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Dance -

Styles

When you have a choreographer, no matter who (s)he may be, you will have to be very clear in your explanation of what you want. If nothing else, you must at least tell the choreographer just what style of dance you envisage being used in your show. So, what styles are there?

Ballet	This, surely, is self-explanatory. Classical ballet is a form known - if not understood! - by almost everyone. It is characterised by elegance, straight lines, and a standardised vocabulary of gesture and movement.
Tap	Again well known and very distinctive. I would recommend against using tap in your shows unless it is (a) absolutely unavoidable, and/or (b) you have some very good tap dancers. Poor tappers are diabolical!
Jazz and Modern Stage	I am sure there is a difference between the two, but I am not knowledgeable enough to describe it or even point it out. This (I will treat it as one style) is the style which we are used to seeing in variety shows and in most musicals. It is the style which you will most probably want to use in most shows. It is also the style taught in most dance schools.
Contemporary Dance	I will be spending some time further down this page describing Contemporary Dance but I have to admit that it is a style which, generally speaking, has only specialised use in shows. I used it twice in one show, which is most unusual. The show was a compilation entitled Luv! and the first time I used it was right at the beginning when I had a voice off-stage reading the story of the temptation of Eve whilst two dancers danced the story on-stage. The second time was when I had a soloist singing Music of the Night whilst two dancers acted as his mic stand, one holding the mic to his mouth and the other dancing to the music, and then swapping over. CD is interpretive dance: the emphasis is on expressing the feelings (not the words!), whereas in other dance styles (except ballet, but that's a different story) the concentration is on reflecting the music.
Disco	I've said it before and I'll say it again: disco is boring! It may be fun to do - I don't know: I'm too old! - but it is not fun to watch, unless done superbly well. And I do mean superbly - OK is not good enough. Disco simply echoes the beat of the music and really adds nothing. Avoid! Dance in a show must add something, otherwise it's a distraction, at best.

Contemporary Dance

Contemporary Dance is, essentially, a modern development of ballet. It's the style of dance which is associated with companies such as the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, the Rambert Dance Company, the Netherlands Dance Company etc., and with choreographers such as Christopher Bruce, Richard Alston and Wim Vanderkybus. It is eclectic, taking its movement vocabulary from anywhere - classical ballet, jazz, tap, ballroom, gesture, sport... you name it! It has many forms: some companies use it to tell stories, some explore states of mind or ideas, some try to reflect the music, some explore movement for its own sake... again, the field is (almost) limitless.

What we might call educational dance - the sort of dance taught by dance specialists in schools, not always that taught by Physical Education teachers! - is a close relative of Contemporary Dance.

Whether or not it is the sort of dance you might want to use in a school show is dependent entirely on what you want the dance to do. If you want dance to support the songs, as in TV programmes or music videos, then CD is not the thing to use. Jazz, modern stage, disco, even tap would be more appropriate. If, however, the dance is to be an end in itself, contributing something to, say, a compilation show, then this is the style to choose.