Choreography, Composition, and Creative Process
Domain 2 tests how dances are generated, structured, revised, and presented, from improvisation to finished composition.
Core composition tools
- Motif versus phrase: a motif is a small movement unit with intent; a phrase is a longer sequence. Develop a motif by repetition, retrograde, inversion, embellishment, augmentation/diminution, fragmentation, and transposition in space, time, or body part.
- Form: AB, ABA, rondo, theme and variation, canon, accumulation, chance, and improvisational scores.
- Devices: unison, canon, level change, spatial pattern, contact, partner and group relationships.
- Process: improvise, observe, select, edit, rehearse, seek feedback, revise, document. Collaboration works best when roles and decision points are clear.
Aesthetic decisions
Abstract and literal approaches produce different meanings; gesture can be pedestrian or stylized; music, silence, costume, lighting, and site shape reception. Intentional choices beat step accumulation.
Worked example
A motif of reach–turn–collapse feels static. Retrograde it (collapse–turn–reach), shift it to a low level, and set it in canon for three dancers. The reach now reads as recovery rather than longing, so the choreographer must decide whether that new meaning fits the theme. That is composition: changing movement and checking meaning.
Traps
Confusing motif with phrase; treating improvisation as a finished product; adding steps without compositional intent; assuming canon and unison are interchangeable; ignoring spatial safety and copyright when using music.