Questions to Ask a Choreographer
For dance students, journalists, podcasters and program writers interviewing a working choreographer, with a last group for a studio, school or production meeting one before hiring. The list follows the order the conversation tends to take: how they came to choreography from dancing, how a piece gets made, how they work with dancers, what changes between studio and stage, and how the work is commissioned and paid.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Background
When did you stop being a dancer who sometimes made things and start calling yourself a choreographer?
Why ask it
Listen for a specific moment: a first commission, an injury, a director who handed over a section to fix. If they still perform, ask what dancing in someone else's piece does for their own.
What did you train in, and where does that training still show in what you make?
Why ask it
Ballet, hip-hop, a folk form and gymnastics each leave a different habit in the work, whether in how the floor is used or how a count is heard. Ask them to point to one moment in a recent piece where an audience could see it.
What was the first dance you made, and who was in it?
Why ask it
The story usually comes with the friends who were talked into it and everything the maker did not yet know. Ask what they would keep from it now, since the one idea that survives is often still in their work.
Making a piece
Where does a piece usually begin for you: music, an image, a question or a particular dancer?
Why ask it
The answer tells you how to phrase the rest of the interview: someone who starts from music wants to talk about the score, someone who starts from a dancer about the cast. If they say it is different every time, ask where the most recent piece began.
Do you choose the music first, or does the movement go looking for it?
Why ask it
Whichever they say, ask about a time they worked the other way round and what it did to the piece. A second question for anyone who works to recordings: have they ever rehearsed to one track and performed to another?
What are you making at the moment, and how far along is it?
Why ask it
A piece in its second week gets you guesses and one a week from opening gets you decisions, so find out which you are hearing. Then use this piece as the example for every later question, because general talk about process blurs quickly.
What do you have ready before the first rehearsal, and what do you leave open on purpose?
Why ask it
Every count set in a notebook, or a task and a playlist: neither is the better way to arrive. What matters is whether they can say which they are, because the two ask very different things of a cast.
How do you work with a composer when the score is not written yet?
Why ask it
You want to hear how material travels between them: counts sent by phone, a rough recording, a week in the same room. If they only use existing recordings, ask how permission is handled where they work, since that differs by place and by kind of performance.
When do you choreograph against the music instead of on it?
Why ask it
Stillness through a climax, or a fast phrase over a slow passage, is a choice they can usually point to in a piece you have seen. For a student this is the answer to try out in a studio the same day.
How much of the movement comes from your own body, and how much from tasks you set the dancers?
Why ask it
The split affects how the piece looks on a different cast and who has a claim to credit. If you cannot get a rough proportion, pick one section you remember and ask who made it.
How do you record a dance so you can find it again next week?
Why ask it
Video, stick figures in a notebook, counts in the margin of a score, or an assistant's memory. Whatever the system is, it tells you how fragile the piece would be if one phone or one person went missing.
How long does a piece take you, from the first idea to opening night?
Why ask it
Ask for two numbers: how long the idea sat with them, and how many studio hours they had with the cast. The second may have been set by a budget or a schedule and not by them, and what they did with too few hours is usually the better story.
What do you do on a day when nothing you make is any good?
Why ask it
You are asking for the routine: going back to a simple task, ending early, making something bad on purpose to get moving. An answer that such days never come is one to check with a dancer if you get the chance.
Tell me about a section you loved and cut anyway.
Why ask it
The reason is the interesting half: the running time, the cast's stamina, a transition that never worked. Ask where the section went afterward, since cut material has a way of turning up in a later piece.
When does the title arrive, and has one ever stopped fitting the piece?
Why ask it
Program writers need this one. A title written for a funding application or a season brochure months before rehearsals can end up describing a dance that no longer exists, and it is better to hear that from them than to print the old blurb.
With dancers
What are you watching for in an audition that is not technique?
Why ask it
The useful answers are things you could see from the door: how quickly a dancer picks up, how they wait at the side, whether they watch the other group. A student should write this down, since it is as close to the marking criteria as anyone gets.
Do you cast for the role, or build the role around the person you have?
Why ask it
Either is a fine answer. The follow-up that matters is what happens to the part when that dancer leaves.
How do you tell someone they did not get the part they wanted?
Why ask it
The kind version has a when and a where: in person, before the list goes up, with a reason given. A reply that the cast list speaks for itself is an answer too, and tells a student what to expect in that room.
How does a rehearsal with you begin?
Why ask it
This asks for a routine, not a philosophy. Class first, a run of yesterday's material or straight into new work each show how they treat cold bodies and limited time.
How do you give a correction to one dancer with the whole cast listening?
Why ask it
The detail to get is wording and timing: naming the step and not the person, holding some notes for a quiet word afterward. Be wary of anyone who describes embarrassment as a teaching tool.
What do you do when a dancer cannot do a step you have set?
Why ask it
The choices are to drill it, change it or hand it to someone else, and the telling part is how long they wait before deciding. Ask for the last time it happened so you get a case and not a policy.
