In simple terms
A friendly intro before the formal notes — no formulas yet.
The Choreographer's Toolkit
Choreography is the art of designing dance. To do this effectively, you need a toolkit of 'ingredients' (the dance elements) and 'recipes' (the choreographic principles) to combine them into a meaningful and structured performance.
Think of choreographing a dance like painting a picture. The dance elements (Body, Action, Space, Time, Energy) are your palette of colours. The choreographic principles (repetition, contrast, climax) are your artistic techniques, like how you apply the paint, create texture, or draw the viewer's eye. You don't just throw paint at the canvas; you make deliberate choices to create a specific image or feeling. In dance, you make deliberate choices with movement to communicate your choreographic intention.
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Define Your Intention: First, decide on the core idea, emotion, or story you want to communicate. This is your 'choreographic intention' and it guides every subsequent choice.
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Generate Movement Material: Create movement phrases using the dance elements (B.A.S.T.E.). Experiment with different body parts, actions, spatial pathways, timings, and energy qualities to create your raw material.
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Structure with Principles: Organise your movement phrases using choreographic principles. Use repetition to establish a theme, contrast to create interest, and sequence your material to build towards a climax.
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Refine and Justify: Polish your composition to ensure it clearly and effectively communicates your intention. In your written rationale, you must be able to justify why you chose specific elements and principles and how they serve your central idea.
Explore the concept
Use the live diagram and synced steps — play it or tap a step card to walk through.
Full topic notes
Formal explanation with the rigour you need for the exam.
Deconstructing Movement: The Dance Elements (B.A.S.T.E.)
The B.A.S.T.E. framework provides a comprehensive vocabulary for analysing and generating movement. These five elements are the fundamental building blocks of any dance, from a simple gesture to a complex phrase. A sophisticated choreographer consciously manipulates these elements to create specific effects that align with their intention.
Body: Which body parts are leading the movement? What shapes are being made (e.g., symmetrical, asymmetrical, twisted)? How do different body parts relate to each other?
Action: What is the verb? Is the dancer travelling (locomotor) or staying in one place (non-locomotor)? Examples include jumping, turning, falling, gesturing, balancing.
Space: How is the performance area being used? Consider levels (low, middle, high), pathways (straight, curved, zigzag), directions (forward, sideways, diagonal), and the size of movements (expansive or intimate).
Time: What is the relationship of the movement to rhythm and duration? Consider tempo (fast, slow, accelerating), rhythmic patterns, and the use of pause or stillness.
Energy (Dynamics): How is the movement performed? This describes the quality or texture. Use descriptive words like sharp, sustained, percussive, fluid, bound, heavy, light, or explosive.
Building the Structure: Choreographic Principles
If elements are the 'what' of your dance, principles are the 'how'. They are the strategies you use to organise your movement material into a coherent and aesthetically pleasing form. Applying these principles is how you develop a simple motif into a full-fledged composition. In your rationale, you must explain why you chose a particular principle to achieve a specific effect.
Repetition: Used to reinforce a motif or idea. Exact repetition can create a sense of stability or obsession, depending on the context.
Contrast: The juxtaposition of different elements (e.g., fast vs. slow, high vs. low, sharp vs. fluid). Contrast creates dynamism, conflict, and visual interest.
Variation: Taking a motif and changing one or more of its elements (e.g., performing it at a different speed, on a different level, or with a different energy). This allows for development without losing the central theme.
Climax: The peak of the dance. It should be a logical culmination of the preceding sections. A dance can have one major climax or several smaller ones.
Transition: The seamless linking of one movement or section to another. Good transitions are often 'invisible' and maintain the flow and logic of the piece.
Sequence: The ordering of movements and phrases. The sequence should create a logical progression, building and releasing tension to guide the audience's experience.
Unity: The feeling that all parts of the dance belong together. Unity is achieved when the elements and principles work harmoniously to express the choreographic intention.
From Intention to Realisation: Connecting Concept and Craft
Top-band marks in the Composition task are awarded for a 'clear and effective' relationship between the choreographic intention and the final performance. Every choice you make—every element you manipulate, every principle you apply—must be justifiable as a means of serving your core idea. Your written rationale is where you prove this connection. Avoid simply listing what you did; instead, focus on explaining the purpose and effect of your choices.
Structuring Your Dance: Common Choreographic Forms
Choreographic form is the overall architecture of your dance. Using a recognised structure can help you organise your ideas logically and ensure your piece has a clear beginning, development, and conclusion. While you can invent your own structure, understanding these common forms provides a useful starting point.
