Over twenty years ago, I gave my work as a dance creator the title "ChoreoArt", and the reference and meaning of the term "choreo" was clearly defined for me.
In the meantime, more and more short cuts have crept into our language and I have noticed that they sometimes degenerate into a term that simply degrades the actual word.
It almost shrinks in volume, content, history and weight. "Choreo" is one such word.
The first thing that comes to mind is OREO. This black and white double cookie with a pseudo-cocoa lid and an indefinable mock milk cream.
Much ado about nothing.
Even the TV show Let's Dance now features a "choreo" and in most TikTok videos, every short combination of steps is stylized as a choreographic highlight.
But what is a choreography? The word is derived from choreography:
It is the setting of a group of people and individuals in relation to each other and to space and time. So much for the ultra-short derivation from the Greek and its theatrical origin.
For me, creating a choreography is an extremely complex craft that cannot be performed with just a few steps to music, synchronized group images or spectacular movement skills like in the circus.
In everyday life, you can experience numerous - sometimes involuntary - choreographies:
Threading in and out of and around a traffic circle, the flood of passers-by in a pedestrian zone, the serving, eating and clearing of menus in a restaurant, the lapping of waves at the seaside. Or the changing cloud formations in the sky.
They are all constellations, compositions, expressions of energy, rituals, recurring sequences, charged with emotions, memories and the subconscious.
They leave us with a variety of impressions.
These elements of space, time, rhythm, dynamics, emotion and drama - because nothing other than tragedy, comedy or epic surrounds us here - form the basis for a choreography. A non-verbal physical discourse. Be it from everyday life, from within oneself or as a vision.
This requires craftsmanship, patience, perseverance and plenty of time to try things out, tinker and gather experience. This is definitely not reflected in the garbled word "choreography".
It's better to call it: finger exercise, sequence, tryout, practice, etude or simply - combination.
Because choreography is much more than a short statement and some snippets that you just throw out.
Keep on creating and reflecting.
See you soon and bye!
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