Visual & Performing Arts · 6th Grade · Movement and Choreography · Weeks 10-18

Choreographic Process: Idea Generation

Introduction to methods for generating movement ideas, including improvisation, observation, and thematic inspiration.

• Common Core State Standards
• NCAS: Creating DA.Cr1.1.6
• NCAS: Creating DA.Cr2.1.6

About This Topic

Generating movement material is often the first challenge students encounter when approaching choreography. In US 6th grade arts curricula, this topic introduces students to systematic methods for finding movement ideas rather than waiting for inspiration. These methods include structured improvisation, careful observation of the physical world, and thematic inspiration from other art forms, images, or concepts. Students begin to see that movement material is not invented from nothing but derived from intentional observation and deliberate transformation.

NCAAS standards DA.Cr1.1.6 and DA.Cr2.1.6 together ask students to generate and develop movement material with artistic intent. A key insight at this level is the difference between raw improvisation and curated choreographic material. A dancer moving freely to music is not automatically choreographing. Choreography requires selecting, repeating, and shaping raw material for a specific purpose, which means students must practice the act of making choices, not just generating movement.

Active learning is well matched to idea generation because the methods cannot be demonstrated passively. Students need to attempt them, observe the results, compare their output with peers, and decide what is worth developing. Short, focused improvisation prompts followed by immediate selection and documentation processes create the kind of decision-making practice that builds choreographic thinking over time.

Key Questions

1. How can an everyday action be transformed into a dance movement?
2. Explain how a specific theme or piece of music can inspire choreographic ideas.
3. Construct a series of movements inspired by a non-dance image or concept.

Learning Objectives

• Demonstrate three distinct methods for generating movement ideas from a given prompt.
• Analyze how observation of everyday actions can be transformed into dance vocabulary.
• Explain the relationship between a chosen theme or stimulus and the resulting movement choices.
• Create a short movement phrase by selecting and refining material generated through improvisation.
• Compare and contrast movement generated through structured improvisation versus free exploration.

Before You Start

Basic Movement Qualities

Why: Students need a foundational understanding of movement qualities like space, time, and energy to effectively manipulate and develop generated ideas.

Elements of Dance

Why: Familiarity with the elements of dance (body, space, time, energy, relationship) provides the vocabulary and framework for exploring and organizing movement.

Key Vocabulary

Improvisation	Moving spontaneously without pre-planned steps, often used as a tool to discover new movement ideas.
Stimulus	An external factor, such as an image, word, or piece of music, that inspires movement creation.
Transformation	Changing an existing movement or idea into something new through manipulation, exaggeration, or alteration.
Movement Motif	A short, distinctive phrase of movement that can be repeated, varied, or developed within a dance.
Intentionality	Making deliberate choices in movement generation and selection to communicate an idea or feeling.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Good choreographers just feel the music and move naturally, without a method.

What to Teach Instead

Most choreographers work from systematic methods: researching a theme, generating material through structured improvisation, selecting the most interesting fragments, and shaping them deliberately. The apparently effortless movement students see in finished professional works is the result of extensive material generation and selection, not spontaneous flow. Teaching students this process gives them tools rather than leaving them waiting for inspiration.

Common Misconception

Movements inspired by non-dance sources will look forced or unnatural.

What to Teach Instead

Abstract inspiration (a photograph, an architectural form, a news story) gives choreographers a reference point for making consistent aesthetic decisions, not a script to mimic literally. Students often discover that moving in response to an image of a river delta produces interesting weight shifts and directional changes without looking like they are imitating water. The inspiration guides quality without dictating shape.

Active Learning Ideas

Structured Improvisation: Object-Inspired Movement

Bring in five or six everyday objects such as a crumpled paper, a slinky, a feather, and a rock. Small groups choose one object, observe its physical characteristics, and create three movement phrases that capture those qualities. Groups share one phrase and explain their observation-to-movement translation process.

35 min·Small Groups

Think-Pair-Share: Action Transformation

Present the phrase 'opening a door' and ask students to list five physical characteristics of that action. Pairs then transform one characteristic (slowing it tenfold, or performing it with only the torso) to generate a new movement quality. Each pair shares one transformation and discusses how the meaning changed from the original.

25 min·Pairs

Gallery Walk: Thematic Inspiration Board

Post six non-dance images around the room, such as an aerial photo of a river delta, a circuit board, a breaking wave, and a crowded market. Students travel individually to each image and note two or three movement ideas it suggests. Small groups then share the most surprising idea they had and what in the image prompted it.

30 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Choreographers for musical theater productions, like those on Broadway, use idea generation techniques to create dances that tell a story or express character emotions.
• Video game animators often study human movement and use improvisation exercises to develop unique character actions and reactions for virtual environments.
• Physical therapists observe patients' everyday movements to understand limitations and design specific exercises for rehabilitation, a process akin to analyzing and transforming actions.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Present students with a simple object (e.g., a cup). Ask them to perform three different movements inspired by the object, focusing on transforming its function or shape into dance. Have them verbally explain the connection for each movement.

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a card asking: 'Name one way you generated movement ideas today. Describe one specific movement you created and how you transformed it from an initial idea or observation.'

Peer Assessment

Students work in pairs. One student improvises for 30 seconds based on a given word (e.g., 'balance'). The other student observes and identifies one specific movement motif. They then discuss how the improviser could develop that motif further. Partners switch roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do choreographers get their ideas for movement?

Choreographers use many starting points: structured improvisation, observations of everyday physical actions, music, images, stories, emotions, architecture, and social observations. The starting point provides a filter for making consistent decisions about movement quality, speed, and shape throughout the piece. Most experienced choreographers have several generation methods they use regularly, rather than relying on a single approach.

How can you turn an everyday action into dance movement?

Start by observing the action closely, noting which body parts lead, where it travels in space, what weight it uses, and how fast or slow it moves. Then isolate one characteristic and change it: make it ten times slower, move it to a different body part, or reverse it. These transformations generate movement that carries a reference to the original action but becomes its own expressive material.

What is the difference between improvisation and choreography?

Improvisation is spontaneous movement creation in the moment, without a preset plan. Choreography involves selecting, structuring, and repeating specific movement material to communicate something intentional to an audience. Improvisation is often a generation tool in the choreographic process, but the raw material it produces must be selected, shaped, and organized before it becomes choreography.

How does active learning help students develop choreographic idea generation?

Students cannot learn idea generation by watching a demonstration. They must attempt a generation method, evaluate the material they produce, and decide what is worth keeping. Active approaches like structured improvisation prompts with immediate peer sharing give students multiple generation attempts and comparative feedback in a single session, building the habit of treating movement material as something to be gathered, sorted, and chosen rather than simply performed.