Why Is Dance Choreography Created?
Choreographers create dance choreography often because they are inspired by a piece of music or it makes them feel a certain way.
They may also choose to devise choreographies because they are inspired by the dancers and want to create something that they believe will look beautiful when performed by the dancers.
Like dancing itself, choreography is an art as well. More or less every choreographer has had a career as a dancer, the years during which they probably developed many ideas of their own.
As a choreographer they can finally express these ideas and put them together into pieces. Choreographers often like creating things and seeing a performance take shape. They may also feel that it is the only true way to fully express themselves by using movement as a means to convey feelings in their dance choreography.
Choreographers are often individuals that are keen to share their ideas and pass on what they know. The choreographic process will invariably call upon them having to teach or guide the dancers they have selected to use. Or at the very least having a team they work with that will teach the dancers.
Whichever way they choose to work there is a lot of direct contact with the dancers and so they must have a respect for the skill of dancers and what can be possible with talented dancers under instruction.
Another reason a choreographer may do what they do is that at their age they can no longer participate as an active dancer. Most choreographers were dancers when they were younger. Since they departed from life as a dancer they may no longer have the skills or partake in the daily training that is often necessary of a dancer.
However they may still have a lot of ideas and experience they can pass on. They can live these ideas vicariously through the younger dancers that they are now working with and enjoy seeing their dances performed by the dancers as if they were dancing themselves.
Even should the choreographer still be capable of performing their own pieces to a high standard, most still find it immensely rewarding when things go as they had imagined and they can see the dancers putting their ideas into flawless movement on stage.
The dancers also play a key role. If everything is based around the choreographer they may select the dancers before they begin choreographing, or create the choreography and then go about finding the best dancers to do it justice.
Or in other instances choreographers may be invited into a company to create a piece as a guest choreographer for the dancers that they already have there. In instances like this they will need to become aware of the dancers' skills and talents and use this as the inspiration to create their routines and sequences based around what the dancers can do.