Choreography vs. Movement Training
Annette Thomas

There is often a misconception that when a skater is learning choreography or taking an off-ice dance class to enhance their skating programs they are automatically learning how to move. Choreography traditionally deals with the outward appearance of the body in relation to the space around it while movement training deals with the origins of healthy movement within the body and how to consistently reproduce those movements in relation to the body as a whole.

Since physical movement is often referred to as “communication”, learning choreography can be likened to learning how to deliver a speech where movement training can be likened to learning to talk. Learning how to give a speech requires that you not only know the vocabulary and language well, but also the correct pronunciations, emphases, inflections, nuances of phrase and even appropriate body language in order to make the speech persuasive. Obviously, learning how to speak comes first. As children grow they learn how to pronounce words with greater clarity in their diction as well as mental clarity in what they want to communicate. It is the same with physical movement. In order for movement to communicate persuasively learning how to move comes first.

What Choreography teaches:
Choreography teaches a vocabulary of dance languages that express the character, rhythm and style of the music being used.

A good choreographer has extensively studied the vocabulary of many dance languages including

• Latin Dance
• Jazz
• Lyrical or modern interpretive
• Oriental
• Ballet
• Ethnic/Folk
• Musical Theater

A Choreographer may or may not be an expert or professional dancer in every field but they will have learned how to emulate the outward appearance or style of each movement vocabulary. They can easily recognize and match any music with its dance style equivalent and can create a composition (a movement speech) and teach these movements to a skater in a way that is musical, flows together in an eye-pleasing manner and is easily recognizable as being “in the character of the music”.

What Movement Training teaches:
Movement training teaches body awareness (the mind-body connection), both an intellectual as well as inner sense of the origins of movement and enables an understanding of each individuals’ body mechanics in order to produce consistently balanced, sound and effective technique no matter what the venue.

A good movement trainer has extensively studied several if not all of the following
movement technique methods:

• Classical Ballet Technique (not what is normally taught in studios which focus on recitals but the Classical methods of Vaganova, Cecchetti, Royal Academy of Dance etc.)
• Pilates
• Yoga
• Tai Chi
• Somatics
• Modern Dance
• Teachings based on the work of Mabel E. Todd creator of the movement concepts behind the mind-body connection and author of “The Thinking Body”

A Movement trainer understands and can “read” an individuals body alignment and biomechanics and analyze how the skater can better utilize his/her energy, body placement, thought processes and flow of movement to be more efficient and supportive of good technique. Movement training enables the skater to analyze their own movement, feel what is correct or incorrect from within and gives them the tools for building total body awareness and confidence through consistent control. This equips the skater to better understand all movement (both technical and artistic) and greatly reduces the risk of injury.

Having a skater try to learn choreography before understanding where the movements should originate within their bodies, the inner flow of where they are going, or how particularly aligned movement can either hinder or strengthen good skating technique can often result in the choreography looking meaningless, awkward, “stuck on” and incongruous with the flow of good skating technique. It’s like trying to make that speech without understanding the words or knowing how to pronounce them well… the framework is there but it has no meaning.

Choreography is the form; movement technique training is the function. Both are needed in proper order to produce quality, effective movement which feels right within the body, is artistically pleasing, strengthens skating technique and enables expressing the character, rhythm and style of the music with consistent clarity, power and purpose.

Suggested Reading:

• The Thinking Body by Mabel E. Todd
• Conditioning For Dance by Eric Franklin
• Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery by Eric Franklin
• Coaches Manual: Choreography and Style for Skaters by Ricky Harris
  (Ricky Harris is one of the few choreographers who teach movement as an inner technique producing an outward movement)
• Inside Ballet Technique: Separating Anatomical Fact from Fiction in the Ballet Class by Valerie Grieg and Naomi Rosenblatt

[Editor's note: Annette's web site includes more on this topic. Visit http://ballet4figuresk8ers.da.ru/]