement phrases
- Layer multiple sound sources
Test your selection: Move spontaneously to it for two minutes. Does your body respond authentically, or are you performing generic "contemporary" shapes?
Step 3: Develop Your Choreography
This is where concept meets physical practice. Contemporary dance offers specific tools for movement generation:
Technique 1: Motif Development
Create a 4-8 count movement phrase that embodies your concept. Then manipulate it:
- Repetition: Exact restatement for emphasis
- Retrograde: Perform it backward
- Fragmentation: Isolate and repeat single gestures
- Augmentation/diminution: Expand or compress temporally
- Spatial transformation: Perform facing different directions or levels
Technique 2: Improvisation Scores
Set specific parameters to generate material without falling into habitual movement:
Example score: "Travel only on curved pathways. Initiate all movement from the right shoulder. Maintain contact with the floor through at least one body part at all times."
Record yourself. Review for unexpected moments worth preserving.
Technique 3: Breath and Weight Exploration
Contemporary dance's distinctive quality often comes from how weight transfers:
- Release technique: Using gravity to fall and momentum to recover
- Falling and recovery: Practicing safe, controlled descents to floor
- Suspension and succussion: The moment before a fall; the settling after