When a dancer offers a better idea than yours, what happens to it?
Why ask it
Two things to notice: whether the idea goes into the piece, and whether the dancer's name stays attached to it. Come back to this when you ask how dancers are credited in the program.
Whose rehearsals taught you the most about running a room?
Why ask it
Choreographers learn the job from inside other people's processes, so one name here is worth more than a list of influences. Follow with what that person did in the first ten minutes of a rehearsal.
What did you swear as a dancer you would never do to your own cast, and have you kept to it?
Why ask it
The usual vows are about overrunning, changing a section the night before and casting favorites. The second half is where the honest answer sits, and a laugh before it is a good sign.
How do you get a group to move as one without flattening the people in it?
Why ask it
Unison is a craft problem with real methods, such as a shared breath, one dancer leading the count, or cleaning in pairs. If the answer is about energy, keep going until they tell you what they say out loud in the room.
How do you plan a long rehearsal day around what bodies can take?
Why ask it
A planned day has an order to it: when the lifts and jumps are scheduled, when the cast marks, where the breaks fall, what the floor is like. Keep the question on the schedule and off any one dancer's injury.
How do you rescue a rehearsal that has gone sour?
Why ask it
Tension in a studio is ordinary, and the reply shows who they think is responsible for fixing it. Stopping early, changing the task and apologizing are all encouraging things to hear.
Onto the stage
What changes first when a piece moves from the studio into the theater?
Why ask it
Spacing is a common answer: the mirror is gone, the wings are somewhere new and the front is suddenly a dark room. It gives a reader a concrete picture of the last week before opening.
How early do you bring in the lighting and costume designers?
Why ask it
Design that has watched rehearsal video from the first weeks tends to belong to the piece. If it arrived in the final days, ask what the dance had to give up to make room for it.
What has a costume or a floor forced you to rechoreograph?
Why ask it
The stories are concrete: a skirt that hid the legs, a slippery stage, a raked floor. They quote well, and they show how far this person will bend the work to keep dancers safe.
How is choreographing for a camera different from choreographing for a stage?
Why ask it
Worth asking anyone who makes music videos, film or short clips. The detail is in framing, repeated takes and who controls the edit, which is often not the choreographer.
Where are you during a performance, and what are you doing?
Why ask it
At the back of the house, pacing a corridor, or unable to watch at all: the answer is quick and usually true. Ask what they can still fix from where they stand, and how they live with it if that is nothing.
Do you want an audience to know what a piece is about?
Why ask it
Makers of narrative work want the story read, and plenty of others dislike being asked. Put it plainly either way, and if they push back, ask what they would rather the program note said.
Do you keep changing a piece once it has opened?
Why ask it
Notes after every show and a piece left alone with its cast are two different ideas of when a dance is finished. If you can also talk to the dancers, ask them the same thing, because the two accounts do not always match.
How do you teach an old piece to a new cast?
Why ask it
Restaging forces a decision about whether the steps or the intention come first, and whether new dancers may change anything. It is the question to lead with if you are covering a revival.
Which piece of yours did not work, and what do you now think was wrong with it?
Why ask it
Save this until they are comfortable with you. A choreographer who can name the fault, whether length, venue or casting, is more interesting than one who blames the audience.
Working life
How does a commission usually reach you, and what does it specify?
Why ask it
A brief may fix the length, the cast size, the premiere date and sometimes the music, and how much of that they could negotiate is worth hearing. The strangest condition a commissioner ever attached makes a good follow-up.
How is your work paid: a flat fee, by the hour, a royalty, or a mix?
Why ask it
Arrangements differ by country, sector and contract, so ask how it works where they are and do not generalize from one answer. People will often explain the structure even when they keep the figures to themselves.
Who owns a piece once it is made, and what happens when another company wants to perform it?
Why ask it
Ownership and licensing depend on the contract and on the law where they work, so report the answer as their experience and not as a rule. The practical part is what they wish they had put in writing the first time.
How do you credit dancers who generated material?
Why ask it
The wording in a program, whether choreography by one name or created with the company, is something people in dance disagree about. Someone who has thought about it can tell you the exact line they print and why.
How much of your working year is choreography, and what fills the rest?
Why ask it
Teaching, movement direction for plays, commercial jobs and funding applications commonly sit beside the pieces. A student gains more from the real proportions than from a career summary.
What do you turn down?
Why ask it
The reasons, such as a fee that does not cover rehearsal time, too few days or a brief they do not believe in, show their standards more clearly than any question about ambition. Ask for the last job they refused, not the principle.
What would you tell a dancer who wants to make a first piece this year?
Why ask it
Hold out for advice that is small and concrete: keep it short, show it to five people, film it. If you get only encouragement, ask what they would do with no budget and two friends.
Before hiring
Can we see full-length video of something you made for a group like ours?
Why ask it
A highlight reel hides the transitions and the weaker dancers. Work made on a cast of similar age and level to yours is the fairest evidence, so ask for exactly that.
