On choreography: "Choreography is a negotiation with the patterns your body is thinking"

On rules: "Try breaking the rules on a need to break the rules basis"

A Choreographer's Handbook invites the reader to investigate how and why to make a dance performance. In an inspiring and unusually empowering sequence of stories, ideas and paradoxes, internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and teacher Jonathan Burrows explains how it's possible to navigate a course through this complex process.

It is a stunning reflection on a personal practice and professional journey, and draws upon five years' of workshop discussions, led by Burrows.

Burrows' open and honest prose gives the reader access to a range of exercises, meditations, principles and ideas on choreography that allow artists and dance-makers to find their own aesthetic process.

It is a book for anyone interested in making performance, at whatever level and in whichever style.

About the Author

Jonathan Burrows is a choreographer whose main focus is an ongoing body of pieces with the composer Matteo Fargion, with whom he continues to perform around the world. The two men are co-produced by BIT Teatergarasjen Bergen, PACT Zollverein Essen and Sadler's Wells Theatre London. Burrows is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University. His 'A Choreographer's Handbook' has sold over 15,000 copies since its publication in 2010.

Reviews

'it proposes clear, but simultaneously cryptic advices applicable to a broad church of performance and dance making-dilemas. Well worth ordering' - Tim Etchells, Artistic Director of Forced Entertainment

'it is a workshop in the form of a book, which aims to help choreographers and dancers in articulating and fine-tuning their own ways of working' - Jeroen Peeters, CORPUS

'It proposes clear, but simultaneously cryptic advices applicable to a broad church of performance and dance making-dilemas. Well worth ordering' - Tim Etchells, Artistic Director of Forced Entertainment

'The book covers thematic topics such as 'Collaboration', 'Material' and 'Mentoring' in playful ways, making bold statements but also cheekily suggesting that the opposite may also be true. It is a thought-provoking read, but also a useful manual on approaching performance for teachers, students and practitioners, that attempts to go beneath the layers of performing and making performance works.' - Emma Meehan, Dance Notes

Book Information
ISBN 9780415555302
Author Jonathan Burrows
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 254g