On choreography: ‘Choreography is a negotiation with the patterns your body is thinking’
On rules: ‘Try breaking the rules on a need to break the rules basis’
The updated and revised edition of A Choreographer’s Handbook invites the reader to investigate how and why to make a dance performance. In an inspiring and unusually empowering sequence of stories, questions, ideas and paradoxes, internationally renowned choreographer, teacher and writer Jonathan Burrows explains how it’s possible to navigate a course through this complex process.
It is a stunning reflection on a personal practice and professional journey, and draws upon many years of workshop discussions, led by Burrows.
Burrows’ open and honest prose gives the reader access to a range of principles, exercises, meditations and ideas on choreography that allow artists and dance-makers to find their own aesthetic process.
It is a book for anyone interested in making performance, at whatever level and in whichever style.
Preface, 2nd edition
Dancing / Principles
Material
Habits
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Improvisation / Cut and paste / Choreography
Form
Exploration / Risk
Breaking the rules
Subject / Inspiration / Stealing / Familiar movement / Choreography / Referencing other sources
Research / How and what? / Dramaturgy / Theory / Curiosity
Contract / Performance space
Self-expression
Abstract dance
Interview / Unfinished business / Questions / Principles
Financial limitations / Studios / Funding applications
Collaboration / Audience
Preparation / Meetings / Rehearsal schedule / Heaviness
Originality / Ecology / Paradox
Technique / Parrot on your shoulder / Authenticity /
Dancing / Style / Fiddling
Virtuosity
Specificity
Daily practice
Hoarding / Beginnings
Endings
Keeping it going / Pacing
Change / Dub reggae / Simple material / Desperation
Predictable and unpredictable / Expectation
Stillness and silence
Minimal and maximal
Solos, duos, trios, quartets
Many bodies / States
Parallel Voices
Performance / Principles
Distracting the self / Paradox / Choreography / Performance / Electric guitars
Does it work? / Showings / Mentoring
Narrative / Ballet / Continuity
Continuity / Material / Make six things / Choreography / Flow
Relation
Relation / Time / Rhythm
Time
Counterpoint
Unison
Scores / Studios / Translation / Sequencing / Improvisation
Chance / Empty hands / Gamut of movements / Limitations / Laborious
work / Philosophy
Audience / Facing the front / Facing each other / Confrontation / Humour / Failure
Place or space?
Audience
Hierarchies / Dancer or choreographer? / In it or out of it? / Who owns what?
The marketplace / Earning a living / Administrating the work / Commercial work / Commissions / Academia
Music / Collaboration / Silence
Text
Lighting / Technicians / Collaboration / Costumes / Set
design / Nudity
Filming / History / Collaboration / Mirrors / Human-scale
Titles
How can I simplify all of this?
Forget all this
Biography
Jonathan Burrows is a choreographer, teacher and writer, whose work has been invited widely internationally. He is best known for an ongoing body of work with the composer Matteo Fargion, with whom he has collaborated for over 30 years. He is the author of A Choreographer’s Handbook (Routledge 2010) and Writing Dance (2022) and is currently Associate Professor at the Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University, UK.
Praise for the first edition
'It proposes clear, but simultaneously cryptic advices applicable to a broad church of performance and dance making-dilemas. Well worth ordering' – Tim Etchells, Artistic Director of Forced Entertainment
'The book covers thematic topics such as 'Collaboration', 'Material' and 'Mentoring' in playful ways, making bold statements but also cheekily suggesting that the opposite may also be true. It is a thought-provoking read, but also a useful manual on approaching performance for teachers, students and practitioners, that attempts to go beneath the layers of performing and making performance works.' – Emma Meehan, Dance Notes
