Dance Composition: A Practical Guide for Teachers

by Jacqueline Smith

In Dance Composition, renowned dance educator Jacqueline M. Smith-Autard provides an accessible and practical guide to creative success in dance making. Now in its fourth edition, this classic introduction to the art of choreography-with a valuable emphasis on form and movement-is useful for all those who are interested in dance composition.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[AJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a confession to make: I didn't actually read this book all the way through. I found the parts on actually composing dances to be very interesting, but then when the focus switched to constantly talking about how awesome the author's DVD resource pack is, I lost interest. Look, I agree with her that DVD technology makes it easier to review choreographies, and that it can be a useful tool for teaching dance composition to college students, but I feel like that probably should have been a separate book.

I'm sure I'll return to this book later, as it's a reference for a dance course I'm taking, but at my current level and style of dance, I think it's a little above my head. I may update my rating in the future, when I've reached a point where the material is actually applicable to what I'm doing.

[Jacinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a lot of unnecessary repetition inside this book! And straw. Section 2 and 6 are OK, but sections 4 and 5 are infomercials. And even English is not my first language, I must say the author needs a better editor. I read the sixth edition, which supposedly means the book has been improved several times. However, I found many punctuation mistakes and redundant paragraphs.