Choreography

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See also: Category:Choreographers and Category:Ballet choreographers
This article is about dance movement. For the Vanessa-Mae album, see Choreography (Vanessa-Mae album). For the standard for coordinating peer-coupled processes over the Internet, see Web Service Choreography.
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Choreography (literally "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" (circular dance, see chorea) and "γραφή" (writing), also known as "dance composition"), is the art of making structures in which movement occurs. The term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. The resulting movement structure may also be referred to as the choreography. People who create choreographies are called choreographers.

Contents

[edit] Origin

The term choreography first appeared in the American English dictionary in the 1950s.[1] Prior to this, movie credits normally stated "Ensembles Staged by",[2] "Dances",[3] "Dance Director",[4] "Dances Staged by",[5] "Musical Numbers Directed by",[6] or "Musical Numbers Staged and Directed by"[7]. Choreographers often improvise to find what works best musically.

[edit] Settings

Although used mainly for dance, choreography is also used in:

And many other activities involving human movement.

[edit] Language and notation

Main article: Dance notation

[edit] Choreographic techniques

One choreographic technique is improvisation.

[edit] Improvisation

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Frankie Manning: Lindy Hop Pioneer". Presented by Amanda Wilde. Radio Intersection. KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, Seattle, WA. 2006-10-26. 12:31 minutes in.
  2. ^ Mark Sandrich (Director). (1935). Top Hat [DVD]. RKO Radio Pictures. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. Event occurs at 00:01:15. "Ensembles Staged by Hermes Pan"
  3. ^ Norman Taurog (Director). (1940). Broadway Melody of 1940 [DVD]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. Event occurs at 00:00:54. "Dances Bobby Connolly"
  4. ^ William A. Seiter (Director). (1942). You Were Never Lovelier [DVD]. Columbia Pictures. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. Event occurs at 00:01:00. "Dance Director Val Raset"
  5. ^ Edward Cahn (Director). (1942). Our Gang in "Melodies Old and New" [DVD]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Retrieved on 2007-08-07. Event occurs at 00:00:20. "Dances Staged by Steven Granger and Gladys Rubens"
  6. ^ Robert Z. Leonard (Director). (1941). Ziegfeld Girl [DVD]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Retrieved on 2007-08-07. Event occurs at 00:00:56. "Musical Numbers Directed by Busby Berkeley"
  7. ^ Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly (Directors). (1952). Singing' in the Rain [DVD]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Retrieved on 2007-08-07. Event occurs at 00:00:55. "Musical Numbers Staged and Directed by Gene Kelley and Stanley Donen"

[edit] Further reading

  • Blom, L, A. and Tarin Chaplin, L. (1989) The Intimate Act of Choreography. Dance Books. ISBN 0-8229-5342-0
  • Ellfeldt, L. (1998) A Primer for Choreographers . Waveland Press. ISBN 0-88133-350-6
  • Minton, S, C. (1997) Choreography: A Basic Approach Using Improvisation. Human Kinetics . ISBN 0-88011-529-7
  • Tufnell, M. and Vaughan, D. (1999) Body Space Image : Notes Toward Improvisation and Performance. Princeton Book Co. ISBN 1-85273-041-2
  • Smith-Autard, J, M. (2000) Dance Composition. Routledge. ISBN 0-87830-118-6

[edit] External links