Choreography

Choreography is the craft of arranging sequences of movement for bodies (or representations of them), specifying motion, form, or both. The term can also refer to the resulting design itself. Most often, it applies to dance, and the person who does this work is called a choreographer. The word comes from Greek roots meaning "dance-writing"—"χορεία" (circular dance) and "γραφή" (writing).

In dance, the design may be recorded using dance notation, and is sometimes called dance composition. Key elements include organic unity, rhythmic or non-rhythmic phrasing, theme and variation, and repetition. Choreographers often use improvisation to generate fresh movement ideas. Typically, the resulting dances are intended for concert performance. The art involves shaping human movement and form through space, shape, time, and energy, often within an emotional or abstract context. Movement vocabulary is drawn from ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, folk, techno, K-pop, religious dance, pedestrian motion, or combinations of these.

The word "choreography" entered American English dictionaries in the 1950s, and "choreographer" first appeared as a credit for George Balanchine in the 1936 Broadway show *On Your Toes*. Before that, credits used phrases like "ensembles staged by" or "dances by." In Renaissance Italy, dance masters created movements for social dances and staged ballets. In 16th-century France, court dances developed into artistic patterns. During the 17th and 18th centuries, social and theatrical dance grew apart, and "choreography" originally referred to written dance records (later called dance notation), before shifting to its current meaning of composing movement sequences for performance. The ballet master became the "arranger of dance as a theatrical art," with notable figures including Jean-Georges Noverre, Gasparo Angiolini, Jean Dauberval, Charles Didelot, and Salvatore Viganò. In the 19th century, ballet developed its own vocabulary, with romantic choreographers like Carlo Blasis, August Bournonville, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa. Modern dance introduced a more naturalistic style, led by Michel Fokine and Isadora Duncan, and since then styles have ranged from realistic to abstract. Influential choreographers include Merce Cunningham, George Balanchine, Sir Frederick Ashton, Martha Graham, Leonide Massine, Jerome Robbins, and Alvin Ailey, whose work spanned ballet, jazz, modern dance, and theatre.

Two fundamental methods are used to design dances: improvisation, where a choreographer gives dancers a score (general guidelines for improvised movement), and planned choreography, where every motion and form is specified in detail. Common techniques for multiple dancers include mirroring (facing each other and doing the same), retrograde (performing moves in reverse), canon (performing the same move one after another), levels (higher and lower positions), shadowing (one behind the other doing the same moves), and unison (doing a range of moves simultaneously). Movements can be characterized by dynamics such as fast, slow, hard, soft, long, and short.

Today, choreography must impose order within the three dimensions of space, the fourth dimension of time, and the limits of the human body. Beyond dance, it is applied in opera, cheerleading, theatre, marching band, synchronized swimming, cinematography, ice skating, gymnastics, fashion shows, show choir, cardistry, video game production, and animated art.

The International Choreographic Competition Hannover in Germany is the longest-running choreography competition globally, beginning around 1982 and organized by the Ballett Gesellschaft Hannover e.V. It was held online during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, returning to the stage at the Theater am Aegi in 2022. Gregor Zöllig, head choreographer of dance at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, became artistic director in 2020.