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 Association

Dance 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 a DVD with video 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 DVD examples are made throughout the book and new assignments based on the video material are included.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[AJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a confession to make: I didn't actually read this book all the way through. I found the parts on actually composing dances to be very interesting, but then when the focus switched to constantly talking about how awesome the author's DVD resource pack is, I lost interest. Look, I agree with her that DVD technology makes it easier to review choreographies, and that it can be a useful tool for teaching dance composition to college students, but I feel like that probably should have been a separate book.

I'm sure I'll return to this book later, as it's a reference for a dance course I'm taking, but at my current level and style of dance, I think it's a little above my head. I may update my rating in the future, when I've reached a point where the material is actually applicable to what I'm doing.

[Jacinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a lot of unnecessary repetition inside this book! And straw. Section 2 and 6 are OK, but sections 4 and 5 are infomercials. And even English is not my first language, I must say the author needs a better editor. I read the sixth edition, which supposedly means the book has been improved several times. However, I found many punctuation mistakes and redundant paragraphs.