Binary (AB): A two-part structure with two distinct sections, A and B. Often used to show contrast.
Ternary (ABA): A three-part structure. A theme (A) is presented, a contrasting theme (B) is introduced, and the original theme (A) returns, perhaps with a slight variation.
Rondo (ABACA): A main theme (A) alternates with contrasting episodes (B, C, etc.). The repetition of A provides a strong sense of unity.
Theme and Variation: A structure where a main theme or motif is stated and then repeated in a series of modified, developed forms.
Narrative: A structure that tells a story, with a clear sequence of events, characters, and plot development.
Worked examples
See the formulas applied — reveal one step at a time, like the exam.
Analyse the following movement phrase using the B.A.S.T.E. framework: 'A dancer stands centre stage, slowly tracing a circle in the air with their right hand for eight counts. Suddenly, they drop to a low lunge on count one, hold for two counts, then perform a rapid, sharp turn on the spot, finishing in a balanced arabesque facing a new direction.'
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This phrase demonstrates a sophisticated manipulation of dance elements. The initial Action is a non-locomotor gesture, which contrasts with the subsequent locomotor turn. The Body focus shifts from an isolated hand gesture to a full-body engagement in the lunge and turn. The use of Space is dynamic; it begins with a small, contained gesture before expanding into a change of level (high to low) and a change of direction through the turn. The Time element is central to the phrase's impact, contrasting a slow, sustained duration (eight counts) with sudden, quick actions (the drop and turn). Finally, the Energy quality shifts dramatically from gentle and free-flowing in the hand circle to sharp, percussive, and bound in the lunge and turn, culminating in the controlled energy of the final balance. This deliberate use of contrast in Time and Energy creates a moment of surprise and tension.
For a solo composition with the intention 'exploring the feeling of being trapped and the desire for escape', explain how you would use the principles of repetition and contrast to develop a movement motif.
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My choreographic intention is to embody the internal conflict between confinement and freedom. The central motif, representing 'trapped', would be a gesture sequence performed in a limited kinesphere: hands pressing against an imaginary wall, body in a crouched, bound shape, and movement restricted to sharp, angular pathways. I would use repetition to establish this motif, performing it multiple times with increasing percussive energy to convey growing frustration and the cyclical nature of feeling trapped. To introduce the 'desire for escape', I would apply the principle of contrast. A second phrase would be developed using expansive locomotor movements, free-flowing energy, and high levels, such as leaps and reaching gestures. The structure would then juxtapose these two contrasting sections. For instance, after a section of intense, repetitive 'trapped' motifs, a sudden transition into a single, sustained 'escape' phrase would create a powerful moment of hope or release, thereby physically articulating the core tension of the choreographic intention.
How it all connects
The big idea sits in the middle — tap a linked idea to explore the link.
Tap a linked idea to see how it connects back to the main topic — that connection is what examiners reward.
Glossary
Try to recall each definition before you reveal it.
Quick check
Answer in your head first — then tap to check. No pressure.
Revision flashcards
Flip the card. Test yourself before the exam.
Choreographic Intention
The central purpose, idea, theme, or concept that guides all choices in the creation of a dance work. It is the 'why' behind the dance.
Key takeaways
Review these before you close the topic — retrieval beats re-reading.
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Body: Which body parts are leading the movement? What shapes are being made (e.g., symmetrical, asymmetrical, twisted)? How do different body parts relate to each other?
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Action: What is the verb? Is the dancer travelling (locomotor) or staying in one place (non-locomotor)? Examples include jumping, turning, falling, gesturing, balancing.
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Space: How is the performance area being used? Consider levels (low, middle, high), pathways (straight, curved, zigzag), directions (forward, sideways, diagonal), and the size of movements (expansive or intimate).
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Time: What is the relationship of the movement to rhythm and duration? Consider tempo (fast, slow, accelerating), rhythmic patterns, and the use of pause or stillness.
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Energy (Dynamics): How is the movement performed? This describes the quality or texture. Use descriptive words like sharp, sustained, percussive, fluid, bound, heavy, light, or explosive.
Practice — then mark it
The whole point: a real Cambridge question, marked mark-by-mark.
Test Your Knowledge on Choreographic Principles
Test Your Knowledge on Choreographic Principles
Extra simulations & links
PhET, GeoGebra and other curated tools — open in a new tab.
Frequently asked
Checkpoint
One marked question is worth ten re-reads — close the loop before you move on.
Reading it isn’t knowing it — prove it.
Before you move on: do Test Your Knowledge on Choreographic Principles on paper, snap a photo, and get examiner-style feedback on exactly where you win and lose marks.