Notes · DanceUK · A-Levels

Choreographic processes, devices and structures

Choreography is the craft of creating and shaping movement to communicate an intention, and it has its own vocabulary and method. This topic sets out the tools of that craft: the movement components (action, space, dynamics and relationships) that describe the content of any movement; the motif and its development; the choreographic devices (repetition, contrast, highlights, climax, unison, canon, retrograde, inversion, accumulation) that build a dance; the structures and forms (binary, ternary, rondo, narrative, episodic) that give it shape; and the choreographic process from stimulus to finished dance, guided throughout by a clear choreographic intent. It is the foundation for both making dances (AO2) and analysing them (AO4).

5 sections~19 min reading time2 competenciesLevel Foundation 1 · Standard 3 · Advanced 1

T·0666 / 15

Exam profile

AO2 · Choreograph dance, applying choreographic processes and structuring devices to communicate choreographic intentAO4 · Analyse and interpret the choreographic content of professional works using appropriate terminology

Operators:identifydescribeexplainapplyanalyse

basic level

AS-Level choreography expects the use of the movement components, motif development and basic devices and structures to communicate a clear intent.

higher level

The full A-level expects fluent control of the choreographic craft - generating and developing motifs, applying a range of devices, structuring the whole into a coherent form, and communicating a defined choreographic intent - and the ability to analyse these choices in professional works.

Depth

Text

Contents · 5 sections

Choreographic processes, devices and structures

The movement components: action, space, dynamics and relationships#

FoundationAQA 7237 (movement components / choreographic content)Ofqual GCE Dance subject content

The four movement components

Fig. 1The four movement components - action, space, dynamics and relationships - and their main elements: the vocabulary for describing, creating and analysing any movement.

All movement can be described through four components, and mastering them is the foundation of both choreographing and analysing dance. ACTION is what the body does - the movements themselves: travelling (locomotion), turning, elevation (jumps), gesture, stillness, transference of weight, falling, and the use of different body parts. When you describe a dance's action content you say what movements it contains. Action is the raw material of dance; the other three components describe how, where and with whom that material is performed.

SPACE is where the movement happens - the use of the performance area and the shapes made in it. Its elements are LEVEL (high, medium, low), DIRECTION (forward, backward, sideways, diagonal), PATHWAY (the route travelled on the floor or traced in the air - straight, curved, zigzag), SIZE (large or small movement), the SHAPE the body makes, and, for groups, FORMATION and spatial design. Spatial choices shape what the audience sees and how the dance fills and uses the stage.

DYNAMICS is how the movement is performed - its quality and energy. Its elements are SPEED (fast or slow, accelerating or decelerating), FORCE or WEIGHT (strong or light, firm or gentle), FLOW (free and continuous or bound and controlled) and RHYTHM. Dynamics are described with quality words - sharp, sustained, percussive, swinging, gliding, vibratory, collapsing - and they are often what gives a movement its character. The same action performed with different dynamics communicates something quite different.

RELATIONSHIPS is how dancers relate to one another (and to objects) - the interactions that structure a group dance. Its forms include unison (moving together), canon (moving in sequence), contact, lead and follow, mirroring, action and reaction, complement and contrast, meeting and parting, and proximity. In a solo the relationship is to the space and audience; in a group it is the rich set of ways the dancers connect. Together, action, space, dynamics and relationships (often remembered as A-S-D-R) let you describe, create and analyse any movement precisely - which is why every later idea in this topic builds on them.

Worked example

Analysing a movement through all four components

Two dancers, close together, perform a slow, sustained rise and reach upward on a high level, moving in unison. Analyse this using the four movement components.

Action
The action is a rise and a reach upward - a transference of weight up onto the feet with a gesture of the arms extending.
Space
The spatial content is a high level, an upward direction and a large, extended size, with the two dancers in close proximity.
Dynamics
The dynamics are slow and sustained, with a controlled, even flow - giving the movement a calm, lifting quality.
Relationships
The relationship is unison and close proximity - the two dancers move together as one, reinforcing the reach.

Result: The movement is fully analysed as a slow, sustained, high-level unison rise-and-reach - showing how the four components together give a complete, precise description that mere naming of the action could not.

Typical mistakes

Describing only the action (the steps) and neglecting the space, dynamics and relationships that give movement its full meaning.
Confusing dynamics (how a movement is performed) with action (what the movement is) - for example calling 'sharp' an action rather than a dynamic quality.

Active revision

Take one simple action (for example an arm reaching up) and describe how it changes when you alter its space (level, direction), its dynamics (sharp vs sustained) and its relationships (alone vs mirroring a partner).

