Contemporary Choreography
A Critical Reader
3rd Edition
Will be published approx. on 12. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
582 pages
978-1-032-64570-4 (ISBN)
Description
Fully revised and updated, this third edition of Contemporary Choreography presents a range of articles covering choreographic enquiry, investigation into creative processes, and innovative challenges to understandings about dance making.
Contributions from a global range of practitioners and researchers address a spectrum of concerns in the field, organized into six broad domains:
Processes of Making
Culture, Contexts and Intersections
Choreography, Politics and Power
Choreography and Interdisciplinary Arts Practice
Technology, Transmission and Immersion
Choreographic Environments and Interventions
Including 24 new chapters and 6 updated ones, Contemporary Choreography captures the essence and progress of choreography in the third decade of the twenty-first century, supporting and encouraging rigorous thinking and research for future generations of dance practitioners and scholars.
Contributions from a global range of practitioners and researchers address a spectrum of concerns in the field, organized into six broad domains:
Processes of Making
Culture, Contexts and Intersections
Choreography, Politics and Power
Choreography and Interdisciplinary Arts Practice
Technology, Transmission and Immersion
Choreographic Environments and Interventions
Including 24 new chapters and 6 updated ones, Contemporary Choreography captures the essence and progress of choreography in the third decade of the twenty-first century, supporting and encouraging rigorous thinking and research for future generations of dance practitioners and scholars.
More details
Edition
3rd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Undergraduate Core
Illustrations
27 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 1 s/w Tabelle, 27 s/w Abbildungen
1 Tables, black and white; 27 Halftones, black and white; 27 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
790 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-64570-4 (9781032645704)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2026
3rd Edition
Routledge
€65.99
Available for download
Book
approx. 02/2026
3rd Edition
Routledge
€193.50
Not yet published
E-Book
02/2026
3rd Edition
Routledge
€65.99
Available for download
Previous edition
Book
12/2017
2nd Edition
Routledge
€64.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Jo Butterworth was Professor of Dance Studies at the University of Malta.
Vicky Hunter is a Practitioner-Researcher and Visiting Research Fellow in Site Dance at Bath Spa University, UK.
Vicky Hunter is a Practitioner-Researcher and Visiting Research Fellow in Site Dance at Bath Spa University, UK.
Content
General Introduction: Studying contemporary choreography
Section 1. Processes of Making
Section Introduction
1. Choreography through a Somatic Lens
2. Dancing identities: How dancers' embodied knowledge underscores creative methods in contemporary dancemaking
3. 'Finding the light': Curiosity, texts and contemporary ballet in Helen Pickett's The Crucible (2019)
4. "If you don't keep it open, you close": Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young's Betroffenheit (2017) and the emotional and psychological implications of theatre dance
5. Creating Future Memories, NOW: FORWARD DANCE COMPANY by LOFFT - DAS THEATER and the reimagining of disability, diversity, and cultural memory
Section 2. Culture, Contexts and Intersections
Section Introduction
6. Maybe You Could Close Your Eyes While I Dance: Age, Ageing, and in/visibility as choreographic drivers in Acting our Age
7. Recomposing Thai Dance for Today's World: Three Modes of Contemporary Choreographic Practice
8. Gaga's Aspirational Politics: Passepartout Bodies and Choreographic Passports
9. Dancing Culture, Talking Global
10. Choreography in Ghana: evolving methods and techniques
11. Choreography as Research: Iteration, Object, Context
Section 3. Choreography, Politics and Power
Section Introduction
12. Vulnerable practice: Thinking through discomfort and precarity in Project O's Voodoo (2017)
13. Dancing Simply together: an example transdisciplinary research in arts and sciences
14. Prize-winning dances; choreography and the competition stage
15. Multifarious identity: Barbardian street dance on the concert stage
16. Moving into Action: change-making through dance activism
Section 4. Choreography and Interdisciplinary Arts Practice
Section Introduction
17. Choreography as a practice of border crossing: ten insights into embracing the impossible in interdisciplinary dance practice
18. HOMECOMING
19. Beyond Dancing: The Choreographic Turn in the 2022 Taiwan Arts Biennial
20. Dance in the Museum
21. From Improvements to Care: gardening as choreographic dwelling
Section 5. Technology, Transmission and Immersion
Section Introduction
22. Unlocking Touch
23. Virtual Reality and Dance-Making: unbounding choreographic practice from the realm of real-time performance
24. Social Media and Choreographic Practice: Tools for collaboration, co-creation and creative practice
25. Shifts in Embodiment: Choreographic practice for Virtual Reality
Section 6. Choreographic Environments and Interventions
Section Introduction
26. Navigating Diasporic 'Third Spaces' and (New) Borderlands through Dance and Choreography
27. Dancing Places: Sites, Situations, and Taking-Place
28. Sensoriagrafia in Public Spaces: Dance and words as a relational sensory, poetic intervention
29. A Reservoir of Gestures, or Choreography is Relational
30. Unlocking Liberation: Choreographing the 'Club State'
Section 1. Processes of Making
Section Introduction
1. Choreography through a Somatic Lens
2. Dancing identities: How dancers' embodied knowledge underscores creative methods in contemporary dancemaking
3. 'Finding the light': Curiosity, texts and contemporary ballet in Helen Pickett's The Crucible (2019)
4. "If you don't keep it open, you close": Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young's Betroffenheit (2017) and the emotional and psychological implications of theatre dance
5. Creating Future Memories, NOW: FORWARD DANCE COMPANY by LOFFT - DAS THEATER and the reimagining of disability, diversity, and cultural memory
Section 2. Culture, Contexts and Intersections
Section Introduction
6. Maybe You Could Close Your Eyes While I Dance: Age, Ageing, and in/visibility as choreographic drivers in Acting our Age
7. Recomposing Thai Dance for Today's World: Three Modes of Contemporary Choreographic Practice
8. Gaga's Aspirational Politics: Passepartout Bodies and Choreographic Passports
9. Dancing Culture, Talking Global
10. Choreography in Ghana: evolving methods and techniques
11. Choreography as Research: Iteration, Object, Context
Section 3. Choreography, Politics and Power
Section Introduction
12. Vulnerable practice: Thinking through discomfort and precarity in Project O's Voodoo (2017)
13. Dancing Simply together: an example transdisciplinary research in arts and sciences
14. Prize-winning dances; choreography and the competition stage
15. Multifarious identity: Barbardian street dance on the concert stage
16. Moving into Action: change-making through dance activism
Section 4. Choreography and Interdisciplinary Arts Practice
Section Introduction
17. Choreography as a practice of border crossing: ten insights into embracing the impossible in interdisciplinary dance practice
18. HOMECOMING
19. Beyond Dancing: The Choreographic Turn in the 2022 Taiwan Arts Biennial
20. Dance in the Museum
21. From Improvements to Care: gardening as choreographic dwelling
Section 5. Technology, Transmission and Immersion
Section Introduction
22. Unlocking Touch
23. Virtual Reality and Dance-Making: unbounding choreographic practice from the realm of real-time performance
24. Social Media and Choreographic Practice: Tools for collaboration, co-creation and creative practice
25. Shifts in Embodiment: Choreographic practice for Virtual Reality
Section 6. Choreographic Environments and Interventions
Section Introduction
26. Navigating Diasporic 'Third Spaces' and (New) Borderlands through Dance and Choreography
27. Dancing Places: Sites, Situations, and Taking-Place
28. Sensoriagrafia in Public Spaces: Dance and words as a relational sensory, poetic intervention
29. A Reservoir of Gestures, or Choreography is Relational
30. Unlocking Liberation: Choreographing the 'Club State'