Dance Improvisation

Dance improvisation is about discovery, taking risks, allowing yourself to come up with a variety of movement answers in the moment and without judgment.

Sometimes when making a dance piece it can be difficult to picture what the final piece will look like, what shape it will take, what the emphasis will be. These improvisations will give you the keys to unlock ideas that you will find useful on your choreographic journey. They can be used to collect movements that can be used in a whole dance composition or in their basic form be used to warm-up, shake off the day and to train yourself to challenge your dance skills and ideas.

All art starts from nothing, from an idea, a seed, a thought, something found, something that sparks interest. These games, tasks, ideas, stimuli, and developments are here to give you or your students a little push to find a creative vision, to explore movement and to then discover how these ideas can be developed, adapted, and structured.

Clapping

Creating a phrase from a hand clapping game.

The Choreospinner

Inspired by chance based choreography techniques this is the only choreographic spinner you will ever need. It’s a fun chance based tool that can turn choreography into a quick reaction dance improvisation game. A game where you have control of the aspects you select but no control over where the spinner will land.

Developed by Dance Educationalist, Teacher, Performer and Choreographer Justine Reeve who's love of spontaneous movement inspired her to write 'Dance Improvisations' and 'More Dance Improvisations' published by Human Kinetics.

The body is a creative tool with limitless possibilities but sometimes the brain needs a little push in the right direction to start on an innovative dance journey. Hopefully this tool will help inspire some wonderful choreographies.

Justine Reeve