Improv vs. Choreography

Dance is a lot like cooking.

You can follow a recipe, or add a pinch of this and a dash of that. As long as you know what you’re doing, you’ll end up with a tasty dinner.

Improv and choreography both use the same ingredients (compositional principles) to cook up a delicious dance. It’s just the process that’s different.

But they each have different strengths.

Just like a stir-fry lends itself to experimentation, and a wedding cake calls for a precise recipe, improv and choreography have different strengths and weaknesses.

So I’d like to share some reasons to improvise, and some reasons to use choreography.

5 Reasons to Improvise:

1) So you can dance with live music

Whether you want that amazing experience, or just don’t want to be left out of those gigs, you have to be able to improvise if you want to dance with a live band.

Even when it’s a band you know well, and a song they’ve played for you a dozen times, every performance is different.

Because improv isn’t just a traditional way to dance – it’s a traditional part of the music itself.

2) So you can say yes

Being able to improvise lets you say yes to more performance opportunities.

If you don’t have the perfect choreography prepared, you’re not out of luck.
If you can improvise, you’re always prepared.

3) So you can be flexible

When you can improvise, you can easily adapt to the needs of the show.

This lets you deal with positive developments, like extending the audience participation section for a particularly fun crowd.

It also lets you deal with problems, like when the DJ puts on the wrong music.

(I saw this happen once at a competition. The dancer improvised so confidently that nobody would have guessed it wasn’t choreography. She won.)

4) To let go of perfectionism

Unlike some dance forms, belly dance is not about perfecting the details.

It’s about creating an authentic emotional connection with the music and the audience.

Perfectionism gets in the way of that connection.

A’isha Azar put it best:

“It is not about holding our arms just so or creating the perfect picture in western terms. It is not about memorizing the choreography or having the just right look on our faces.

It is about understanding our technique well enough so that it ceases to be our central focus in dance. It is about expressing music, heart and soul.

BELLY DANCE IS A HUMAN CULTURAL EXPRESSION AND IT IS INHERENTLY MESSY!”

Improvisation forces you to stop trying for “perfect” and instead accept each moment as it comes.
(And once you get the hang of it, it bleeds over into choreography too.)

5) So you can melt into the moment

Duende. Flow. Tarab. There are lots of names for the ecstasy of being one with the music, with the audience, and with the moment.

It’s not impossible to achieve this with choreography, but it’s a whole lot harder.

Improvisation forces you to engage with what is, rather than what should be.
And that’s when the magic happens.

Click to Tweet:

“Improvisation forces you to engage with what IS, rather than what SHOULD be.

Those are all good reasons to improvise.
But there are also good reasons to do choreography.

5 Reasons to Do Choreography:

1) To fill the creative well

When you’re feeling uninspired, trying on someone else’s material can jump-start your creativity.

Combinations will do, but learning a full choreography gives you a deeper insight into another dancer’s taste, style, and musicality.

2) To cement a new skill

When you’re learning a new skill or concept, applying it in context can help cement your learning. (This is true for non-dance learning as well.)

When I was an intermediate student, I spent my recitals doing choreographed sections of the full routine. I choreographed a veil piece, a drum solo, a 9/8, and so on.

Once I had choreographed a section once, I felt like I “got it”. I proved to myself that I could handle that section.

So when I went to improvise it, I felt prepared, not scared.

3) Film/TV

h/t to Tanna Valentine for this tip: if you’re hired to dance in a movie or TV show, consistency is your friend. Doing the same thing in each “take” makes the editor’s job much easier (fewer continuity problems). And if the director asks you to “do that again”, you’ll know what “that” was.

(Note: this doesn’t apply to live appearances or other one-take situations.)

4) As a platform for practice

Learning a choreography can also help structure your practice. If you don’t enjoy drilling, rehearsing a choreography might be more fun.

And if you can’t decide what to work on, learning a choreography can help you choose specific skills to polish.

(Stumbling on that third combination? Time to work on your pivot turns.)

5) To explore an idea

Sometimes it’s nice to dig deeply into a concept, and explore all its implications for your dance.

That could result in anything from an etude (study) in armwork, to an experimental theatrical piece incorporating a ballet-style narrative into belly dance.

The Best Reason to Do Either:

Because you wanna.

It’s good to challenge yourself. It’s good to grow.

But at the end of the day, you are the boss of your own dance. You get to choose what happens when you step on that stage.

Improvisation and choreography are just tools.
They aren’t mandates or moral imperatives. They’re just tools you can use to get what you want out of the dance.

So the only good reasons to use either one are:

Because you enjoy it
Because you honestly want what it will bring you

I mean it.

Good reason: Because you really want to dance with a live band.
Bad reason: Because you think you “should” be able to improvise.

Good reason: Because you enjoy choreography more.
Bad reason: Because choreography will make your dance “perfect”.

Good reason: Because you really, truly, want to.
Bad reason: Because someone told you to. (Including me.)