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Dance (7236 / 7237) specification (AQA)

Motif and motif development#

StandardAQA 7237 (motif and development)Ofqual GCE Dance subject content

Developing a motif

Fig. 2A motif is developed by altering its movement components and applying devices - creating related material that gives a dance both unity and variety.

A MOTIF is a short, distinctive movement phrase that carries the central idea of a dance and can be developed and repeated to build the whole work - the choreographic equivalent of a theme in music. A good motif is compact, memorable and full of potential: it contains movement material rich enough to be varied and returned to. Much choreography grows from one or a few motifs, so generating a strong motif that expresses the choreographic intent is often the first creative task.

MOTIF DEVELOPMENT is the process of changing and elaborating a motif to create new but related material, giving a dance both unity (because the material is related) and variety (because it changes). Development works by altering the movement components of the motif. You can change its DYNAMICS (perform it faster, slower, more sharply or more softly), its SPATIAL elements (change the level, direction, size or pathway), or its TIMING and rhythm. Because the motif is recognisable underneath, the audience senses the connection even as the material changes.

There are many specific development devices, and knowing them gives a choreographer a toolkit. RETROGRADE performs the motif backwards; INVERSION turns it upside down or reverses its spatial design; ADDITION adds new movement, while FRAGMENTATION breaks the motif into parts and uses them separately; INSTRUMENTATION transfers the motif to different body parts; EMBELLISHMENT adds detail; REPETITION restates it; and ACCUMULATION builds it up by adding one movement at a time. Each device transforms the motif while keeping its identity, so the dance grows organically from its core material.

Motif and development are central to both choreographing (AO2) and analysing (AO4). When you make a dance, developing a motif is how you generate a coherent body of material from a single idea. When you analyse a professional work, identifying the motif and tracing how it is developed reveals the work's structure and the choreographer's craft - and lets you write precisely about how meaning is built and sustained. Recognising a returning, transformed motif is one of the most powerful analytical observations you can make.

Worked example

Developing a motif to express an idea

Your motif is a rising, opening gesture that expresses hope. You need to develop it to show that hope being threatened. Which developments would you use, and why?

Keep the identity
Retain the recognisable rising, opening gesture so the audience connects the developed material to the original hope - development must keep the motif's identity.
Change the dynamics
Perform it with tense, bound flow and sudden, sharp accents instead of the original smooth rise, so the same gesture now feels strained and threatened.
Change the space
Invert or lower the spatial design - let the rise be pulled down or turned inward - so the opening gesture is contradicted, suggesting the hope is under pressure.
Fragment it
Break the motif into fragments that are interrupted or left incomplete, so the once-whole gesture of hope is now broken - a clear expression of the threatened idea.

Result: The hopeful motif is developed through changed dynamics, inverted space and fragmentation into a threatened version of itself - showing how motif development communicates a changing idea while keeping the dance unified.

Typical mistakes

Confusing repetition (restating a motif unchanged) with development (changing it) - development must alter the material, not just repeat it.
Treating development as adding unrelated new movement, when it must keep the motif recognisable underneath the changes.

Active revision

Create a short motif of three movements, then develop it three ways - once by changing the dynamics, once by changing a spatial element, and once using retrograde or fragmentation - and note how each keeps the motif recognisable.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Dance (7236 / 7237) specification (AQA)

Choreographic devices#

StandardAQA 7237 (choreographic devices)Ofqual GCE Dance subject content

Choreographic devices

Fig. 3The choreographic devices, grouped by function - emphasis, contrast and the relationships between dancers - each chosen to serve the dance's intent.

Choreographic devices are the techniques a choreographer uses to shape material into an effective dance - the ways movement is arranged, related and emphasised to hold an audience and communicate meaning. Beyond motif development, the key devices work on repetition, contrast, emphasis and the relationships between dancers. Knowing them lets a choreographer build a dance with shape and impact, and lets an analyst explain how a work achieves its effects.

REPETITION restates movement to make it familiar, emphatic or hypnotic and to give a dance unity; CONTRAST sets different material side by side - fast against slow, high against low, sharp against smooth, stillness against movement - to create interest, tension and meaning through difference. HIGHLIGHTS are moments made to stand out as especially significant, and the CLIMAX is the point of greatest intensity or importance in the dance, towards which the work builds and from which it resolves. Together, repetition and contrast, highlights and climax, give a dance its dynamic shape over time.

The relationship devices structure group work. UNISON has dancers move together for unity, power or emphasis; CANON has them perform the same material in sequence, creating a rippling, overlapping effect and a sense of continuity; call and response, action and reaction, and complement and contrast create dialogue between dancers or groups. Manipulating NUMBER - how many dancers move at once, splitting and regrouping - is itself a device for varying the stage picture and directing attention.