How many rehearsal hours do you need for a piece of this length, and who has to be in the room?
Why ask it
An experienced choreographer gives a number and says what it assumes. If the number fits your schedule a little too neatly, ask what would be cut if you lost a week.
What does your fee include, and what would be charged on top?
Why ask it
Go through preparation time, music editing, travel, cleaning rehearsals and coming back for the show. What is usual varies between regions and kinds of work, so assume nothing and get the answer in writing.
Who finds the music and arranges permission to use it, and who pays?
Why ask it
Whether a recording can be used depends on the venue, the event, the country and whether the show is filmed or streamed. Agree who is responsible before the first rehearsal, and check the rules that apply to your own organization.
Can we perform the piece again next season, and may our own staff rehearse or adjust it?
Why ask it
A set number of performances, a fee for each revival, or the piece handed over freely are all arrangements you may be offered. Settling it now saves an awkward message in a year.
How do you make one piece for dancers of mixed levels?
Why ask it
Look for a plan that gives every dancer something they can do well, as opposed to a strong front row with everyone else hidden behind it. A school can ask how they have handled a nervous beginner.
How do you handle touch, lifts and language when the dancers are children or teenagers?
Why ask it
You are hoping for someone who thought about this before you asked: asking before a hands-on correction, another adult present, no remarks about bodies. Tell them your organization's own rules and any checks required where you are, and notice how they take it.
What happens if a dancer is injured or drops out a week before the show?
Why ask it
What you want is a method: understudies, a version for one fewer, a rehearsal held back for changes. The answer also tells you whether they can still be reached after the last scheduled session.
Who has hired you before that we could call?
Why ask it
Put two things to the reference: whether rehearsals started and finished on time, and whether the dancers wanted to work with this person again. Neither can be learned from a video.
Interviewing a choreographer, or meeting one before you hire
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the conversation
Watch the work first
See at least one piece, live or on video, and note two moments you can describe. "The part where the three of them walk backward" gets a better answer than any general question about style, and it shows you did the watching.
Choose a group, not the whole list
Half an hour covers eight to ten questions properly. A student might take Background and the first few from Making a piece. A journalist previewing a premiere might pick four each from Making a piece and Onto the stage. A hiring panel can go straight to Before hiring and borrow three from With dancers.
Attach every question to one piece
Nearly every question here improves with "in this piece" on the end. Described in general, one choreographer's process sounds much like another's. What differs is what happened in the third week of a particular rehearsal period.
Ask to sit in
If you can watch twenty minutes of rehearsal before the interview, do. You will see how corrections are given, which beats asking, and you can then ask about what you saw.
During the interview
Let them stand up
Choreographers think with their bodies and will often get out of the chair to show you. Let them. If you are recording sound only, describe aloud what they did so the recording makes sense later.
Ask for the vocabulary
When a word goes past that you do not know, such as canon, marking, cleaning, spacing or a count of eight, stop and ask. For a program note or an article, their plain explanation of a working term is often the most useful line you take away.
Where the money questions go
Keep the Working life group for the last third, say why you are asking, and ask about structure before figures. Fees, contracts and rights differ by country, sector and employer, so write up what you hear as one person's experience.
Talk to a dancer as well
For a longer article, put two or three of the With dancers questions to someone in the cast. The point is a second view of the same room, not catching anyone out, so tell the choreographer you are doing it.
If you are hiring
Write your brief before you meet anyone
Length, number of dancers, their ages and level, the date, the rehearsal slots you can offer and the budget. A choreographer can only answer the Before hiring questions against those facts, and the ones who ask for them before you offer are showing you how they work.
Ask everyone the same questions
Put the same eight or nine questions to each person and note the answers in the same order. Rehearsal hours, what the fee covers and reuse of the piece are the three where the answers differ most, and they are hard to compare from memory.
Hold a trial session
A paid hour with your own dancers shows more than an interview can. Watch how the least confident dancer in the room is treated, and ask the dancers afterward whether they understood what was wanted.
Put the agreement in writing
Fee, dates, hours, who is responsible for music, how many performances, whether the piece may be filmed, and what happens if either side cancels. What an agreement has to contain, and which checks apply to adults working with young people, depend on where you are, so ask your own organization or governing body how it works there.
What to leave out
The inspiration question
Asked in general, "where do you get your inspiration" gets a general answer. Ask where one named piece began and you will hear about a song on a bus, a dancer's odd way of turning or a line in a commission letter.
Asking what it means
Many choreographers will not translate a dance into a sentence, and pressing makes the conversation stiff. Ask what they were working on, or what they hope a first-time viewer notices, and the meaning usually comes without being demanded.
Gossip about the cast
Do not ask for the name of a difficult dancer, or about anyone's injury, weight or body. Questions about how the room is run get you the same understanding without putting a person who is not present on the record.
One answer as the rule
What one choreographer is paid, or what their contract says about ownership, is a single case. If you need to know what is standard, ask a second and a third person in the same place and the same kind of work.