What is choreography block?
The dreaded feeling of choreography block … chances are that if you’re reading this blog post, you’ve experienced it! Almost every choreographer goes through choreography block at one point or another. Choreography block can look and feel differently to everyone, but some common features can include:
- Feeling “stuck” in your choreography, as if you cannot move on to the next section or get the dance piece finished.
- Feeling uninspired, as if you don’t even want to think of new movements, ideas, or concepts.
- Feeling as if you are repeating the same choreography movements or ideas over and over again in your piece.
- Feeling like you are copying other choreographers’ work, even unintentionally, because you are out of your own ideas.
- Feeling burnt out, with the process of creating choreography feeling overwhelming, stressful, burdensome, or just not fun anymore.
Why do choreographers experience choreography block?
If you are feeling choreography block, you are not alone! It is a common experience for choreographers. You might especially feel choreography block if you create multiple dances for recital and competition every season. There is a lot of pressure to do something new, creative, and inspired for each routine that you make. You might also be prone to choreography block if you work on a commission basis, creating dances “on demand” for a variety of companies, schools, or programs throughout the year. It can feel difficult to come up with something that feels authentic and special when you are working with dancers you don’t get to know very well, or have creative constraints in your contract. You can also experience choreography block due to stresses in your life outside the studio, a difficult work-life balance, a lack of boundaries at home or in the studio, or personal struggles and challenges.
How can you overcome choreography block?
In this blog post, I will share seven strategies to help choreographers overcome choreography block. These strategies include embracing creative rest, starting a reflective practice, challenging your choreography skills, developing a choreography plan, practicing movement manipulation, collaborating with others, and reviewing and refining the choreography you’ve already created. These strategies can be used by choreographers of most dance genres, working in any dance environment. No matter what or where you choreography, these strategies can help you overcome choreographer’s block and reignite your creativity. These ideas are based on my experience as a dancer, dance educator, and choreographer working in ballet, modern, jazz, musical theatre, and jazz-derived forms including lyrical and contemporary for over 15 years. It is my hope that they will be applicable to a wide range of dance forms, although they come from the perspective of Western Concert Dance. If you are experiencing choreography block, you will find the seven strategies below helpful!
8 strategies to help you overcome choreography block
Embrace Creative Rest
When you are on a deadline or getting to the end of the rehearsal process, anything involving the word “rest” can feel counterproductive! But we are not machines, and we need rest to operate our best. Forcing yourself to push through when you are exhausted and burned out will only exasperate choreographer’s block and make it worse. Creative rest, in particular, consists of purposeful and thoughtful exercises and activities designed to give us the time, space, and intention to reconnect with our bodies, refresh our energy levels, reignite our creativity and artistry, and restore of enthusiasm, passion, and love for the art of dance. You can learn more about creative rest in this blog post: Embracing Creative Rest in the Dance Studio. Find 15 creative rest exercises to incorporate into your dance classes, rehearsals, or personal practice in The Holistic Collection of Dance Activities for Creative Rest.
Start a Reflective Practice
Taking time to reflect on your creative processes, growth and evolution as a choreographer, and goals for your choreography career can help to ease choreography block. There are many different reflective practices that you can try, including journaling, blogging, making video logs (vlogs), reviewing and analyzing videos of your past choreography, and talking to dancers or other collaborators that you have worked with. Taking a little time each week to reflect, either in writing or verbally, can help you to move past choreography block and feel invigorated in your creative practice. To start a healthy and productive journaling practice, check out The Holistic Guide to Journaling for Choreographers, which is available in The Holistic Dance Teacher Choreography Inspiration Kit.
Have a Plan
Before you start a new piece of choreography, it can be helpful to have a plan in place. A choreography plan can help you find new sources of inspiration that will keep you invigorated throughout the entire creative process. It can also keep you organized, with your ideas for movement, musicality, formations, staging, and relationships between dancers all in one place. When you have a solid plan for your choreography in place from the start, it can help prevent choreography burnout later in the process. However, it’s never too late to develop a choreography plan! Even if you have already starting experiencing choreography block and are halfway or more through the rehearsal process, creating a choreography plan can be transformative. Put your inspiration and ideas down on paper and develop a written plan for how you want to finish the piece. Check out The Holistic Dance Teacher Choreography Planner to create the ultimate choreography plan with ease!
Challenge your Choreography Skills
Several years ago, I started creating little informal dances to out of the box movement prompts that I call Choreography Adventures. These choreography prompts can help keep your skills sharp between creative projects, encouraging you to create dance consistently without the pressure of performance. However, you can also use the Choreography Adventures as inspiration when you are experiencing choreography block. When you get choreography block, use a prompt or two to generate some new, original movement and get your creative juices going again. Even if the prompt is not related to the theme or concept of the dance that you are stuck on, you can adapt the new movement to fit the original piece. Sometimes, getting “out of your head” about the dance’s theme or concept, and creating something totally new and different, can help get you inspired and moving again! You can find a collection of 52 Choreography Adventures in The Holistic Dance Teacher Choreography Inspiration Kit.
Use What You Have Already Created
In choreography, there is no need to continually add on new and original movements. Sometimes, it can be incredibly powerful and effective to manipulate the choreography that you already have. This helps you make movement that related to what you have, but also unique! Using choreographic tools and devices like inversion, retrograde, and accumulation can be a great way to overcome choreography block by helping you to come up with new twists on your existing movement. You can also make simple changes to the level, pathway, tempo, or quality of the movement, or try it in new formations and relationships of dancers on the stage. To discover more choreography tools and devices that can help you overcome choreography block, check out this blog post: 10 Choreography Adventures to Hone Your Compositional Skills.
Collaborate with Others
Getting some help from your dancers or other collaborators can be one of the most efficient and effective ways to overcome choreography block. As choreographers, we often get stuck in our own intention for the piece and the ideas that flow from it. When you get choreography block, it can be helpful to discuss the piece with your dancers and other collaborators to get their takes on the dance and where it can go choreographically. Ask them about their experiencing dancing in the piece, their interoperation of the theme and concept behind it, and what ideas they may have for adding to or changing the choreography. You may also have them choreograph a few 8 counts based on what they’ve done already in the dance, or take a movement phrase that you created and manipulate it using different choreographic tools and devices. Take their ideas with an open heart, and use those that speak to you.
Review and Refine What You Have
Sometimes, it is best NOT to move on to the next section of the dance if you are experiencing choreography block. Going back to the existing choreography and editing, refining, and polishing it can help give you inspiration on how to move forward. Take some time to review and refine what you already have, and see what new ideas flow from that process. This blog post will help you edit and refine your choreography, no matter what stage of the process you are at: 10 Strategies for Editing and Refining Your Choreography.
Get Feedback on Your Work in Progress
Getting feedback on your work in progress is one of the most efficient ways to overcome choreography block. Sometimes we are too close to our own work, and it is difficult for us to see a path forward based on what we have already created. Find an experienced, non-judgmental choreographer to watch your work in progress and give feedback on what works, what might changed, and how you can move forward. As a choreographer of over 20 years who has created work for dance studios, colleges, and professional dance companies, I’d love to help you out! I offer an affordable, easy to use Video Adjudication Service in which I offer comprehensive feedback on your work in progress and help you overcome choreography block. Choose the option that meets your needs and book here!
Let’s connect!
- What are some of the ways that you overcome choreography block? I’d love to learn from you … share your thoughts and ideas in the comments!
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