A choreographer chooses and combines devices to serve the intent, not for their own sake. Repetition of a key motif at the climax, a sudden contrast to mark a turning point, a canon to suggest a spreading idea, unison to signal unity - each device is a means to a communicative end. In analysis, naming the devices a professional choreographer uses and explaining WHY (what each achieves for the work's meaning) is exactly the analytical move AO4 rewards; listing devices without explaining their effect is not enough.

Worked example

Explaining the effect of a device

A choreographer has a group perform a key motif in canon, one dancer after another, then suddenly all together in unison. Explain the effect of this choice.

Name the devices
The passage uses canon (the motif performed in sequence, one dancer after another) followed by unison (all performing it together).
Effect of the canon
The canon creates a rippling, overlapping, spreading effect - suggesting an idea passing through the group and building, and holding the audience as the motif accumulates.
Effect of the shift to unison
The sudden shift to unison gathers the spreading motif into a single, powerful statement - the whole group as one - which reads as a moment of unity, arrival or emphasis.
Link to intent
The choice therefore builds from a spreading, individual idea to a unified collective one, using canon-into-unison to communicate that progression - the device serves the meaning.

Result: The canon-into-unison is explained not just as devices but by their effect - spreading then unifying the motif - showing the AO4 move of analysing why a device is used, not merely naming it.

Typical mistakes

Listing devices in analysis without explaining their effect or why the choreographer used them (the effect is what AO4 rewards).
Using devices in your own choreography for display rather than to serve a clear intent, so the dance becomes a catalogue of techniques.

Active revision

For a dance idea of your own, choose three devices (for example unison, contrast and climax) and, for each, write one sentence explaining exactly how it will serve your choreographic intent.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Dance (7236 / 7237) specification (AQA)

Choreographic structures and forms#

StandardAQA 7237 (structures and forms)Ofqual GCE Dance subject content

Rondo form (ABACA)

Fig. 4Rondo form (ABACA): a recurring section A alternates with contrasting episodes (B, C), giving unity through return and variety through the new episodes.

A dance needs an overall STRUCTURE or FORM - the way its sections are ordered into a coherent whole - just as an essay needs a structure. The form organises the material over time, shapes the audience's experience, and helps communicate the intent. The main forms are defined by how their sections repeat, contrast and return, and a choreographer chooses a form that suits the idea being expressed.

The classic forms are simple and powerful. BINARY form has two contrasting sections, A and B (AB) - a statement and a contrast. TERNARY form has three sections, ABA - a section, a contrast, and a return to the first, giving a satisfying sense of completion. RONDO form has a recurring section alternating with contrasting episodes (ABACA...) - the return of A each time gives unity while the new episodes give variety. These forms, borrowed from music, use return and contrast to shape a dance clearly.

Other forms suit other intentions. NARRATIVE form tells a story, its sections ordered by the events of a plot - useful when the intent is dramatic. EPISODIC form presents a series of distinct sections or episodes, related by theme rather than plot. THEME AND VARIATION states a theme (a motif or section) then presents varied versions of it. Some contemporary choreographers use CHANCE procedures (associated with Merce Cunningham) to determine the order of material, deliberately removing the choreographer's habitual choices. Each form gives the dance a different logic.

Choosing a form is a key choreographic decision, because the form shapes how the intent is communicated. A ternary form can express departure and return; a rondo can present a central idea revisited from different angles; a narrative form can carry a story; a climactic build needs a form that rises to and resolves from its climax. In analysis, identifying a work's form and explaining how it serves the intent is a strong AO4 observation. When you choreograph your own group dance, selecting and controlling a clear form is one of the surest ways to make the dance coherent and communicative.

Worked example

Choosing a form for an intent

You want to choreograph a dance about a person who leaves home, has a series of very different experiences, and returns changed. Which form suits this, and how would you use it?

Clarify the intent
The idea has a central 'home' state, several contrasting experiences, and a return - a shape of departure, variety and return.
Match a form
Rondo form (ABACA...) fits well: A is the 'home' material, returning each time, and B, C, D are the contrasting experiences - the returns to A track the person's relationship to home.
Show change
To show the person is changed on returning, develop the final A - perform the home motif with altered dynamics or spatial design - so the return is recognisable but transformed.
Confirm the choice
The rondo's recurring section carries the 'home' idea and the episodes carry the experiences, so the form itself communicates the intent - the right structural choice.

Result: The departure-and-return idea is matched to rondo form, with a developed final A to show change - demonstrating how choosing and adapting a form serves the choreographic intent.

