Includes bibliographical references (pages 240-244) and index.

Dancing / principles -- Material -- Habits -- Repetition -- Repetition -- Repetition -- Improvisation / cut and paste / choreography -- Form -- Exploration / risk -- Breaking the rules -- Subject / inspiration / stealing / familiar movement / choreography / referencing other sources -- Research / how and what? / dramaturgy / theory / curiosity -- Contract / performance space -- Self-expression -- Abstract dance -- Interview / unfinished business / questions / principles -- Financial limitations / studios / funding applications -- Collaboration / audience -- Preparation / meetings / rehearsal schedule / heaviness -- Originality / ecology / paradox -- Technique / parrot on your shoulder / authenticity / dancing / style / fiddling -- Virtuosity -- Specificity -- Daily practice -- Hoarding / beginnings -- Endings -- Keeping it going / pacing -- Change / dub reggae / simple material / desperation -- Predictable and unpredictable / expectation -- Stillness and silence -- Minimal and maximal -- Solos, duos, trios, quartets -- Many bodies / states -- Parallel voices --Performance / principles -- Distracting the self / paradox / choreography / performance / electric guitars -- Does it work? / showings / mentoring -- Narrative / ballet / continuity -- Continuity / material / make six things / choreography / flow relation -- Relation / time / rhythm -- Time -- Counterpoint -- Unison -- Scores / studios / translation / sequencing / improvisation -- Chance / empty hands / gamut of movements / limitations / laborious work / philosophy -- Audience / facing the front / facing each other / confrontation / humour / failure -- Place or space? -- Audience -- Hierarchies / dancer or choreographer? / in it or out of it? / who owns what? -- The marketplace / earning a living / administrating the work / commercial work / commissions / academia -- Music / collaboration / silence -- Text -- Lighting / technicians / collaboration / costumes / set design / nudity -- Filming / history / collaboration / mirrors / human-scale -- Titles -- How can I simplify all of this? -- Forget all this.

"On choreography: 'Choreography is a negotiation with the patterns your body is thinking' On rules: 'Try breaking the rules on a need to break the rules basis' The updated and revised edition of A Choreographer's Handbook invites the reader to investigate how and why to make a dance performance. In an inspiring and unusually empowering sequence of stories, questions, ideas and paradoxes, internationally renowned choreographer, teacher and writer Jonathan Burrows explains how it's possible to navigate a course through this complex process. It is a stunning reflection on a personal practice and professional journey, and draws upon many years of workshop discussions, led by Burrows. Burrows' open and honest prose gives the reader access to a range of principles, exercises, meditations and ideas on choreography that allow artists and dance-makers to find their own aesthetic process. It is a book for anyone interested in making performance, at whatever level and in whichever style"-- Provided by publisher.