Dance Composition: A practical guide to creative success in dance making

by Jacqueline M. Smith-Autard

"A book which has remained seminal in its field as one of the key texts in dance education. Jacqueline Smith-Autard delves into the creative arena of dance with a logic unmatched by any other creative author in this field" Speech and Drama"Jacqueline Smith-Autard has made significant contributions to the development of dance in education in the UK and abroad" National Dance Teachers AssociationDance composition - the discipline that translates ideas into dances - is an important part of dance education. This book, a bestseller for over twenty years, is a practical guide to creative success in dance making and is a popular textbook for all those who are interested in dance composition, from secondary school to university.This new edition includes online video resources taken from Choreographic Outcomes, a groundbreaking advanced technology resource pack aimed at comprehensively improving students' choreography. The book has been revised, redesigned and expanded. Reference to the online video is made throughout the book and new assignments based on the video material are included.

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 30, 2015

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, short & to the point. It's analytical, more along the lines of theory, perfect for getting to the essence of dance, to where the inspiration comes from, to how improvisation unfolds, and so on. Excellent diagrams that are tailored to the visual comprehension of dancers make this book a worthwhile investment. Those diagrams explain a great deal in so few words--perfect for dancers! Furthermore, the twenty or so independent exercises at the end of the book lend weight to this short but dense textbook. True to its title, this book's mainly about composition--the creating & writing & authoring of a dance piece--the choreography. It doesn't talk much about specific pieces or choreographers or styles but rather maintains an intellectual, synthesizing approach to the creation of dance.

[Goran K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dance as an art form is really tough to convert into written word and to write an educational book about it is next to impossible. This book does it's best, and best recommendation for the book is the sheer number of years it's actual, there are more editions of this book, also reprints and they're trying their best at this hard task. Helpful to anyone who is into dance and choreographing, although maybe too dull/dry at times. Very useful read anyway...