Typical mistakes

Confusing the forms - especially ternary (ABA, with a return) and rondo (ABACA, with a recurring section and several new episodes).
Choreographing without a clear form, so the dance is a string of material with no overall shape or sense of completion.

Active revision

For each of binary, ternary and rondo, write the letter pattern and one choreographic idea suited to it; then identify the form of a dance you know and explain how it shapes the work.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Dance (7236 / 7237) specification (AQA)

The choreographic process and intent#

AdvancedAQA 7237 (choreographic process; choreographic intent)Ofqual GCE Dance subject content

The choreographic process

Fig. 5The choreographic process moves from stimulus through improvisation, motif generation, development, selection and structuring to a refined dance - all guided by the choreographic intent.

The CHOREOGRAPHIC PROCESS is the working method by which a dance is made, and it moves from an initial idea to a finished, refined work. It usually begins with a STIMULUS - the starting point that sparks and guides the dance. Stimuli can be visual (an image, a painting), auditory (music, sound, words), kinaesthetic (a movement or quality), tactile (a texture or object) or ideational (an idea, theme or story). The stimulus is not the subject of the dance so much as its seed; it gives the choreographer something concrete to respond to.

From the stimulus the choreographer generates and shapes material. IMPROVISATION explores possible movement freely, discovering material the stimulus suggests; from this, MOTIFS are generated that capture the central idea. The motifs are then DEVELOPED (using the devices from earlier in this topic), and the best material is SELECTED. The selected material is STRUCTURED into a form, then the whole is REFINED and rehearsed until it communicates clearly. The process is not strictly linear - choreographers loop back, re-improvise, re-select and re-structure - but these are its essential stages.

Guiding the whole process is the CHOREOGRAPHIC INTENT - what the choreographer wants the dance to communicate: its meaning, mood, idea, theme or story. The intent is the answer to 'what is this dance about, and what should the audience take from it?'. Every choice - which motifs, which developments, which devices, which form, which aural setting - should serve the intent. A dance with a clear intent has a reason for its choices; a dance without one becomes a collection of movement, however skilful. Defining the intent early and holding to it is what gives a choreography coherence and purpose.

The process and the intent are the heart of the AO2 choreography task (your group dance) and a central object of AO4 analysis (professional works). When you make a dance, working through the process from a stimulus toward a clear intent is what turns ideas into a coherent work. When you analyse a professional dance, understanding the choreographer's intent and how the process realised it - stimulus, motif, development, structure - lets you appreciate the work as a made thing, and to judge how effectively the intent was communicated. Intent is the thread that ties every other idea in this topic together.

Worked example

Working from stimulus to intent

Your stimulus is a photograph of a crowded, rushing city street. Walk through how you would move from this stimulus to a coherent dance.

Define the intent
Decide what the dance communicates - for example the isolation of an individual within a rushing, indifferent crowd - so every later choice has a purpose.
Improvise and generate a motif
Improvise movement suggested by the image - hurried, mechanical, criss-crossing travel for the crowd; a slower, searching motif for the isolated individual - and fix a clear motif for each.
Develop and use devices
Develop the crowd motif with fast unison and canon and dense formations; contrast it with the individual's slower, freer motif; use proximity and manipulation of number to isolate the individual.
Structure and refine
Structure the material so the individual's isolation builds to a climax against the crowd, then refine the whole so the intent - isolation within the crowd - is clearly communicated.

Result: The city-street stimulus is taken through the whole process to a coherent dance about isolation in a crowd - showing how a defined intent turns a stimulus into a purposeful, structured work.

Typical mistakes

Treating the stimulus as the finished subject of the dance rather than a starting point to respond to and develop.
Making movement first and looking for a meaning afterwards, rather than letting a clear choreographic intent guide the choices.

Active revision

Choose a stimulus (an image, a word or an object), state a one-sentence choreographic intent it suggests, and outline how you would move through the process - improvise, generate a motif, develop it, select, structure - to communicate that intent.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Dance (7236 / 7237) specification (AQA) · Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications (Ofqual)

References & sources

Sources

AQA

AQA AS and A-level Dance (7236 / 7237) specification

Ofqual

Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications

Choreographic processes, devices and structures

5 sections~19 min reading time2 competenciesLevel Foundation 1 · Standard 3 · Advanced 1

Choreographic processes, devices and structures

Key points

Analysing a movement through all four components

Key points

Developing a motif to express an idea

Key points

Explaining the effect of a device

Key points

Choosing a form for an intent

Key points

Working from stimulus to intent

Sources

Choreographic processes, devices and structures

Key points

Analysing a movement through all four components

Key points

Developing a motif to express an idea

Key points

Explaining the effect of a device

Key points

Choosing a form for an intent

Key points

Working from stimulus to intent

Sources